Department of Commerce March 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

NMFS proposes regulations under authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (WCPFC Implementation Act) to implement limits on fishing effort by U.S. purse seine vessels in the U.S. exclusive economic zone and on the high seas, restrictions on the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs), and requirements for U.S. purse seine vessels to carry observers. This action is necessary for the United States to implement provisions of a conservation and management measure (CMM) adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC) and to satisfy the international obligations of the United States under the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention), to which it is a Contracting Party.

This notice sets forth a request for input from U.S. businesses capable of exporting their goods or services relevant to landfill environmental standards. The Department of Commerce continues to develop the web-based U.S. Environmental Solutions Toolkit to be used by foreign environmental officials and foreign end-users of environmental technologies that will outline U.S. approaches to a series of environmental problems and highlight participating U.S. vendors of relevant U.S. technologies. The Toolkit will support the President's National Export Initiative by fostering export opportunities for the U.S. environmental industry, as well as advancing global environmental protection.

This notice sets forth a request for input from U.S. businesses capable of exporting their goods or services relevant to management of medical waste. The Department of Commerce continues to develop the web-based U.S. Environmental Solutions Toolkit to be used by foreign environmental officials and foreign end-users of environmental technologies that will outline U.S. approaches to a series of environmental problems and highlight participating U.S. vendors of relevant U.S. technologies. The Toolkit will support the President's National Export Initiative by fostering export opportunities for the U.S. environmental industry, as well as advancing global environmental protection.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in the West Yakutat District of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2013 total allowable catch of pollock in the West Yakutat District of the GOA.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement Amendment 94 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP), which would amend certain sablefish provisions of the Individual Fishing Quota Program for the Fixed-Gear Commercial Fisheries for Pacific Halibut and Sablefish in Waters in and off Alaska (IFQ Program). Amendment 94 and its proposed implementing regulations would revise the vessel use caps applicable to sablefish quota share (QS) held by Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Community Quota Entities (CQEs). NMFS is proposing the same regulatory revisions to the vessel use caps applicable to halibut QS held by GOA CQEs. In this action, NMFS is also proposing to revise the IFQ Program regulations to add three eligible communities to the CQE Program; to allow CQEs in International Pacific Halibut Commission regulatory area 3A (Area 3A) to purchase vessel category D halibut QS; to revise CQE annual reporting requirements, including specifying requirements for the charter halibut program; to clarify the CQE floating processor landing reporting requirements; and to consolidate CQE Program eligibility by community in a single table in the regulations.

NMFS is changing the butterfish mortality cap on the longfin squid fishery from a catch cap to a discard cap as a result of its approval of Framework Adjustment 7 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan. This action also reduces the butterfish mortality cap for the 2013 fishing year by 13 percent (from 4,477 mt to 3,884 mt) to exclude butterfish landings that were previously included in the butterfish mortality cap allocation. The adjustment will maintain the intended function of the butterfish mortality cap by continuing to limit butterfish discards in the longfin squid fishery while accommodating a potential directed butterfish fishery during the 2013 fishing year.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is announcing the settlement of proceedings before five separate North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) binational dispute settlement panels.

On October 26, 2012, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published the preliminary results of the second sunset review of the antidumping duty order on folding gift boxes from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the preliminary results. The Folding Gift Boxes Fair Trade Coalition (``Domestic Parties'') \1\ filed comments in support of the Department's preliminary results and no other party submitted comments. Further, as a result of the determinations by the Department and the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of the antidumping duty order.

The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is conducting a new shipper review of the antidumping duty order on certain new pneumatic off-the-road tires (``OTR tires'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''). The period of review (``POR'') is September 1, 2011, through February 29, 2012. The review covers a single entry of subject merchandise exported by Trelleborg Wheel Systems (Xingtai) China, Co. Ltd. (``Trelleborg Wheel Systems China'') and imported by its U.S. affiliate, Trelleborg Wheel Systems Americas. We have preliminarily found that Trelleborg Wheel Systems China did not make a sale of subject merchandise at less than normal value.

The ONMS is seeking applications for the following vacant seats on the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council: Commercial Fishing. Applicants are chosen based upon their particular expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying; community and professional affiliations; philosophy regarding the protection and management of marine resources; and possibly the length of residence in the area affected by the sanctuary. Applicants who are chosen should expect to serve until February 2016.

NMFS issues this proposed rule for the 2013 Pacific whiting fishery under the authority of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), and the Pacific Whiting Act of 2006. This proposed rule would establish a formula, specifically [17.5 percent * (U.S. Total Allowable Catch)] plus 16,000 metric tons (mt), for determining the Pacific whiting tribal allocation for 2013 for Pacific Coast Indian tribes that have a Treaty right to harvest groundfish.

On February 7, 2013, the United States Court of International Trade (``CIT'') sustained the Department of Commerce's (``Department'') results of redetermination, which granted a separate rate to Gem-Year Industrial Co., Ltd. (``Gem-Year''), in the 2008-2010 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain steel threaded rod (``steel threaded rod'') from the People's Republic of China (``PRC''),\1\ pursuant to the CIT's remand order in Hubbell Power Systems, Inc. v. United States, Court No. 11-00474, Slip Op. 12-123 (CIT 2012) (``Hubbell''). Consistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') in Timken,\2\ as clarified by Diamond Sawblades,\3\ the Department is notifying the public that the final judgment in this case is not in harmony with the Department's Final Results and is amending the Final Results.\4\

NMFS publishes the standard ex-vessel prices and fee percentage for cost recovery under the Central Gulf of Alaska Rockfish Program. This action is intended to provide participants in a rockfish cooperative with the standard prices and fee percentage for the 2012 fishing year, which was authorized from May 1 through November 15. The fee percentage is 1.4 percent. The fee liability payments were due from each rockfish cooperative by February 15, 2013.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's (CFMC) Outreach and Education Advisory Panel (OEAP) will hold a meeting.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 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 the continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

NMFS announces final 2013 and 2014 harvest specifications and prohibited species catch allowances for the groundfish fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). 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 BSAI (FMP). 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 (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

We announce the availability of public comments received regarding our intent to issue Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs), Scientific Research Permits (SRPs), Display Permits, Letters of Acknowledgment (LOAs), and Chartering Permits for the collection of Atlantic highly migratory species (HMS) in 2013. On November 20, 2012, we published a Notice of Intent (NOI) announcing our intent to issue these permits in 2013. In general, EFPs and related permits would authorize collection of a limited number of tunas, swordfish, billfishes, and sharks from Federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico for the purposes of scientific data collection and public display. Comments were accepted on the NOI until December 20, 2012.