Department of Commerce 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction (ACEHR or Committee), will hold a meeting via teleconference on Tuesday, December 20, 2011 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to develop an outline for the Committee's draft annual report to the NIST Director. Any draft meeting materials will be posted on the NEHRP Web site at https://nehrp.gov/. Interested members of the public will be able to participate in the meeting from remote locations by calling into a central phone number.

The National Construction Safety Team (NCST) Advisory Committee (Committee), will hold a meeting via teleconference on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to discuss the NCST Advisory Committee's draft annual report to Congress. A copy of the draft report will be posted on the NCST Advisory Committee's web site at https:// www.nist.gov/el/disasterstudies/ncst/index.cfm. Interested members of the public will be able to participate in the meeting from remote locations by calling into a central phone number.

Notice is hereby given that a permit has been issued to ABR, Inc. Environmental Research and Services, Fairbanks, AK, to conduct research on marine mammals in Alaska.

NMFS closes the shallow-set pelagic longline fishery north of the Equator for all vessels registered under the Hawaii longline limited access program. The shallow-set fishery has reached the 2011 limit on physical interactions with sea turtles, so the fishery must be closed for the remainder of the calendar year. This action is necessary to comply with regulations that govern the pelagic fisheries in the western Pacific that establish maximum annual limits on the numbers of interactions that occur between longline fishing gear and sea turtles.

On November 4, 2011, Quimic, S.A. de C.V., filed a First Request for Panel Review with the Mexican Section of the NAFTA Secretariat pursuant to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Panel review was requested of the final determination of the effective examination and official review on countervailing duties regarding imports of certain type of stearic acid originating from the United States of America, independently of the country of origin. This merchandise is classified in tariff items 3823.11.01 and 3823.19.9901 of the Mexican Tariff Schedule (TIGIE), published in the Diario Oficial de la Federacion, on October 7, 2011. The NAFTA Secretariat has assigned Case Number MEX-USA-2011-1904-01 to this request.

Notice is hereby given that The Pacific Whale Foundation [Responsible Party: Gregory Kaufman; Principal Investigator: Daniela Maldini], 300 Maalaea Road, Suite 211, Wailuku, HI 96793, has applied in due form for a permit to conduct research on humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).

Notice is hereby given that a permit has been issued to Jennifer Lewis, Ph.D., Tropical Dolphin Research Foundation, Aventura, FL to conduct research on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has submitted Amendment 93 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP). Amendment 93, if approved, would establish separate prohibited species catch (PSC) limits in the Central and Western Regulatory Areas of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) for Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). NMFS would close the directed pollock fishery in those areas if the applicable limit is reached. This action also would require full retention of salmon in the Central and Western GOA pollock fisheries until an observer is provided the opportunity to count the number of salmon and to collect scientific data or biological samples from the salmon. This action is necessary to minimize Chinook salmon bycatch in the GOA pollock fishery to the extent practicable while preserving the potential for the full harvest of pollock total allowable catch within PSC limits. Amendment 93 is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable laws.

The NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold an online webinar to review and critique its groundfish stock assessment process in 2011. The online Groundfish Stock Assessment Process Review Workshop webinar is open to the public.

Notice is hereby given that the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC), 301 Railway Avenue, Seward, AK 99664 (Dr. Ian Dutton, Responsible Party), has applied for an amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 14334-01.

The Bureau of the Census (U.S. Census Bureau) is giving notice of a meeting of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC). The Committee will advise the Directors of the Economics and Statistics Administration's (ESA) two statistical agencies, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and the Census Bureau, and the Commissioner of the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on statistical methodology and other technical matters related to the collection, tabulation, and analysis of federal economic statistics. Last minute changes to the agenda are possible, which could prevent giving advance public notice of schedule adjustments.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) amends the rules governing practice before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (Board or BPAI) in ex parte patent appeals. The Office amends the rules to: Remove several of the briefing requirements for an appeal brief, provide for the Board to take jurisdiction over the appeal earlier in the appeal process, no longer require examiners to acknowledge receipt of reply briefs, create specified procedures under which an appellant can seek review of an undesignated new ground of rejection in either an examiner's answer or in a Board decision, provide that the Board will presume that the appeal is taken from the rejection of all claims under rejection unless cancelled by an applicant's amendment, and clarify that, for purposes of the examiner's answer, any rejection that relies upon Evidence not relied upon in the Office action from which the appeal is taken shall be designated as a new ground of rejection. The Office also withdraws a previously published final rule that never went into effect.