Department of Commerce September 21, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This proposed rule would amend regulations of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) to set forth the reporting requirements for the 2012 BE-12, Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. Benchmark surveys are conducted every five years; the prior survey covered 2007. The benchmark survey covers the universe of foreign direct investment in the United States, and is BEA's most comprehensive survey of such investment in terms of subject matter. For the 2012 benchmark survey, BEA proposes changes in reporting thresholds and data items collected, as well as changes in form design.

The Department hereby solicits applications from persons (including firms, corporations, or other legal entities) who cut and sew men's and boys' worsted wool suits and suit-like jackets and trousers in the United States for an allocation of the 2012 tariff rate quotas on certain worsted wool fabric. Interested persons must submit an application on the form provided to the address listed below by October 21, 2011. The Department will cause to be published in the Federal Register its determination to allocate the 2012 tariff rate quotas and will notify applicants of their respective allocation as soon as possible after that date. Promptly thereafter, the Department will issue licenses to eligible applicants.

NMFS proposes to implement management actions described in a regulatory amendment to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) prepared by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). If implemented, this rule would increase the 2011 commercial quota for red grouper, and thereby increase the 2011 commercial quota for shallow- water grouper (SWG), set the commercial quota for red grouper and SWG from 2012 to 2015 and subsequent fishing years, and increase the red grouper bag limit to four fish within the current four-fish aggregate bag limit. The increase in the recreational bag limit will allow the recreational sector to harvest the increase in the recreational allocation established in the regulatory amendment. The intended effect of this proposed rule is to help prevent overfishing of red grouper while achieving optimum yield (OY) by increasing the red grouper harvest consistent with the findings of the recent rerun of the stock assessment for this species using updated information.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by non- American Fisheries Act (AFA) crab vessels that are subject to sideboard limits harvesting Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2011 Pacific cod sideboard limit established for non-AFA crab vessels harvesting Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received twelve applications applying in due form for permits to take Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) for purposes of scientific research.

This final rule corrects reference and typographical errors in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The corrections are editorial in nature and do not affect license requirements. In addition to the editorial corrections, this rule adds new definitions to the EAR that were inadvertently not incorporated by a previous rule.

The Pacific Northwest Crab Industry Advisory Committee will meet October 13, 2011 at the Leif Erickson Hall in Ballard, WA. In Alaska, listening sites for the meeting will be located at the Unalaska City Hall and in Kodiak listening site to be announced.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are requesting information on the requirements of, and possible approaches to creating, a voluntary industry code of conduct to address the detection, notification and mitigation of botnets.\1\ Over the past several years, botnets have increasingly put computer owners at risk. A botnet infection can lead to the monitoring of a consumer's personal information and communication, and exploitation of that consumer's computing power and Internet access. Networks of these compromised computers are often used to disseminate spam, to store and transfer illegal content, and to attack the servers of government and private entities with massive, distributed denial of service attacks. The Departments seek public comment from all Internet stakeholders, including the commercial, academic, and civil society sectors, on potential models for detection, notification, prevention, and mitigation of botnets' illicit use of computer equipment.