Department of Commerce 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).

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.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Spiny Dogfish Committee will hold a meeting.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Coastal Pelagic Species Management Team (CPSMT) will hold a meeting that is open to the public.

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, Public Law 104-13.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding, in part, the administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic products from the People's Republic of China (China) for the period of review (POR), February 1, 2017, through January 31, 2018.

NMFS proposes revising Federal regulations that restrict the use and configuration of bottom and midwater trawl gear for vessels fishing under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery's Trawl Rationalization Program. The gear restrictions were originally implemented to limit discarding and protect overfished rockfish species. These restrictions are no longer necessary because of changes to the fishery, including implementation of the Trawl Rationalization Program in 2011, and improved status of a number of overfished rockfish stocks. By eliminating these regulations, the proposed action could increase flexibility in how vessels can use and configure gear to increase access to target stocks and efficiency of fishing practices, while still limiting the catch of target and non-target discards to meet the conservation objectives of the Trawl Rationalization Program.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Salmon Technical Team (STT) will hold a series of meetings via webinar to continue the discussion on the ongoing development of salmon rebuilding plans for Klamath River fall Chinook, Sacramento River fall Chinook, Strait of Juan de Fuca natural coho, Queets River natural coho, and Snohomish River natural coho. Each meeting is scheduled for two hours with either a morning or afternoon start time. These meetings are open to the public.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold meetings of the following Citizen Science Advisory Panel Action Teams: Finance & Infrastructure; Volunteers; Projects/Topics Management; Data Management; and Communication/Outreach/Education via webinar.

The President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa will hold the final meeting of its term to deliberate and consider adopting a report containing recommendations to the President on actions the United States Government could take to mitigate obstacles that U.S. companies face in doing business in Africa, as well as findings from the Council's June 24-July 5, 2018 Fact-Finding Trip to Ethiopia, Kenya, C[ocirc]te d'Ivoire and Ghana, countries the Council identified as holding particular promise of business opportunities for U.S. companies, that was led by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Under Secretary for International Trade Gil Kaplan. The recommendations in the Council's report may include updates to recommendations the Council previously adopted on April 18, 2018 for Ethiopia, Kenya, C[ocirc]te d'Ivoire and Ghana, new recommendations that focus on those or other African countries, and recommendations that apply to the African region broadly. The Secretary of Commerce extended the appointments of the members of the PAC-DBIA by 60 days, to expire on November 5, 2018, to allow the Council sufficient time to complete its final report following the Fact-Finding Trip. The final agenda for the meeting will be posted at least one week in advance of the meeting on the Council's website at https://trade.gov/ pac-dbia.

On June 22, 2018, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) published in the Federal Register the preliminary determination of the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation on certain plastic decorative ribbon (plastic ribbon) from the People's Republic of China (China). Commerce is amending the scope of the preliminary determination.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that rubber bands from the People's Republic of China (China) are being or are likely to be sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is July 1, 2017, through December 31, 2017. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the C season allowance of the 2018 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 620 in the GOA.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has received petitions for certification of eligibility to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance from the firms listed below. Accordingly, EDA has initiated investigations to determine whether increased imports into the United States of articles like or directly competitive with those produced by each of the firms contributed importantly to the total or partial separation of the firms' workers, or threat thereof, and to a decrease in sales or production of each petitioning firm.