Department of Commerce 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On September 13, 2010, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) sustained the Department of Commerce's (the Department's) redetermination pursuant to the CIT's remand in United States Steel Corporation, et al. v. United States et al. and Essar Steel Limited v. United States. See United States Steel Corporation, et al. v. United States et al. and Essar Steel Limited v. United States et al., Slip Op. 10-104 (Essar); see also Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Court Remand, dated July 15, 2010 (found at https:// ia.ita.doc.gov/remands). On November 9, 2010, Essar Steel Limited (Essar) appealed the CIT's decision. See United States Steel Corporation, et al. v. United States et al. and Essar Steel Limited v. United States et al., Consol. Court No. 08-0239 Appeal (November 9, 2010). On July 7, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) sustained the Department's redetermination. See United States Steel Corporation, et al. v. United States et al. and Essar Steel Limited v. United States et al., CAFC 11-1074 Affirmed, Rule 36 (July 7, 2011). The Department is amending the final results of the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products (HRCS) from India covering the January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2006, period of review (2006 POR) with respect to Essar, to reflect the CIT's decision in Essar. See Certain Hot-Rolled Carbon Steel Flat Products from India: Final Results of Countervailing Duty Administrative Review, 73 FR 40295 (July 14, 2008) (Final Results), and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum (I&D Memorandum).

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Northeast Region, NMFS (Assistant Regional Administrator), has made a preliminary determination that an exempted fishing permit application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. This permit would allow two commercial fishing vessels to test the economic viability of using electric rod and reel gear to target pollock in the Western Gulf of Maine Closure Area and to temporarily retain undersized catch for measurement and data collection. The study would be conducted by the School for Marine Science and Technology at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed exempted fishing permits.

In response to requests from interested parties, the Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (PRC) covering the period of review (POR) of November 1, 2009, through October 31, 2010. The Department initiated this review for 112 producers/exporters (companies).\1\ The Department is issuing partial preliminary results for the PRC-wide entity only, which includes the seven companies listed in Appendix III. Based on timely withdrawals of requests for review, the Department is now rescinding the review with respect to 84 companies which are listed in Appendix I. The Department also preliminarily determines that a rescission of the administrative review is warranted with respect to 14 companies which each timely submitted a ``no shipment'' certification. The intent to rescind is applicable to the companies listed in Appendix II. In addition, there are seven companies which the Department determines are subject to the PRC-wide entity rate and which are subject to these partial preliminary results. These seven companies are listed in Appendix III. Accordingly, 21 companies are subject to these partial preliminary results and the intent to rescind the administrative review and are listed in Appendix IV.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee (NCADAC) were established by the Secretary of Commerce under the authority of the Global Change Research Act of 1990 to synthesize and summarize the science and information pertaining to current and future impacts of climate. Time and Date: The meeting will be held November 16 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and November 17, 2011, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. These times are subject to change. Please refer to the Web page https:// www.nesdis.noaa.gov/NCADAC/ for changes and for the most up- to-date meeting agenda. Place: The meeting will be held at the NOAA Earth System Research LaboratoryDavid Skaggs Research Center (DSRC), 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305-3337. Please check the Web site https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/ NCADAC/ for confirmation of the venue and for directions. Status: Seating will be available on a first come, first served basis. Members of the public must RSVP in order to attend all or a portion of the meeting by contacting the NCADAC DFO (Cynthia.Decker@noaa.gov) by November 1, 2011. The meeting will be open to public participation with a 30 minute public comment period on November 16 at 5 p.m. (check Web site to confirm time). The NCADAC expects that public statements presented at its meetings will not be repetitive of previously submitted verbal or written statements. In general, each individual or group making a verbal presentation will be limited to a total time of five (5) minutes. Individuals or groups planning to make a verbal presentation should contact the NCADAC DFO (Cynthia.Decker@noaa.gov) by November 10, 2011 to schedule their presentation. Written comments should be received in the NCADAC DFO's Office by November 10, 2011 to provide sufficient time for NCADAC review. Written comments received by the NCADAC DFO after November 10, 2011 will be distributed to the NCADAC, but may not be reviewed prior to the meeting date. Special Accommodations: These meetings are physically accessible to people with disabilities. Requests for sign language interpretation or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Dr. Cynthia Decker (301-563- 6162, Cynthia.Decker@noaa.gov) by November 1, 2011.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (DARRP) is announcing new indirect cost rates on the recovery of indirect costs for its component organizations involved in natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities for fiscal years (FY) 2009 and 2010. The indirect cost rates for these fiscal years and dates of implementation are provided in this notice. More information on these rates and the DARRP policy can be found at the DARRP web site at http:/ /www.darrp.noaa.gov. This notice is a republication of the notice published October 3, 2011 (76 FR 61089) with corrections made to the table of indirect cost rates.

On July 1, 2011, the Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated a sunset review of the countervailing duty order (CVD) on welded carbon steel pipe and tube from Turkey pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The Department has conducted an expedited sunset review of this order pursuant to section 751(c)(3)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(e)(1)(ii)(C)(2). As a result of this sunset review, the Department finds that revocation of the CVD order is likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of a countervailable subsidy at the levels indicated in the ``Final Results of Review'' section of this notice.

