Department of Commerce 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (``ACCRES'') will meet for 2 half-day meetings on October 27 and October 28, 2020.

In May 2020, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requested written comments to facilitate ONMS review of the nomination for Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS). NOAA requested relevant information as it pertains to the 11 national significance criteria and management considerations that NOAA applied to evaluate the CHNMS nomination for inclusion in the national inventory of areas that NOAA may be considered for future designation as a national marine sanctuary. NOAA has synthesized the information gathered through the public process, completed an internal analysis, and the ONMS Director has determined that the CHNMS nomination will remain in the inventory until at least October 5, 2025.

NMFS adjusts the 2020 baseline quotas for U.S. North Atlantic albacore tuna (northern albacore), North and South Atlantic swordfish, and the Atlantic bluefin Reserve category based on available underharvest of the 2019 adjusted U.S. quotas. This action is necessary to implement binding recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as required by the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), published a notice in the Federal Register on 07/20/2020, 85 FR 43817, to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission to OMB for review and approval of the information collection for OMB Control Number 0648-0757. This notice serves as a correction to that Federal Register notice.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (Commerce) and the International Trade Commission (ITC) that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip (PET film) from India and the AD order on PET film from Taiwan, would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and countervailable subsidies, as well as material injury to an industry in the United States, Commerce is publishing a notice of continuation of these AD and CVD orders.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation (POI) is April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. The estimated margins of sales at LTFV are shown in the ``Preliminary Determinations'' section of this notice. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary determinations.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on the extension and revision of an existing information collection: 0651-0056 (Trademark Submissions Regarding Correspondence and Regarding Attorney Representation). The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding submission of the information collection to OMB.

NMFS announces receipt of a supplemental petition for emergency rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act. Sea Shepherd Legal, Sea Shepherd New Zealand Ltd., and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society petitioned the U.S. Department of Commerce and other relevant Departments to initiate emergency rulemaking under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), to ban importation of commercial fish or products from fish that have been caught with commercial fishing technology that results in incidental mortality or serious injury of Maui dolphin in excess of United States standards.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, invites comments on the extension and revision of an existing information collection: 0651-0031 (Patent Processing). The purpose of this notice is to allow 60 days for public comment preceding submission of the information collection to OMB.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is providing notification that the agency will not identify additional fisheries to observe on the 2021 Annual Determination (AD), pursuant to its authority under the Endangered Species Act (ESA or Act). Through the AD, NMFS identifies U.S. fisheries operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific Ocean that will be required to take observers upon NMFS' request. The purpose of observing identified fisheries is to learn more about sea turtle bycatch in a given fishery, evaluate measures to prevent or reduce sea turtle bycatch, and implement the prohibition against sea turtle takes. Fisheries identified on the 2018 and 2020 ADs (see Table 1) remain on the AD for a 5-year period and are required to carry observers upon NMFS' request until December 31, 2022, and September 29, 2025 respectively.

NMFS is correcting a notice that informed the public that the Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an Exempted Fishing Permit application contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. The catch estimates provided in kilograms in Table 1 were incorrect. The table also erroneously included nudibranch in the list of federally managed species.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces revisions to regulations updating guidance on Federal agency use of conformity assessment that reflects advancement in conformity assessment concepts, and the evolution in Federal agency strategies and coordination in using and relying on conformity assessment. The provisions are solely intended to be used as guidance for agencies in their use and reliance on conformity assessment to meet agency requirements and do not preempt the agency authority and responsibility to make decisions authorized by statute or required in establishing regulatory, procurement, or programmatic activities.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) hereby publishes a list of scope rulings and anti-circumvention determinations made during the period April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2020. We intend to publish future lists after the close of the next calendar quarter.

The Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) is announcing the convening of its fall meeting.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) via webinar. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will convene a meeting of the Outreach and Communications Advisory Panel via webinar to address upcoming outreach and communications topics.

Notice is hereby given that a permit has been issued to SeaWorld, LLC. (Responsible Party: Christopher Dold, DVM), 9205 Southpark Center Loop, Suite 400, Orlando, Florida 32819, to import one stranded, non-releasable (captive) adult female Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) for public display purposes.

The Department of Commerce (Department) issues regulations to implement the requirements of an Executive order entitled ``Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents'' signed October 9, 2019. Consistent with the Executive order, these regulations require that the Department clearly state that guidance documents issued by the Department do not bind the public, except as authorized by law or as incorporated into a contract; establish procedures for the public to petition for withdrawal or modification of guidance documents; and provide, with certain exceptions, that for significant guidance documents, the Department will submit those documents for review by the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and provide for a period of public notice and comment of at least 30 days.

On June 3, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published the Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Vanadium. The June 3 notice specified that the Secretary of Commerce initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national security of imports of vanadium. This investigation was initiated under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. The June 3 notice invited interested parties to submit written comments, data, analyses, or other information pertinent to the investigation to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. The deadline for written comments was July 20, 2020, and the rebuttal comment deadline was August 17, 2020. Today's notice reopens the public comment period with a deadline of October 9, 2020. BIS has posted the initial application for a section 232 investigation into imports of vanadium, titled ``Petition for Relief Under Section 232,'' (dated November 19, 2019) and supplemental information (dated April 2, 2020), as submitted by the applicant, on https://www.regulations.gov in the interests of transparency and to allow additional public comment. Public versions of the exhibits are available online (see the ADDRESSES section).

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the proposed extension of the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data collection, prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to OMB for approval.

On July 2, 2020, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain steel nails (steel nails) from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The period of review (POR) is May 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019. For the final results of this review, we continue to find that Middle East Manufacturing Steel LLC (MEM) made sales of subject merchandise at less than normal value during the POR.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

Pursuant to Executive Order 13942, the Secretary of Commerce is publishing the list of prohibited transactions by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Z[igrave]ji[eacute] Ti[agrave]od[ograve]ng), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, including TikTok Inc., in which any such company has any interest, to address the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873, May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain), and particularly to address the threat identified in Executive Order 13942 posed by mobile application TikTok.