Department of Commerce December 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS hereby extends the comment period on the proposed listing of five distinct population segments (DPSs) of Atlantic sturgeon as endangered or threatened until February 3, 2011. The five DPSs were proposed for listing in two separate proposed listing determinations, published on October 6, 2010.

NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2010 commercial summer flounder quota to the Commonwealth of Virginia. In addition, the State of Maine is transferring a portion of its 2010 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Rhode Island. By this action, NMFS adjusts the quotas and announces the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) has determined that Lamina y Placa Comercial, S.A. de C.V. (Lamina y Placa) is the successor-in-interest to Tuberia Nacional, S.A. de C.V. (TUNA) and, as a result, should be accorded the same treatment previously accorded TUNA in regard to the antidumping duty order on certain circular welded non-alloy steel pipe (circular welded pipe) from Mexico.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (``Department'') and the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order on wooden bedroom furniture from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of the antidumping duty order.

NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research (OER) is seeking comments on the revised draft OER STRATEGIC PLAN Fiscal Year (FY) 2011-2015, submitted to meet the requirement for program direction under Public Law 111-11, Section 12104(b). The draft OER STRATEGIC PLAN describes the vision, mission, core activities, and organization of the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.

On December 22, 2010, IUSA, S.A. de C.V. (``IUSA'') and Nacional de Cobre, S.A. de C.V. (``Nacobre''), and their U.S. affiliates Cambridge-Lee Industries LLC and Copper and Brass International filed a First Request for Panel Review with the United States Section of the NAFTA Secretariat pursuant to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Second and Third Requests for Panel Review were filed by GD Affiliates S. de. R.L. de C.V., and its U.S. affiliate GD Copper (U.S.A.), and the Government of Mexico, respectively. Panel review was requested of the final determination by the U.S. International Trade Commission that an industry in the United States is threatened with material injury by reason of imports of Seamless Refined Copper Pipe and Tube from China and Mexico. This determination was published in the Federal Register (75 FR 71,146), on November 22, 2010. The NAFTA Secretariat has assigned Case Number USA- MEX-2010-1904-02 to these requests.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Amendment 17B to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule establishes annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for eight snapper-grouper species in the FMP that are undergoing overfishing, and for black grouper, which was recently assessed and determined to not be undergoing overfishing or overfished; modifies management measures to limit total mortality of those species to the ACL; and adds ACLs, annual catch targets (ACTs), and AMs to the list of management measures that may be amended via the framework process. The intent of this final rule is to address overfishing of eight snapper-grouper species while maintaining catch levels consistent with achieving optimum yield.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated the third sunset reviews of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on top of the stove stainless steel cooking ware (cookware) from the Republic of Korea (Korea) pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.218(c). See Initiation of Five-Year (``Sunset'') Review, 75 FR 60731 (October 1, 2010) (Initiation Notice). Because no domestic interested party responded to the sunset review notice of initiation by the applicable deadline, the Department is revoking the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on cookware from Korea.

Notice is hereby given that National Marine Fisheries Service, National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML), Alaska Fisheries Science Center (Dr. John Bengtson, Responsible Party), 7600 Sand Point Way, NE., Seattle, Washington 98115-6349, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on narwhals, Monodon monoceros.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), announce the availability of a draft technical framework for ranking recovery potential of populations of Puget Sound Chinook salmon and watersheds supporting them. The draft framework relies on the best available scientific information regarding the status and structure of Puget Sound Chinook salmon populations and their habitat. It builds on the work of the Puget Sound technical recovery team, which provided the technical foundation of the Puget Sound Chinook recovery plan (NMFS 2006). The technical recovery team identified the population structure of Puget Sound Chinook and recommended biological recovery criteria (Ruckelshaus et al. 2002; 2006). It did not advise, however, on the relative roles of the various populations in achieving recovery and no such roles were identified in the recovery plan completed for the species. In contrast, technical teams that developed recovery criteria for other species of salmon in the Northwest did recommend roles for individual populations in recovery. Following adoption of the Puget Sound Chinook salmon recovery plan, we convened an internal technical team to analyze the role each population should play in recovery. The draft technical framework described in this notice represents the internal technical team's recommendations. This notice also describes potential management implications of the framework.

On October 1, 2010, the Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated the third sunset review of the antidumping duty order on porcelain-on-steel cooking ware (POS cooking ware) from Taiwan pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), and 19 CFR 351.218(c). See Initiation of Five-Year (``Sunset'') Review, 75 FR 60731 (October 1, 2010) (Initiation Notice). Because no domestic interested party responded to the sunset review notice of initiation by the applicable deadline, the Department is revoking the antidumping duty order on POS cooking ware from Taiwan.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Highly Migratory Species Management Team (HMSMT) will hold a work session, which is open to the public.