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) publishes this notice to announce that the Director of the Census Bureau has determined the need to conduct the 2011 Annual Wholesale Trade Survey (AWTS). The AWTS covers employer firms with establishments located in the United States and classified in the Wholesale Trade sector as defined by the 2007 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Through this survey, the Census Bureau will collect data covering annual sales, e-commerce sales, purchases, total operating expenses, year-end inventories held both inside and outside the United States, commissions, total operating revenue, and gross selling value, for three components of wholesale activity: wholesale distributors; manufacturers' sales branches and offices; and agents, brokers, and electronic markets. These data are collected to provide a sound statistical basis for the formation of policy by various government agencies. Results will be available for use for a variety of public and business needs, such as economic and market analysis, company performance, and forecasting future demand.

The National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee) will meet on Monday, November 7, 2011. The primary purpose of this meeting is to update the Committee on the status of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Disaster and Failure Studies Program, the NCST activities within the Program, and NIST studies following recent tornados, wildland-urban interface fires, and earthquakes. The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda will be posted on the NIST Web site at https://www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/ncst.

On September 12, 2011, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') published in the Federal Register the final results of the fifth administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp (``shrimp'') from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (``Vietnam'').\1\ The period of review (``POR'') is February 1, 2009, through January 31, 2010. We are amending the Final Results to correct certain ministerial errors.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC) has proposed to remove Nassau grouper from the fishery management unit in the Fishery Management Plan for Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (Reef Fish FMP). Subsequently, in a September 16, 2011, letter to NMFS, the GMFMC has requested that the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) designate the SAFMC as the responsible council to manage Nassau grouper throughout the South Atlantic region and the Gulf of Mexico under the FMP for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (Snapper-Grouper FMP). The intent of this notice is to solicit public comments concerning this proposed designation.

NMFS closes the commercial sector for greater amberjack in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf). These actions are necessary to reduce overfishing of the Gulf greater amberjack resource.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') has determined that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of multilayered wood flooring (``wood flooring'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). For information on the subsidy rates, see the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice.

NMFS announces that the address for the Atlantic Shark Identification workshop scheduled for November 17, 2011, in Charleston, SC, has been changed. This workshop was originally announced on September 27, 2011. The new address remains within the vicinity of Charleston, SC, but the workshop will be held at another venue. The workshop time and date remain unchanged: 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on November 17, 2011. The October and December workshop locations remain unchanged. Atlantic Shark Identification workshops are mandatory for Atlantic Shark Dealer permit holders or their proxies. Additional free workshops will be held in 2011 and 2012.

As China has become a major trading partner for the United States, U.S. rights holders are increasingly seeking to protect and enforce their intellectual property (IP) in that country. China's patent and trademark offices are now among the largest in the world in terms of filings, and its IP enforcement system is being increasingly utilized by U.S. rights holders. Ensuring that the Chinese IP system works in a fair and timely manner for U.S. innovators is a top priority for the U.S. Government. To that end, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in collaboration with other U.S. Government agencies, is leading an effort to identify and assess the challenges U.S. inventors are facing with China's judicial and administrative patent enforcement systems. The USPTO would like to address the concerns of rights holders by working with them to identify problemssuch as difficulties in gathering evidence, meeting evidentiary requirements, protecting proprietary information, obtaining adequate damages, and enforcing preliminary injunctionsto then find ways to address these issues with the Chinese Government. As part of this effort, the USPTO, in coordination with the White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), has conducted a series of roundtables to obtain the views of diverse members of the patent community who have first-hand experience enforcing their patents in China. Roundtables were held on July 19, 2011, in Washington, DC; on July 26, 2011, in Beijing, China; on July 29, 2011, in Shanghai, China; and on August 1, 2011, in Guangzhou, China. Topics for discussion included: (1) Acquisition and enforcement of utility model and design patents; (2) evidence collection and preservation in Chinese courts; (3) obtaining damages and injunctions; (4) enforceability of court orders; and (5) administrative patent enforcement. To ensure that the USPTO receives a wide array of views, the USPTO would like to invite any member of the public to submit written comments on China's patent enforcement system, including, but not limited to, the five specific issues listed above. Examples of first- hand experience using China's patent enforcement system, and recommendations on ways to improve the system, are encouraged. Based on these comments, the USPTO intends to produce a report that details the patent enforcement landscape in China and identifies any challenges faced by U.S. innovators, together with recommendations for improving the system.

In accordance with 5 U.S. C. 4314(c)(4), the Economic Development Administration (EDA), Department of Commerce (DOC), announce the appointment of those individuals who have been selected to serve as members of EDA's Performance Review Board. The Performance Review Board is responsible for (1) reviewing performance appraisals and rating of Senior Executive Service (SES) members and (2) making recommendations to the appointing authority on other performance management issues, such as pay adjustments, bonuses and Presidential Rank Awards for SES members. The appointment of these members to the Performance Review Board will be for a period of twenty-four (24) months.

The regulations at 5 CFR 430.310 require agencies to publish notice of Performance Review Board appointees in the Federal Register before their service begins. In accordance with those regulations, this notice announces changes to the membership of the International Trade Administration's Performance Review Board.