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

NMFS implements accountability measures (AMs) for the commercial sector for the lesser amberjack, almaco jack, and banded rudderfish complex in the South Atlantic for the 2015 fishing year through this temporary rule. Commercial landings for the lesser amberjack, almaco jack, and banded rudderfish complex, as estimated by the Science and Research Director, are projected to reach their combined commercial annual catch limit (ACL) on June 23, 2015. Therefore, NMFS closes the commercial sector for this complex on June 23, 2015, through the remainder of the fishing year in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. This closure is necessary to protect the lesser amberjack, almaco jack, and banded rudderfish resources.

This proposed rule describes how articles the President determines no longer warrant control under Category XIV (Toxicological Agents, Including Chemical Agents, Biological Agents, and Associated Equipment) or Category XVIII (Directed Energy Weapons) of the United States Munitions List (USML) would be controlled under the Commerce Control List (CCL). The affected Category XIV articles consist primarily of dissemination, detection and protection ``equipment'' and related articles and would be controlled under new Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 1A607, 1B607, 1C607, 1D607, and 1E607, as proposed by this rule. The affected Category XVIII articles consist primarily of tooling, production ``equipment,'' test and evaluation ``equipment,'' test models and related articles and would be controlled under new ECCNs 6B619, 6D619 and 6E619, as proposed by this rule. This rule is one in a series of proposed rules describing how various types of articles that the President determines no longer warrant control on the USML, as part of the Administration's Export Control Reform Initiative, would be controlled on the CCL in accordance with the requirements of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This proposed rule is being published by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) in conjunction with a proposed rule from the Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, which would amend the list of articles controlled by USML Categories XIV and XVIII. The citations in this BIS proposed rule to USML Categories XIV and XVIII reflect the proposed amendments contained in the Department of State's rule. The revisions proposed by BIS in this rule are part of Commerce's retrospective regulatory review plan under Executive Order 13563 completed in August 2011.

The Economic and Statistics Administration (ESA) is giving notice of a meeting of Commerce Data Advisory Council (CDAC). The CDAC will address areas such as data management practices; common, open data standards; policy issues related to privacy, latency, and consistency; effective models for public-private partnership; external uses of Commerce data; and, methods to build new feedback loops between the Department and data users. The CDAC will meet in a plenary session on July 30, 2015. Last-minute changes to the schedule are possible, which could prevent giving advance public notice of schedule adjustments.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is amending its final determination in the less-than-fair-value investigation of certain steel nails from Malaysia, to correct a ministerial error.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulations, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. (Shell) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to ice overflight surveys in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, Alaska.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) publishes this final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the recommendations presented at the November 2013 Australia Group (AG) intersessional implementation meeting and later adopted pursuant to the AG silent approval procedure. Specifically, this rule amends the Commerce Control List (CCL) entry in the EAR that controls certain human and zoonotic pathogens and toxins, and removes the CCL entry that controls certain animal pathogens to reflect the merger of two AG common control lists based on recommendations presented at the AG intersessional implementation meeting. As a result of these recommendations, the AG ``List of Animal Pathogens for Export Control'' was merged with the AG ``List of Biological Agents for Export Control,'' creating a single AG common control list for these items (i.e., the AG ``List of Human and Animal Pathogens and Toxins for Export Control''). The scope of the controls on these human and animal pathogens and toxins was not affected by the merger of the two lists into a single AG common control list. This rule also makes conforming amendments to other provisions in the EAR to reflect these changes. In addition, this rule amends the CCL entry that controls chemical manufacturing facilities and equipment to reflect changes to the AG ``Control List of Dual-Use Chemical Manufacturing Facilities and Equipment and Related Technology and Software,'' based on the November 2013 AG intersessional recommendation to revise controls on certain valves, casings (valve bodies) designed for such valves, and preformed casing liners designed for such valves. This rule also amends this CCL entry to add a Technical Note clarifying how the terms ``multi-seal'' and ``seal-less'' are used with respect to the controls on pumps. In a change unrelated to any revisions to the AG common control lists or guidelines, this rule also amends this CCL entry to authorize the use of License Exception LVS for specified shipments. This rule does not contain changes based on the understandings reached at the June 2014 AG Plenary meeting, because no amendments to the EAR were required as a result of these understandings.

