Department of Commerce 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a series of public hearings via webinar pertaining to Framework Amendment 9 to the Fishery Management Plan for Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region. The amendment addresses commercial trip limits in the Atlantic Northern Zone for commercial Spanish mackerel.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on Carbon and Alloy Steel Cut-to-Length Plate from the Republic of Korea. The period of review (POR) is November 14, 2016 through April 30, 2018. The review covers fourteen producer and/or exporters of the subject merchandise, including POSCO, POSCO Daewoo Corporation, and POSCO Processing & Service Co., Ltd. (which are part of the POSCO single entity), as well as eleven other companies not selected for individual examination. We determine that U.S. sales of subject merchandise by the POSCO single entity were made at prices below normal value (NV). Additionally, two companies, Hyundai Steel Corporation (Hyundai Steel) and Hyundai Glovis Co. Ltd. (Hyundai Glovis), were found to have no shipments during the POR.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that producers/exporters subject to this review made sales of subject merchandise below normal value in the United States during the period of review (POR) February 1, 2018 through January 31, 2019. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

The Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, with the concurrence of the General Services Administration, renewed the Charter for the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness on November 14, 2019.

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 comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

NMFS and USFWS announce the initiation of a 5-year review for the following distinct population segments (DPS) of loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta): The Mediterranean Sea DPS, the Northeast Atlantic Ocean DPS, the North Indian Ocean DPS, the South Pacific Ocean DPS, the Northwest Atlantic Ocean DPS, the South Atlantic Ocean DPS, the Southeast Indo-Pacific Ocean DPS, and the Southwest Indian Ocean DPS. NMFS and USFWS are required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to conduct 5-year reviews to ensure that the listing classifications of species are accurate. The 5-year review must be based on the best scientific and commercial data available at the time of the review. We request submission of any such information on these loggerhead DPSs, particularly information on the status, threats, and recovery of the DPSs that has become available since their listing on September 22, 2011 (76 FR 58868).

NMFS published a final rule that implemented Amendment 28 to the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan in the Federal Register on November 19, 2019 (84 FR 63966). The final rule changed boundaries of closed areas that affect commercial vessels fishing under the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan with bottom contacting gear in Federal waters off of Washington, Oregon, and California.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that countervailable subsidies are not being provided to Ozdemir Boru Profil San. Ve Tic. Ltd. Sti. (Ozdemir), an exporter/producer of heavy walled rectangular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes (HWR pipes and tubes) from the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2017 through December 31, 2017.

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on imports of aluminum wire and cable from the People's Republic of China (China).

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Bering Sea Fishery Ecosystem Plan Climate Change Taskforce will meet January 13, 2020 through January 15, 2020.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific & Statistical Committee to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

On November 27, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the Department) published a proposed rule to implement regulations pursuant to the Executive order of of May 15, 2019, entitled ``Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain,'' that would govern the process and procedures that the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) will use to identify, assess, and address certain information and communications technology and services transactions that pose an undue risk to critical infrastructure or the digital economy in the United States, or an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security or the safety of United States persons. The Department opened a public comment period through December 27, 2019. Through this document, the Department is extending the period for public comment until January 10, 2020.

This document contains corrections to the DATES caption of the notice of issuance of an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) for the take of marine mammals incidental to the Sand Island Pile Dike System Test Piles Project Near the Mouth of the Columbia River. This action is necessary to correct errors in the effective dates of the issued IHA. The scope of the activities and anticipated effects remain the same, authorized take numbers have not changed, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remain the same.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary because a biological assessment of stock condition for Pacific cod in the GOA projects that the spawning biomass will be below 20 percent of the projected unfished spawning biomass during 2020.

NMFS, upon request from the U.S. Navy (Navy), issues these regulations pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to govern the taking of marine mammals incidental to the training and testing activities conducted in the Atlantic Fleet Training and Testing (AFTT) Study Area over the course of seven years, effectively extending the time period from November 13, 2023, to November 13, 2025. In August 2018, the MMPA was amended by the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019 to allow for seven-year authorizations for military readiness activities, as compared to the previously allowed five years. The Navy's activities qualify as military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA as amended by the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2004. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, and establish requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking.

Based on affirmative final determinations by the Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC), Commerce is issuing antidumping duty orders on acetone from Singapore and Spain.

NMFS publishes the individual fishing quota (IFQ) standard prices and fee percentage for cost recovery for the IFQ Program for the halibut and sablefish fisheries of the North Pacific (IFQ Program). The fee percentage for 2019 is 3.0 percent. This action is intended to provide holders of halibut and sablefish IFQ permits with the 2019 standard prices and fee percentage to calculate the required payment for IFQ cost recovery fees due by January 31, 2020.

NMFS issues regulations to implement Amendment 120 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) Management Area (BSAI FMP) and Amendment 108 to the FMP for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) (GOA FMP). Amendment 120 and this final rule limit the number of catcher/processors (C/Ps) eligible to operate as motherships receiving and processing Pacific cod from catcher vessels (CVs) directed fishing in the BSAI non-Community Development Quota Program Pacific cod trawl fishery. Amendment 120, Amendment 108, and this final rule prohibit replaced Amendment 80 C/Ps from receiving and processing Pacific cod harvested and delivered by CVs directed fishing for Pacific cod in the BSAI and GOA. This final rule is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), Amendments 120 and 108, the BSAI and GOA FMPs, and other applicable laws.