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

NMFS reviewed the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regional marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs) in accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act. SARs for marine mammals in the Alaska, Atlantic, and Pacific regions were revised according to new information. NMFS solicits public comments on the draft 2018 SARs. NMFS also announces the availability of revised Atlantic Regional 2016 and 2017 SARs that include technical corrections.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council), jointly with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission's) Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board), has rescheduled three public hearings for the Draft Summer Flounder Commercial Issues and Goals and Objectives Amendment to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP). These three hearings were previously scheduled for September 12 and 13 in Washington, NC, Newport News, VA, and Dover, DE, and have been postponed due to inclement weather associated with Hurricane Florence.

Based on a request from Mid Continent Nail Corporation (the petitioner), the Department of Commerce (Commerce) is initiating, and issuing expedited preliminary results of, a changed circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain steel nails (nails) from the People's Republic of China (China).

A Request for Panel Review was filed on behalf of Kruger Trois-Rivieres L.P. (``KTR''), Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited (``CBPP''), Kruger Publication Papers Inc. (``KPPI''), and Kruger Brompton L.P. (collectively ``Kruger'') with the United States Section of the NAFTA Secretariat on September 7, 2018, pursuant to NAFTA Article 1904. Panel Review was requested in regards to the Department of Commerce's final antidumping duty determination of Certain Uncoated Groundwood Paper from Canada. The final determination was published in the Federal Register on August 9, 2018 (83 FR 39412). The NAFTA Secretariat has assigned case number USA-CDA-2018-1904-05 to this request.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that Fimex VN sold certain frozen warmwater shrimp from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) at less than normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR), February 1, 2016, through January 31, 2017.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will hold a two- day meeting of its Standing, Reef Fish and Socioeconomic Scientific and Statistical Committees (SSC).

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.

On September 4, 2018, BIS published a final rule amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by adding fifteen entities under seventeen entries to the Entity List. An error of omission left out one Pakistani entity from an amendatory instruction. This correction clarifies that instruction.

The SEDAR Steering Committee will meet to discuss the SEDAR process and assessment schedule. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

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 proposes to reclassify certain management unit species in the Pacific Islands as ecosystem component species. The proposed rule would also update the scientific and local names of certain species. The intent of this proposed rule is to prioritize conservation and management efforts and to improve efficiency of fishery management in the region.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for yellowfin sole in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI) for vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery. This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2018 allocation of yellowfin sole total allowable catch for vessels participating in the BSAI trawl limited access fishery in the BSAI.

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).

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) received countervailable subsidies during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) has received requests to conduct administrative reviews of various antidumping and countervailing duty orders and findings with July anniversary dates. In accordance with Commerce's regulations, we are initiating those administrative reviews.