Department of Commerce December 6, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) currently has a backlog of over 90,000 patent applications that have not been examined since the filing of a Request for Continued Examination (RCE). This backlog diverts resources away from the examination of new applications. The Office is continuing its efforts to reduce the RCE backlog. For example, the Office recently implemented a pair of pilot programsthe Quick Path Information Disclosure Statement (QPIDS) pilot program and the After Final Consideration Pilot (AFCP)designed to reduce the need to file an RCE. The Office is now soliciting public feedback in an effort to better understand the full spectrum of factors that impact the decision to file an RCE. The Office is providing three different avenues for the public to provide their feedback on RCE practice: (1) Through the submission of written comments by electronic mail message over the Internet or by postal mail; (2) through the submission of written comments using a Web-based collaboration tool called IdeaScale[supreg]; and (3) through a series of roundtables that the Office is planning to conduct. The Office plans to use the information it obtains to design additional programs and initiatives aimed at reducing RCE filings and the RCE backlog.

On June 4, 2012, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary results of the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on narrow woven ribbons with woven selvedge (narrow woven ribbons) from Taiwan. The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2010, through August 31, 2011. Based on our analysis of the comments received we have made no changes to the dumping margin assigned to Hubschercorp, the sole respondent in this administrative review. Therefore, the final results do not differ from the preliminary results. The final dumping margin for Hubschercorp is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of Review.''

On June 1, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published its preliminary results of administrative review of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Certain Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products from the Russian Federation (``the Agreement'') for the period July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011. See Hot-Rolled Flat-Rolled Carbon-Quality Steel Products From the Russian Federation; Preliminary Results of the Administrative Review of the Suspension Agreement, 77 FR 32513 (June 1, 2012) (``Preliminary Results''). In its Preliminary Results, the Department determined that, although the Government of the Russian Federation was in compliance with the Agreement, the Department's evaluation with respect to the status of the Agreement indicated that the Agreement was not meeting its statutory requirement to prevent price undercutting of domestic hot-rolled steel prices. On November 14 and 15, 2012, respectively, the Department and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (``The Economy Ministry of Russia'') initialed a draft revision to the Agreement which realigns the reference prices issued pursuant to the Agreement with current U.S. market prices. The Department requested, and received on November 23, 2012, comments from interested parties on the initialed draft revision. On November 30, 2012, the Department and The Economy Ministry of Russia signed the final revision to the Agreement. The revision to the Agreement reestablishes the effectiveness of the reference price mechanism and, thus, brings the revised Agreement into compliance with the statutory requirement to prevent the undercutting of domestic price levels by imports of Russian hot-rolled steel.

On July 27, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') issued the preliminary results of the full third sunset reviews of the antidumping duty (``AD'') orders on certain corrosion- resistant carbon steel flat products (``CORE'') from Germany and the Republic of Korea (``Korea'').\1\ We received comments from interested parties on our Preliminary Results. As a result of our analysis, the Department finds that revocation of these AD orders would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping at margins of dumping specified in the ``Final Results of Reviews'' section of this notice.

On June 1, 2012, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Turkey.\1\ This review covers four producers and exporters of subject merchandise: Borusan, Erbosan, Toscelik, and Yucel.\2\ The period of review (``POR'') is May 1, 2010, through April 30, 2011. Based on our analysis of the comments received, we have made certain changes in the margin calculations. The final results, consequently, differ from the Preliminary Results. The final weighted- average dumping margins for the reviewed firms are listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of Review.''

NMFS proposes 2013 and 2014 harvest specifications, apportionments, and prohibited species catch (PSC) allowances for the groundfish fisheries of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) management area. This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the 2013 and 2014 fishing years, and to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area. The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the BSAI in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.