Department of Commerce October 31, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 11, 2013, the United States Court of International Trade (``Court'' or ``CIT'') issued its final judgment in Advanced Technology & Materials v. United States,\1\ sustaining the Department of Commerce's (Department) Second Remand Results.\2\ Consistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (``Federal Circuit'') in Timken Co., v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (``Timken''), as clarified by Diamond Sawblades Mfrs. Coalition v. United States, 626 F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (``Diamond Sawblades''), the Department is notifying the public that the final CIT judgment in this case is not in harmony with the Department's Final Determination \3\ and is amending the Final Determination with respect to the AT&M Entity's \4\ eligibility for a separate rate in the less-than-fair-value investigation.

On June 10, 2013, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register its preliminary results of the sixth administrative review of the antidumping duty order \1\ on certain lined paper products from the People's Republic of China (PRC).\2\ The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2011, through August 31, 2012. We invited parties to comment on the Preliminary Results, however, no party submitted any comments. The current review covers three exporters: Leo's Quality Products Co., Ltd./Denmax Plastic Stationery Factory (Leo/Denmax), Shanghai Lian Li Paper Products Co., Ltd. (Lian Li), and Hwa Fuh Plastics Co., Ltd./Li Teng Plastics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (Hwa Fuh/Li Teng). For these final results, we made no changes to our preliminary results. We are rescinding the review with respect to Hwa Fuh/Li Teng. We continue to find Leo/Denmax to be part of the PRC- wide entity. In addition, we continue to find that Lian Li made no shipments to the United States during the POR and will retain its separate rate status.

The Western Pacific Fisheries Management Council (Council) will convene public informational scoping meetings in Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) to solicit comments on the management of the bottomfish fishery within the EEZ of the Mariana Islands. The scoping meeting will, among other things, describe the existing federal management regime for bottomfish species, examine the current performance of the fishery and consider the need for potential regulatory changes.

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.

On April 9, 2013, 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 Thailand. This review covers two producers and/or exporters of the subject merchandise, Saha Thai Steel Pipe (Public) Company, Ltd. (Saha Thai), and Pacific Pipe Company Limited (Pacific Pipe). The period of review (POR) is March 1, 2011, through February 29, 2012. The Department received comments from interested parties. For the final results we continue to find that Saha Thai has not sold subject merchandise at less than normal value (NV), and that Pacific Pipe had no shipments of subject merchandise during the POR.

We, NMFS, have completed comprehensive status reviews under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of five species of foreign sturgeons in response to a petition. We have determined, based on the best scientific and commercial data available and after taking into account efforts being made to protect the species, that Acipenser naccarii (Adriatic sturgeon), and A. sturio (European sturgeon) in Western Europe, A. sinensis (Chinese sturgeon) in the Yangtze River basin, and A. mikadoi (Sakhalin sturgeon) and Huso dauricus (Kaluga sturgeon) in the Amur River Basin/Sea of Japan/Sea of Okhotsk region, meet the definition of endangered species. We are not proposing to designate critical habitat because the geographical areas occupied by these species are entirely outside U.S. jurisdiction and we have not identified any unoccupied areas that are currently essential to the conservation of any of these species. We are soliciting information that may be relevant to these listing and critical habitat determinations, especially on the status and conservation of these species.