Department of Commerce September 11, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that certain producers and exporters of passenger vehicle and light truck tires (passenger tires) from the People's Republic of China (China) made sales of subject merchandise at prices below normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR) August 1, 2016, through July 31, 2017.

On March 8, 2018, President Trump issued Proclamations 9704 and 9705 (referred to henceforth as the ``Proclamations''), imposing duties on imports of aluminum and steel. The Proclamations also authorized the Secretary of Commerce (referred to henceforth as the ``Secretary'') to grant exclusions from the duties if the Secretary determines the steel or aluminum article for which the exclusion is requested is not ``produced in the United States in a sufficient and reasonably available amount or of a satisfactory quality'' or should be excluded ``based upon specific national security considerations.'' On March 19, 2018, the Department issued an interim final rule (referred to henceforth as the ``March 19 rule''), setting forth the requirements a directly affected party located in the United States must satisfy when submitting exclusion requests. The March 19 rule also set forth the requirements that U.S. parties must meet when submitting objections to exclusion requests. The March 19 rule amended the National Security Industrial Base Regulations to add two new supplements. The rule published today by BIS, on behalf of the Secretary, revises the two supplements added by the March 19 rule. The revisions are informed by the comments received in response to the March 19 rule and the U.S. Department of Commerce's (referred to henceforth as ``the Department'') experience with managing the exclusion and objection process. The Department understands the importance of having a transparent, fair and efficient exclusion and objection process. The publication of today's rule should make significant improvements in all three respects, but due to the scope of this new process, BIS is publishing today's rule as an interim final rule with request for comments.

The purpose of this notice is to advise the public that the National Defense Stockpile Market Impact Committee, co-chaired by the Departments of Commerce and State, is seeking public comments on the potential market impact of the proposed Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Stockpile Annual Materials Plan. The role of the Market Impact Committee is to advise the National Defense Stockpile Manager on the projected domestic and foreign economic effects of all acquisitions, conversions, and disposals involving the stockpile and related material research and development projects. Public comments are an important element of the Committee's market impact review process.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that we have issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to take small numbers of marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to Bremerton and Edmonds ferry terminals dolphin relocation project in Washington State.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding the administrative review of the antidumping order on 1,1,1,2- tetrafluoroethane (R-134A) from the People's Republic of China (China) covering the October 7, 2016, through March 31, 2018, period of review (POR).