Department of Commerce December 19, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service published a document in the Federal Register of November 13, 2013 regarding the U.S. Healthcare Education Trade Mission to New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, India, January 27-February 1, 2014. This mission has been cancelled. Please update the existing notice with a note that this mission is cancelled as of December 10, 2013.

NMFS announces that the State of Maryland is transferring a portion of its 2013 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Connecticut. NMFS is adjusting the quotas and announcing the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Councils) have submitted a Generic Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) in the Gulf and South Atlantic Regions (Generic Dealer Amendment) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The Generic Dealer Amendment amends the following FMPs: Reef Fish Resources and the Red Drum Fishery of the Gulf; the Snapper-Grouper Fishery (including wreckfish), the Golden Crab Fishery, and the Shrimp Fishery (excluding penaeid shrimp) of the South Atlantic Region; the Dolphin and Wahoo Fishery of the Atlantic; and Coastal Migratory Pelagic (CMP) Resources and the Spiny Lobster Fishery of the Gulf and South Atlantic. The Generic Dealer Amendment would modify the permitting and reporting requirements for seafood dealers who first receive species managed by the Councils through the previously mentioned FMPs. These revisions would create a single dealer permit for dealers who first receive fish managed by the Councils, require both purchase and non-purchase reports to be submitted online on a weekly basis, not authorizing dealers to purchase fish from federally-permitted vessels if they are delinquent in submitting reports, and modify the sale and purchase provisions based on the new dealer permitting requirements. The intent of the amendment is to obtain timelier purchase information from dealers to help reduce annual catch limit (ACL) underages and overages, and achieve optimum yield in accordance with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by: Requiring exporters to file an Automated Export System (AES) record for all exports subject to the EAR involving a party or parties to the transaction who are listed on the Unverified List (the ``Unverified List'' or UVL); suspending the availability of license exceptions for exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) involving a party or parties to the transaction who are listed on the UVL; requiring exporters, reexporters, and transferors to obtain a UVL statement from a party or parties to the transaction who are listed on the UVL before proceeding with exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country) involving items subject to the EAR, but where the item does not require a license, i.e., No License Required (NLR); publishing the UVL in the EAR; and adding to the EAR the procedures to request removal or modification of a UVL entry. These changes to the UVL enhance the U.S. Government's ability to verify the bona fides of parties to exports, reexports, or transfers (in-country) of items subject to the EAR and provide the U.S. Government increased visibility into such exports, reexports, and transfers involving persons whose bona fides could not be verified.

This action closes the Gulf of Maine (GOM) haddock Trimester Total Allowable Catch (TAC) Area for Trimester 3, from January 1, 2014, through April 30, 2014, to common pool vessels, because the Trimester 3 TAC for GOM haddock has already been exceeded due to an overage in Trimester 1. This action is intended to prevent the overharvest of the common pool's allocation of GOM haddock.