Department of Commerce February 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council submitted Amendment 109 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP) to the Secretary of Commerce for review. If approved, Amendment 109 would reduce operational and management inefficiencies in the Central Gulf of Alaska and Western Gulf of Alaska trawl catcher vessel Pacific cod fisheries by changing seasonal Gulf of Alaska Pacific cod apportionments to allow greater harvest opportunities earlier in the year. Amendment 109 is necessary to provide participants in the fisheries an opportunity to more fully harvest the total allowable catch of Pacific cod, increase management flexibility, and potentially decrease prohibited species catch while not redistributing fishing opportunities between management areas or harvesting sectors. Amendment 109 is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the GOA FMP, and other applicable laws.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that the selected respondents Ingenio Adolfo Lopez Mateos S.A. de C.V. and its affiliates (Grupo PIASA) and Ingenio P[aacute]nuco S.A.P.I. de C.V. (P[aacute]nuco), are in compliance with the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Duty Investigation on Sugar from Mexico (AD Agreement), as amended on June 30, 2017 (collectively, amended AD Agreement), for the period January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018, when such amended AD Agreement was in effect. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that the amended AD Agreement in effect during the POR was meeting its statutory requirements under sections 734(c) and (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The preliminary results are set forth in the section titled ``Methodology and Preliminary Results,'' infra. We intend to issue the final results of review within 120 days after publication of these preliminary results in the Federal Register.

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

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that certain companies covered by the administrative review and new shipper reviews did not make sales of subject merchandise at prices below normal value (NV). We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

NMFS has hereby issued an incidental harassment authorization to Jordan Cove Energy Project, LP (JCEP) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to pile driving associated with construction of the Jordan Cove Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal and ancillary projects. This project is being tracked on the Permitting Dashboard, which can be accessed at https://www.permits.performance.gov/ permitting-projects/jordan-cove-lng-terminal-and-pacific-conn ector-gas- pipeline.

NMFS proposes to approve changes to the Pacific Halibut Catch Sharing Plan for the International Pacific Halibut Commission's regulatory Area 2A off Washington, Oregon, and California. In addition, NMFS proposes to implement the portions of the Plan and management measures that are not implemented through the International Pacific Halibut Commission. These measures include the recreational fishery seasons and allocations and management measures for Area 2A. These actions are intended to conserve Pacific halibut and provide angler opportunity where available.

NMFS issues regulations to implement Regulatory Amendment 30 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region (FMP) (Regulatory Amendment 30), as prepared and submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule modifies the spawning season closures for the commercial and recreational sectors in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off North Carolina and South Carolina and establishes a commercial trip limit. Additionally, Regulatory Amendment 30 revises the rebuilding schedule for red grouper. The purpose of this final rule and Regulatory Amendment 30 is to modify the rebuilding schedule and extend protections for red grouper during the spawning season.

NMFS issues regulations to implement Amendment 18 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico U.S. Waters (Amendment 18), as prepared and submitted by the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule will modify the target reduction goal for juvenile red snapper mortality in the Federal Gulf penaeid shrimp trawl fishery, and will modify the FMP framework procedures. The purposes of Amendment 18 are to promote economic stability, to achieve optimum yield in the Federal Gulf shrimp fishery by reducing effort constraints, and to equitably distribute the benefits from red snapper rebuilding, while continuing to protect the Gulf red snapper stock.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding the administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain cold-rolled steel flat products from Brazil for the period of review (POR) September 1, 2018 through August 31, 2019, based on the timely withdrawal of the request for review.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is conducting the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on pure magnesium from the People's Republic of China (China), covering the period May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019. Commerce preliminarily determines that Tianjin Magnesium International, Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Magnesium Metal, Co., Ltd. (collectively TMI/TMM) did not have reviewable entries during the period of review (POR). We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

As a result of this sunset review, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) order on steel concrete reinforcing bars (rebar) from Mexico would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping at the levels indicated in the ``Final Results of Sunset Review'' section of this notice.

We, NMFS, announce a 12-month finding on a petition to delineate Northern California (NC) summer-run steelhead as a distinct population segment (DPS) of West Coast steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and to list that DPS as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). We have completed a comprehensive DPS analysis of NC summer-run steelhead in response to the petition. Based on the best scientific and commercial data available, including the DPS configuration review report, we have determined that listing NC summer-run steelhead as an endangered DPS is not warranted. We determined that summer-run steelhead in the NC steelhead DPS do not meet the criteria to be considered a DPS separate from winter-run steelhead. We also announce the availability of the DPS configuration review report prepared pursuant to the ESA for the NC steelhead DPS.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an IHA to the United States Department of the Navy (Navy) to incidentally harass, by Level B harassment only, marine mammals during submarine training and testing activities associated with Ice Exercise 2020 (ICEX20) north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The Navy's activities are considered military readiness activities pursuant to the MMPA, as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 (NDAA).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is proposing to amend the rules of practice in patent cases to clarify and expand exceptions to the rule pertaining to government use licenses and their effect on small entity status for purposes of paying reduced patent fees so as to support independent inventors, small business concerns and nonprofit organizations in filing patent applications. The proposed rule change is designed to encourage persons, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations to collaborate with the Federal Government by providing an opportunity to qualify for the small entity patent fees discount for inventions made during the course of federally-funded or federally-supported research.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that revocation of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on chlorinated isocyanurates from the People's Republic of China (China) would be likely to lead to the continuation or recurrence of a countervailable subsidy at the levels indicated in the ``Final Results of Sunset Review'' section of this notice.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is modifying two regulations pertaining to the determination of benefit and specificity in countervailing duty proceedings. These modifications clarify how Commerce will determine the existence of a benefit when examining a subsidy resulting from currency undervaluation and clarify that companies in the traded goods sector of the economy can constitute a group of enterprises for purposes of determining whether a subsidy is specific.

NMFS proposes to revise measures that govern interactions between the Hawaii shallow-set pelagic longline fishery and sea turtles. Based on recommendations from the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council), we would lower the annual fleet interaction limit (``hard cap'') for leatherback sea turtles from 26 to 16, and remove the annual fleet hard cap for North Pacific loggerhead turtles (currently 17). NMFS would also create individual trip interaction limits of two leatherback and five North Pacific loggerhead turtle interactions, with accountability measures for reaching a limit. The proposed rule would provide managers and fishermen with the necessary tools to respond to and mitigate changes in North Pacific loggerhead and leatherback turtle interactions, to ensure a continued supply of fresh domestic swordfish to U.S. markets, consistent with the conservation needs of these sea turtles. The action also ensures that the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery operates in compliance with the Reasonable and Prudent Measures (RPMs) and associated Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) of a biological opinion (BiOp) issued by NMFS on June 26, 2019.

NMFS proposes to approve and implement rebuilding plans recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) for two overfished stocks: Klamath River fall-run Chinook salmon (KRFC) and Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon (SRFC). NMFS determined in June 2018 that these stocks were overfished. This document also announces the availability for public review and comment of a draft environmental assessment (EA) analyzing the environmental impacts of implementing these rebuilding plans.

NMFS Alaska Groundfish and Halibut Seabird Working Group will meet to discuss vessel-specific seabird bycatch mortality, electronic monitoring seabird species identification work, and an update on new studies examining seabird bycatch in the trawl fisheries.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council's (Council) Ecosystem-Based Fishery Management Technical Advisory Panel (EBFM TAP) will hold a two- hours webinar meeting to address the items contained in the agenda included in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.