Department of Commerce November 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.

The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') has determined that a request for a new shipper review (``NSR'') of the antidumping duty order on steel wire garment hangers from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for initiation.

At the request of the New England Fishery Management Council, this notice announces a ``control date'' that may be used as a reference for future management actions applicable to, but not limited to, qualifying landings and permit history for a limited access or allocation-based management program and limits on the accumulation of excessive control or ownership of fishing privileges in the small-mesh multispecies fishery. This notice is intended to promote awareness of possible rulemaking; notify the public that any future accumulation of fishing privilege interests in the small-mesh multispecies fishery may be affected, restricted, or even nullified; and discourage speculative behavior in the market for fishing privileges while the New England Fishery Management Council considers whether and how such limitations on accumulation of fishing privileges should be developed. Interested participants should locate and preserve records that substantiate and verify their control of small-mesh multispecies permits and other fishing privileges, as well as red, silver, and offshore hake, collectively known as small-mesh multispecies, landings history from Federal waters.

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.

In response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council, we, the NMFS, issue a final determination to list the Main Hawaiian Islands insular false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) distinct population segment (DPS) as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We intend to consider critical habitat for this DPS in a separate rulemaking. The effect of this action will be to implement the protective features of the ESA to conserve and recover this species.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to delist the Southern Resident killer whale (Orcinus orca) Distinct Population Segment (DPS) under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Southern Resident killer whale DPS was listed as endangered under the ESA in 2005. We find that the petition viewed in the context of information readily available in our files presents substantial scientific information indicating the petitioned action may be warranted. We are hereby initiating a status review of Southern Resident killer whales to determine whether the petitioned action is warranted and to examine the application of the DPS policy. To ensure the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information pertaining to this species.

On August 6, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') published in the Federal Register the preliminary results of the tenth administrative review, covering the period December 1, 2010, through November 30, 2011, of the antidumping duty order on honey from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'').\1\ We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Results. After reviewing interested parties' comments, we made no changes for the final results of review. The final antidumping duty margins for this review are listed in the ``Final Results of Review'' section below.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) South of Humbug Policy Workgroup (Workgroup) for Pacific halibut will hold a working meeting, which is open to the public.

NMFS is amending the 2006 Consolidated Atlantic Highly Migratory Species Fishery Management Plan based on several shark stock assessments that were completed from 2009 to 2012. The assessments for Atlantic blacknose, dusky, and scalloped hammerhead sharks indicated that these species are overfished and experiencing overfishing. The assessment for sandbar sharks indicated that this species is overfished, but not experiencing overfishing. The assessment for Gulf of Mexico blacktip sharks, adopted in this rulemaking, indicated that the stock is not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. The assessment for Gulf of Mexico blacknose sharks was not accepted; therefore, the overfished and overfishing statuses have been determined to be unknown. The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires the Agency to implement management measures that prevent overfishing and rebuild overfished stocks, as necessary. Based on the new stock assessments, and after considering public comments received during scoping and on a predraft document, we are proposing measures that would reduce fishing mortality and effort in order to rebuild overfished Atlantic shark species while ensuring that a limited sustainable shark fishery can be maintained consistent with our legal obligations. The proposed measures include changes to commercial quotas and species groups, the creation of several time/area closures, a change to an existing time/area closure, an increase in the recreational minimum size restrictions, and the establishment of recreational reporting for certain species of sharks. The proposed measures could affect U.S. commercial or recreational fishermen who harvest sharks within the Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

This notice announces the availability of the draft Mendocino Redwood Company Habitat Conservation Plan and Natural Community Conservation Plan (Proposed Plan), draft Implementing Agreement, and draft Environmental Impact Statement/Program Timberland Environmental Impact Report (EIS/PTEIR) for public review and comment. In response to receipt of an application from The Mendocino Redwood Company (MRC; Applicant), the National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Services) are considering the proposed action of issuing an 80-year incidental take permit for nine federally listed species and two currently unlisted species. The proposed permit would authorize take of individual members of species listed under section 10 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531-1544, 87 Stat. 884), as amended. The permit is needed because take of species could occur during timber harvest, forest management, and related activities within the 213,244-acre Proposed Plan Area in western Mendocino County, CA.

On July 2, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') initiated the second Sunset Reviews of the antidumping duty orders on steel concrete reinforcing bars from Belarus, Indonesia, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, the People's Republic of China and Ukraine. The Department finds that revocation of these antidumping duty orders would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping at the margins identified in the ``Final Results of Reviews'' section of this notice.

The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') and the Russian Federation's Ministry of Economic Development (``MED'') have initialed a draft revision to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon Quality Steel Products (``Suspension Agreement''). The proposed revision will update the reference prices provided under the Suspension Agreement applicable to October 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012, to bring them into alignment with current U.S. prices. The Department is now inviting interested parties to comment on the text of the proposed revision.

The SEDAR 28 assessment of the Gulf of Mexico Spanish mackerel and cobia fisheries will consist of a series of workshops and supplemental Webinars. This notice is for a Cancellation of a Webinar associated with the Assessment portion of the SEDAR process. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

This notice announces receipt of an application and the public comment period for an exempted fishing permit (EFP) from Mr. John Gauvin of Gauvin and Associates, LLC. If granted, this permit would allow the applicant to develop and test a salmon excluder device for the Central Gulf of Alaska pollock trawl fishery. This activity is intended to promote the objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) by reducing salmon bycatch in the Central Gulf of Alaska pollock trawl fishery.

On August 1, 2012, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published the Preliminary Results of the 2010-2011 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot- rolled carbon steel flat products (``hot-rolled steel'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). The period of review (``POR'') is November 1, 2010, through October 31, 2011. We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Results, but none were received. The final weighted-average dumping margin for the PRC-wide entity is listed in the ``Final Results of Review'' section below.

The Board of Overseers of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Board of Overseers) will meet in open session on Wednesday, December 12, 2012. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and review information received from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and from the Chair of the Judges' Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The agenda will include: Report from the Judges' Panel, Baldrige Performance Excellence Program (BPEP) Update, Baldrige Program Business Plan Status Report, Baldrige Performance Excellence Criteria Changes for 2013, and Recommendations for the NIST Director.

On September 14, 2012, the Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) published a notice in the Federal Register (77 FR 56811) soliciting applications for appointment of 25 members of the Manufacturing Council (Council) for a two-year term to begin in fall 2012. The September 14, 2012 notice provided that all applications must be received by the Office of Advisory Committees of the Department of Commerce by close of business on November 2, 2012. This notice extends the application period in order to provide the public with an additional opportunity to submit applications. The eligibility and evaluation criteria contained in the September 14, 2012 notice shall continue to apply. The purpose of the Council is to advise the Secretary of Commerce on matters relating to the competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing sector and to provide a forum for regular communication between Government and the manufacturing sector.