Department of Commerce May 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction (ACEHR or Committee), will hold an open meeting via webinar on Friday, June 12, 2015, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to finalize the Committee's 2015 Report on the Effectiveness of the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP). The agenda may change to accommodate Committee business. The final agenda and any draft meeting materials will be posted prior to the meeting on the NEHRP Web site at https://nehrp.gov/. Interested members of the public will be able to participate in the meeting from remote locations by calling into a central phone number.

The Secretary of Commerce, through the Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (``OTEA''), issued an amended Export Trade Certificate of Review to the California Almond Export Association, LLC (``CAEA'') on May 6, 2015. The previous amendment was issued on May 1, 2014.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in this advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) requests comments for how the export clearance requirements under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) can be improved, including how the EAR export clearance provisions can be better harmonized with the export clearance requirements under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). This ANPR is part of Commerce's retrospective regulatory review and ongoing harmonization efforts being undertaken by Commerce and State as part of Export Control Reform (ECR) implementation. This ANPR is also part of Commerce's retrospective regulatory review plan under Executive Order (EO) 13563 (see the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for availability of the plan).

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that imports of certain steel nails from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less-than-fair value, as provided in section 735 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The final weighted-average dumping margins of sales at less than fair value are listed below in the ``Final Determination Margins'' section of this notice.

This notice is to remind the public that U.S. firms are required to report annually to the Department of Commerce (Commerce) information on contracts for the sale of defense articles or defense services to foreign countries or foreign firms that are subject to offsets agreements exceeding $5,000,000 in value. U.S. firms are also required to report annually to Commerce information on offsets transactions completed in performance of existing offsets commitments for which offsets credit of $250,000 or more has been claimed from the foreign representative. This year, such reports must include relevant information from calendar year 2014 and must be submitted to Commerce no later than June 15, 2015.

NMFS proposes to implement annual management measures and harvest specifications to establish the allowable catch levels (i.e. annual catch limit (ACL)/harvest guideline (HG)) for the northern subpopulation of Pacific sardine (hereafter, simply Pacific sardine), in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing season of July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2016. This rule is proposed according to the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The proposed would include a prohibition on directed non-tribal Pacific sardine commercial fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, which is required because the estimated 2015 biomass of Pacific sardine has dropped below the cutoff threshold in the HG control rule. Under the proposed action Pacific sardine may still be harvested as part of either the live bait or tribal fishery or incidental to other fisheries; the incidental harvest of Pacific sardine would initially be limited to 40-percent by weight of all fish per trip when caught with other CPS or up to 2 metric tons (mt) when caught with non-CPS. The proposed annual catch limit (ACL) for 2015-2016 Pacific sardine fishing year is 7,000 mt. This proposed rule is intended to conserve and manage the Pacific sardine stock off the U.S. West Coast.

This interim rule establishes a limit for calendar year 2015 on fishing effort by U.S. purse seine vessels in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (U.S. EEZ) and on the high seas between the latitudes of 20[deg] N. and 20[deg] S. in the area of application of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention). The limit is 1,828 fishing days. This action is necessary for the United States to implement provisions of a conservation and management measure adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC or Commission) and to satisfy the obligations of the United States under the Convention, to which it is a Contracting Party.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) maintains, as part of its Export Administration Regulations (EAR), the Commerce Control List (CCL), which identifies certain of the items subject to Department of Commerce jurisdiction. This final rule revises the CCL to implement changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement's List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar List) maintained and agreed to by governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement, or WA) at the December 2014 WA Plenary Meeting (the Plenary). The twentieth Plenary meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement was held in Vienna on 2 to 3 December 2014. The Wassenaar Arrangement advocates implementation of effective export controls on strategic items with the objective of improving regional and international security and stability. Wassenaar Participating States agreed to new export controls in a number of areas, including spacecraft equipment (Category 9) and technology for fly-by-wire/flight-by-light systems (Category 7), while texts for the control of machine tools (Category 2) and optical equipment for military utility and fiber laser components (Category 6) were substantially revised. In addition, significant reviews of several categories resulted in the deletion of obsolete controls relating to vessels (Category 8) and in refined controls on Unmanned Aerial VehiclesUAVs (Category 9), specifically taking note of the substantial progress of technology in that area. Wassenaar Participating States modified controls in a number of other areas, such as equipment for production of electronic devices (Category 3), certain telecommunications equipment where encryption and other ``information security'' functionality is limited to operations, administration, or maintenance (OAM) tasks (Category 5P2), and general purpose computers or servers where standard ``information security'' functionality is provided by embedded mass market microprocessors (CPUs) or operating systems (also Category 5P2). This rule amends the CCL by implementing the changes agreed to by the WA at the Plenary by revising 42 Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs), adding one ECCN and removing one ECCN, as well as amending the General Technology Note, WA reporting requirements, adding seven (7) definitions and revising six (6) definitions in the EAR. This rule also revises 3 ECCNs to add License Exception CIV eligibility for Anisotropic plasma dry etching equipment and related software and technology for the development and production of this equipment, as a result of BIS' foreign availability assessment. Country Group A column 1, the Coordinating Committee (CoCom) member countries, is replaced with the successor national security export regime the Wassenaar Arrangement Participating States. In addition, the second national security column and the second regional stability column of the Commerce Country Chart are amended to harmonize with each other, as well as make changes based on the risk of diversion to unauthorized end user, end uses or destinations.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that no countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain steel nails (nails) from Taiwan. The period of investigation is January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that de minimis countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain steel nails (nails) from the Sultanate of Oman. The period of investigation is January 1, 2013, through December 31, 2013.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that de minimis countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain steel nails (nails) from Malaysia. The period of investigation is January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that imports of certain steel nails from Taiwan are being sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV), as provided in section 735 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The final weighted-average dumping margins of sales at LTFV are listed below in the section entitled ``Final Determination Margins.''

