Department of Commerce December 1, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has received a request from the National Park Service (NPS) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to glaucous- winged gull and climate monitoring research activities in Glacier Bay National Park (GLBA NP), Alaska. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip (PET Film) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The period of review (POR) is November 1, 2015, through October 31, 2016. The review covers two producer/exporters of the subject merchandise, JBF RAK LLC (JBF) and UFlex Limited (UFlex). The Department preliminarily determines that sales of subject merchandise have been made below normal value by JBF. In addition, the Department preliminarily finds that UFlex had no shipments during the POR. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issues a final rule to incorporate classification changes adopted by the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Agreement). These changes are effective January 1, 2018, and are listed in the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (11th ed., ver. 2018), which is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

The Board of the First Responder Network Authority (``FirstNet Board'') will convene a meeting of the FirstNet Board and the Committees of the Board of the First Responder Network Authority ``Board Committees'' that will be open to the public via teleconference and WebEx on December 7, 2017.

The Economic Development Administration (``EDA''), U.S. Department of Commerce (``DOC''), is issuing this final rule amending the agency's regulations implementing the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965, as amended (``PWEDA''). The changes incorporate current best practices and strengthen EDA's efforts to evaluate, monitor, and improve performance within the agency's Revolving Loan Fund (``RLF'') program by establishing the Risk Analysis System, a risk-based management framework, to evaluate and manage the RLF program. To make RLF awards more efficient for Recipients to administer and EDA to monitor, EDA is also reorganizing the RLF regulations and making changes to improve readability and clarify those requirements that apply to the distinct phases of an RLF award. In addition, EDA is updating other parts of its regulations, including revising definitions, replacing references to superseded regulations to reflect the promulgation of the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (``Uniform Guidance''), streamlining the provisions that outline EDA's application process, and clarifying EDA's property management regulations.