On December 8, 2014, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published its preliminary results of the 2012-2013 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (PRC).\1\ The period of review is November 1, 2012, through October 31, 2013. The mandatory respondents in this review are: Hebei Golden Bird Trading Co., Ltd. (Golden Bird) and Jinxiang Hejia Co., Ltd. (Hejia). Following the Preliminary Results, we invited interested parties to comment. We have made no changes for these final results of the antidumping duty administrative review.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Joint Observer and Herring Committees to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from these groups will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

This action serves as a notice that NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), has found that the following stocks are subject to overfishing or are in an overfished condition: Gulf of Maine/Northern Georges Bank red hake, which is managed by the New England Fishery Management Council, is now subject to overfishing, but is not overfished; and Southeast Florida hogfish, which is jointly managed by the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils, is now subject to overfishing and is in an overfished condition. NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary, notifies the appropriate fishery management council (Council) whenever it determines that overfishing is occurring, a stock is in an overfished condition, a stock is approaching an overfished condition, or when a rebuilding plan has not resulted in adequate progress toward ending overfishing and rebuilding affected fish stocks.

On December 9, 2014, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register the Preliminary Results of the 2012-2013 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on seamless refined copper tube and pipe from Mexico.\1\ This review covers two producers/exporters of the subject merchandise, GD Affiliates S. de R.L. de C.V. (Golden Dragon) \2\ and Nacional de Cobre, S.A. de C.V. (Nacobre). We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Results and, based upon our analysis of the comments received, we continue to find that sales of subject merchandise have been made at prices below normal value.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 8th NIST Cloud Computing Forum and Workshop will be held in Gaithersburg, Maryland on Tuesday, July 7, Wednesday, July 8, Thursday, July 9, and Friday July 10, 2015. The format is a four-day forum that emphasizes the participation and progress made by standard development organizations, researchers and the community of cloud computing experts. The Forum and Workshop will bring together leaders and innovators from industry, academia and government in an interactive format that combines keynote presentations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions. The forum and workshop are open to the general public. NIST invites presentations from interested speakers at this event as described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. In addition, NIST invites organizations to participate as exhibitors as described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below.

NMFS proposes to modify the baseline annual U.S. quota and subquotas for Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT). NMFS also proposes minor modifications to the regulatory text regarding Atlantic tuna purse seine auxiliary vessel activity under the ``transfer at sea'' provisions. This action is necessary to implement binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as required by the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson- Stevens Act).

On December 5, 2014, the Department of Commerce (the ``Department'') published its Preliminary Results in the 2012-2013 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip from the People's Republic of China (PRC).\1\ The period of review (``POR'') is November 1, 2012, through October 31, 2013. This review covers four companies: Shaoxing Xiangyu Green Packing Co. Ltd. (``Green Packing'') and Tianjin Wanhua Co., Ltd. (``Wanhua''), which were subject to individual examination, as well as Fuwei Films (Shandong) Co., Ltd. (``Fuwei Films'') and Sichuan Dongfang Insulating Material Co., Ltd., (``Dongfang'').\2\ Based on our analysis of the comments received, we made certain changes to our margin calculations for Wanhua. The final dumping margins for this review are listed in the ``Final Results'' section below.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``USPTO'') is amending the rules related to collective trademarks, collective service marks, and collective membership marks (together ``collective marks''), and certification marks to clarify application requirements, allegations of use requirements, multiple-class application requirements, and registration maintenance requirements for such marks. These rule changes codify current USPTO practice set forth in the USPTO's ``Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure'' (``TMEP'') and precedential case law. These changes also permit the USPTO to provide the public more detailed guidance regarding registering and maintaining registrations for these types of marks and promote the efficient and consistent processing of such marks. Further, the USPTO is amending several rules beyond those related to collective marks and certification marks to create consistency with rule changes regarding such marks and to streamline the rules, by consolidating text and incorporating headings, for easier use.

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 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.