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.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Mariana Archipelago Fishery Ecosystem Plan (FEP) Advisory Panels (AP) to discuss and make recommendations on fishery management issues in the Western Pacific Region.

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 is issuing an Incidental Harassment Authorization in response to a request from SAExploration Inc. (SAE) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to an oil and gas exploration seismic survey program in Cook Inlet, Alaska between May 13, 2015 and May 12, 2016.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) proposes to implement the agreements by the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) at the Plenary meeting in December 2013 with regard to systems, equipment or components specially designed for the generation, operation or delivery of, or communication with, intrusion software; software specially designed or modified for the development or production of such systems, equipment or components; software specially designed for the generation, operation or delivery of, or communication with, intrusion software; technology required for the development of intrusion software; Internet Protocol (IP) network communications surveillance systems or equipment and test, inspection, production equipment, specially designed components therefor, and development and production software and technology therefor. BIS proposes a license requirement for the export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) of these cybersecurity items to all destinations, except Canada. Although these cybersecurity capabilities were not previously designated for export control, many of these items have been controlled for their ``information security'' functionality, including encryption and cryptanalysis. This rule thus continues applicable Encryption Items (EI) registration and review requirements, while setting forth proposed license review policies and special submission requirements to address the new cybersecurity controls, including submission of a letter of explanation with regard to the technical capabilities of the cybersecurity items. BIS also proposes to add the definition of ``intrusion software'' to the definition section of the EAR pursuant to the WA 2013 agreements.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to take, by harassment, small numbers of 11 species of marine mammals incidental to construction activities for a tie-up slips dolphin and wingwall replacement project in Anacortes, Washington State, between September 1, 2015, and August 31, 2016.

On April 21, 2015, the United States Court of International Trade (``CIT'') issued its final judgment in Home Meridian Int'l, Inc. v. United States, Consol. Court No. 11-00325,\1\ and sustained the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') third remand redetermination.\2\ Consistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') 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 judgment in this case is not in harmony with the Department's Amended Final Results.\3\ The Department is amending its Amended Final Results with regard to the calculation of the weighted average dumping margin applied to the mandatory respondent, Dalian Huafeng Furniture Group Co., Ltd. (``Huafeng''), and the two separate rate respondents included in this decision: Nanhai Baiyi Woodwork Co. Ltd. (``Nanhai'') and Dongguan Liaobushangdun Huada Furniture Factory and Great Rich (HK) Enterprise Co., Ltd. (``Dongguan'').

Framework Adjustment 9 proposes management measures to further enhance catch monitoring and address discarding catch before it has been sampled by observers (known as slippage), in the Atlantic mackerel fishery. Framework 9 would implement slippage consequence measures, and a requirement that slippage events be reported via the vessel monitoring system. For allowable slippage events, due to safety, mechanical failure, or excess catch of spiny dogfish, vessels must move 15 nm from the location of the slippage event. For non- allowable slippage events, due to reasons other than those listed previously, vessels must terminate their fishing trip. Slippage events have the potential to substantially affect analysis or extrapolations of incidental catch, including river herring and shad, these proposed measures are designed to address this issue.

NMFS revises a proposed rule published on February 6, 2014, to implement Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) Resolution C- 04-06. Under the original proposed rule Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) would be required for any U.S. commercial fishing vessels that are 24 meters (78.74 feet) or more in overall length and used to target tuna in the eastern Pacific Ocean. After publication of the proposed rule on February 6, 2014, the IATTC adopted Resolution C-14-02, which expands the applicability of the VMS requirements to vessels engaged in fishing activities for either tuna or tuna-like species; this action would implement that expanded application. This action would also revise the original proposed rule by allowing additional conditions to authorize a vessel owner or operator to shut down a VMS unit, and in a few non- substantive ways as described below. This rule is intended to ensure full U.S. compliance with its international obligations under the IATTC Convention.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) and the International Trade Commission (the ITC) have determined that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from the People's Republic of China (PRC) would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States. The Department and the ITC have also determined that revocation of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on OCTG from the PRC would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of net countervailable subsidies and material injury to an industry in the United States. Therefore, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of these AD and CVD orders.