Department of Commerce November 29, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding two persons to the Entity List and revising one existing entry. The persons who are added to the Entity List have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. These persons will be listed on the Entity List under one destination. The two entries added to the Entity List consist of two entries in Pakistan. This rule is also revising one existing entry in the U.A.E. to clarify the scope of the entry by providing an additional alias and alternate address for this listed person. The Entity List notifies the public that certain exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR to entities identified on the Entity List require licenses from the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and that in most instances license exceptions are unavailable for such transactions. BIS usually applies a license review policy of denial because it considers such entities to present significant risks of diversion to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs, terrorism, or other activities that are contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests. By publicly listing such entities, BIS seeks to assist legitimate exporters, reexporters and transferors, and other parties participating in transactions that are subject to the EAR by providing them with information to detect and avoid high risk transactions with those entities, which in most cases means any transaction that involves items that are subject to the EAR.

On October 1, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') initiated the sunset review of the antidumping duty order on folding metal tables and chairs from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). Because the domestic interested parties did not participate in this sunset review, the Department is revoking this antidumping duty order.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') is interested in gathering additional information on independent second opinion genetic diagnostic testing for purposes of preparing a report on the subject as required by the America Invents Act (``AIA'' or ``Act''). To assist in gathering this information, the USPTO invites the public to attend a roundtable focused on genetic diagnostic testing. Public Roundtable: The USPTO will hold a public roundtable in support of the genetic testing study. The roundtable will be held on Thursday, January 10, 2013, beginning at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) and ending at 4:00 p.m. (EST) in Alexandria, Virginia. Those wishing to share commentary at the roundtable must request an opportunity to do so in writing no later than December 20, 2012. The request must include the following: (1) The name of the person wishing to share commentary; (2) the person's contact information (telephone number and email address); (3) the organization(s) the person represents, if any; and (4) an indication of the amount of time requested for the commentary. Requests to share commentary must be submitted by email to Saurabh Vishnubhakat at saurabh.vishnubhakat@uspto.gov. Based upon the requests received, an agenda will be sent to all requesters and posted on the USPTO Internet Web site (address: www.uspto.gov/americainventsact). Speakers sharing commentary at the roundtable must submit a document explaining their position for inclusion in the record of the proceedings no later than thirty days after the roundtable. Written commentary should not exceed 25 pages using at least 12-point and double-spaced font. Because written commentary will be made available for public inspection, information that a speaker does not desire to be made public, such as a telephone number, should not be included in the written comments. The public roundtable will be available via Web cast. Information about how to access the Web cast will be posted on the USPTO's Internet Web site (address: https://www.uspto.gov/americainventsact) before the public roundtable. A transcript of the roundtable will be available on the USPTO Internet Web site (address: www.uspto.gov/americainventsact) shortly after the roundtable.

We, NMFS, issue the final False Killer Whale Take Reduction Plan (FKWTRP), and regulatory measures and non-regulatory measures and recommendations to reduce mortalities and serious injuries of false killer whales in Hawaii-based longline fisheries. Regulatory measures include gear requirements, longline prohibited areas, training and certification in marine mammal handling and release, captains' supervision of marine mammal handling and release, and posting of NMFS- approved placards on longline vessels. In this rule, NMFS also recommends research and data collection programs. This final rule also revises the boundaries of the longline prohibited area around the main Hawaiian Islands to be consistent with the prohibited area established under the FKWTRP regulations. The FKWTRP is based on consensus recommendations submitted to NMFS by the False Killer Whale Take Reduction Team (Team), with certain modifications described herein that were determined to be necessary to meet the requirements of the MMPA. This final rule is necessary because current mortality and serious injury levels of the Hawaii Pelagic and Hawaii Insular stocks of false killer whales incidental to the Hawaii-based pelagic longline fisheries are above the stocks' potential biological removal (PBR) levels, and are therefore inconsistent with the short- and long-term goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The FKWTRP is intended to meet the requirements of the MMPA.