This document contains corrections to the interim final rule pertaining to Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic Zone Off Alaska; Steller Sea Lion Protection Measures for the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Groundfish Fisheries Off Alaska published on December 13, 2010. These corrections amend one error in the preamble to the interim final rule and one typographical error and content within regulatory tables to eliminate potential confusion by the public.

NMFS issues this interim final rule to amend the cost recovery regulations implementing the Tilefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) to require the first year cost-recovery fee percentage to be calculated based on the best estimate of the actual costs associated with the management, data collection and analysis, and enforcement of the individual fishing quota (IFQ) allocation program (not to exceed 3 percent), rather than to be set at the statutory maximum 3 percent of the ex-vessel value of tilefish landings.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting a semiannual new shipper review (NSR) under the antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip (PET film) from India in response to a request from SRF Limited (SRF). The domestic interested parties for this proceeding are DuPont Teijin Films, Mitsubishi Polyester Film, Inc., SKC, Inc. and Toray Plastics (America), Inc. (petitioners). We preliminarily determine that the U.S. sale of subject merchandise produced and exported by SRF was bona fide and not sold below normal value (NV). If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results, the Department intends to instruct United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to liquidate entries subject to this review without regard to antidumping duties. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results. See the ``Preliminary Results of Review'' section of this notice. The final results will be issued 90 days after the date of signature of these preliminary results, unless extended.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') is conducting a new shipper review (``NSR'') of the antidumping duty order covering certain non-frozen apple juice concentrate from the People's Republic of China. See Notice of Amended Final Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value and Antidumping Duty Order: Certain Non-Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate From the People's Republic of China, 65 FR 35606 (June 5, 2000). This is a new shipper review of Lingbao Xinyuan Fruit Industry Co., Ltd. (``LXFI''). Based upon our analysis of the comments and information received, we made changes to the dumping margin calculation for the final results. The final dumping margin is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of the Review.''

The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is requesting comments regarding the calculation of the weighted average dumping margin and antidumping duty assessment rate in certain antidumping duty proceedings. Currently, in a review of an antidumping duty order conducted under 19 CFR 351.213 (administrative review), 351.214 (new shipper review), and 351.215 (expedited antidumping review) (collectively ``reviews''), the Department usually makes comparisons between transaction-specific export prices and average normal values and does not offset any dumping that is found with the results of comparisons for which the transaction-specific export price exceeds the average normal value. In addition, in the most recent original antidumping duty investigation in which the Department calculated the weighted average margins of dumping using transaction-to-transaction comparisons, the Department did not grant offsets for non-dumped comparisons. Several World Trade Organization (``WTO'') dispute settlement reports have found that the United States application of these methodologies was inconsistent with our WTO obligations. In response to these reports, the Department proposes modification of its methodologies, including changes to certain provisions of the Department's regulations.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold meetings of its Marianas Archipelago Plan Team (PT), Guam Regional Ecosystem Advisory Committee (Guam REAC), Mariana Archipelago Advisory Panel (AP) and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Regional Ecosystem Advisory Committee (CNMI REAC).

NMFS implements final quotas for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries for 2011, 2012, and 2013. Regulations governing these fisheries require NMFS to publish the final quota specifications for the 2011-2013 fishing years. The intent of this action is to establish allowable harvest levels of Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs from the Exclusive Economic Zone to prevent overfishing and to allow harvesting of optimum yield (OY).

On June 2, 2010, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') initiated the second sunset review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip (``SSSS'') in coils from Mexico, pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). On the basis of the notice of intent to participate, and adequate substantive responses filed on behalf of the domestic and respondent interested parties, the Department is conducting a full sunset review of the antidumping duty order on SSSS in coils from Mexico, pursuant to section 751(e)(3)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(e)(2)(i). As a result of this sunset review, the Department preliminarily finds that revocation of the antidumping duty order with respect to SSSS in coils from Mexico would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping at the levels listed below in the section entitled ``Preliminary Results of Review.''

On June 2, 2010, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') initiated its second sunset review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Italy, pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (``the Act''). The Department is conducting a full sunset review of the order pursuant to 751(c) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(e)(2)(i). As a result of this sunset review, the Department preliminarily finds that revocation of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Italy would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping.