Department of Commerce 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a five-day webinar meeting to consider actions affecting the Gulf of Mexico fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to incidentally harass, by Level A and Level B harassment, marine mammals during pile driving and pile removal activities associated with the Mukilteo Multimodal Construction Project in Washington State.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding the administrative review of the countervailing duty order on crystalline silicon photovoltaic products (solar products) from the People's Republic of China (China) for the period of review (POR) January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019, based on the timely withdrawal of the request for review.

This notice announces the availability for public comment of the NOAA Citizen Science draft strategy. This strategy is intended to dramatically expand our application of this emerging science and technology focus area by improving the efficiency, effectiveness and coordination of its development and usage across the agency.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Damage Assessment, Remediation, and Restoration Program (DARRP) is announcing new indirect cost rates on the recovery of indirect costs for its component organizations involved in natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The indirect cost rates for this fiscal year and date of implementation are provided in this notice. More information on these rates and the DARRP policy can be found at the DARRP website at www.darrp.noaa.gov.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is rescinding its administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain amorphous silica fabric (silica fabric) from the People's Republic of China (China) for the period of review (POR) March 1, 2019 through February 29, 2020.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is amending the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber (ESB rubber) from Brazil to correct two ministerial errors.

The Department of Commerce (DOC) will have under OMB review the following proposed Information Collection Request ``Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation)'' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite 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. Public comments for this proposed collection were previously requested via the Federal Register on June 1, 2020 (85 FR 33085) during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. Agency: Department of Commerce (DOC). Title: Improving Customer Experience (OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation). OMB Control Number: 0690-NEW. Form Number(s): None. Type of Request: Regular submission. New collection. Estimated Number of Respondents: 752,925. Estimated Time per Response: Varied, dependent upon the activity or the data collection method used. The possible response time to complete a questionnaire or survey may be 3 minutes or up to 2 hours to participate in an interview or focus group. Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 55,471. Needs and Uses: A modern, streamlined and responsive customer experience means: Raising government-wide customer experience to the average of the private sector service industry; developing indicators for high-impact Federal programs to monitor progress towards excellent customer experience and mature digital services; and providing the structure (including increasing transparency) and resources to ensure customer experience is a focal point for agency leadership. This proposed information collection activity provides a means to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner in accordance with the Administration's commitment to improving customer service delivery as discussed in Section 280 of OMB Circular A-11 at https://www.performance.gov/cx/a11-280.pdf. As discussed in OMB guidance, agencies should identify their highest-impact customer journeys (using customer volume, annual program cost, and/or knowledge of customer priority as weighting factors) and select touchpoints/ transactions within those journeys to collect feedback. These results will be used to improve the delivery of Federal services and programs. It will also provide government-wide data on customer experience that can be displayed on www.performance.gov to help build transparency and accountability of Federal programs to the customers they serve. As a general matter, these information collections will not result in any new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private. DOC will only submit collections if they meet the following criteria. The collections are voluntary. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government. The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies. Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future. Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained. Information gathered is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management purposes Upon agreement between OMB and the agency all or a subset of information may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 requirements only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer journey maps or summaries. Additional release of data must be done coordinated with OMB. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between the Agency, its customers and stakeholders, and OMB as it monitors agency compliance on Section 280. These responses will inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and stakeholders on services will be unavailable. Affected Public: Individuals or households; State, Local, or Tribal government. Frequency: On Occasion; Annually. Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary. Average Number of Respondents per Activity: 1 response per respondent per activity. Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: Approximately five types of customer experience activities such as feedback surveys, focus groups, user testing, and interviews. This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day ReviewOpen for Public Comments'' or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection.

The Deepwater Horizon Federal natural resource trustee agencies for the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group (Louisiana TIG) have prepared a Final Restoration Plan/Environmental Assessment (RP/EA #5): Living Coastal and Marine ResourcesMarine Mammals and Oysters. The Final RP/EA #5 describes, and, in conjunction with the associated Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), selects the preferred restoration projects considered by the Louisiana TIG to restore natural resources and ecological services injured or lost as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Federal Trustees of the Louisiana TIG have determined that the implementation of the Final RP/EA #5 is not a major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the context of the NEPA. They have concluded a FONSI is appropriate, and, therefore, an Environmental Impact Statement will not be prepared.

NMFS is increasing the specifications for the 2020 Illex squid fishery. This rule is required to ensure that the 2020 specifications are based on the best scientific information available. This rule is also intended to inform the public of the changes to increase the specifications for the remainder of the 2020 fishing year. This action will allow Illex squid fishery to benefit from the quota increase and achieve optimal yield.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Habitat Joint Committee and Advisory Panel via webinar 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.

The SEDAR 70 stock assessment process for Gulf of Mexico greater amberjack will consist of a series of data and assessment webinars. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

In accordance with the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), the Department of Commerce (Commerce) is automatically initiating the five-year reviews (Sunset Reviews) of the antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) order(s) listed below. The International Trade Commission (the ITC) is publishing concurrently with this notice its notice of Institution of Five-Year Reviews which covers the same order(s).

The Assistant Regional Administrator for Sustainable Fisheries, Greater Atlantic Region, NMFS, has made a preliminary determination that an application submitted by the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance for the renewal of an exempted fishing permit contains all of the required information and warrants further consideration. This exempted fishing permit would allow two commercial fishing vessels participating in an electronic monitoring program to fish in the Southern New England Regulated Mesh Area with a 6-inch (15.24 cm) diamond mesh codend. Regulations under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act require publication of this notification to provide interested parties the opportunity to comment on applications for proposed exempted fishing permits.

NMFS approves and implements through regulations measures included in Amendment 21 to the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan, as adopted by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. This action is necessary to establish conservation and management measures for Atlantic chub mackerel. It is intended to promote the sustainable utilization and conservation of Atlantic chub mackerel by integrating this species as a stock in the fishery under the Atlantic Mackerel, Squid, and Butterfish Fishery Management Plan. This amendment identifies goals and objectives for managing Atlantic chub mackerel; specifies status determination criteria; designates essential fish habitat; establishes a specifications process; sets annual catch limits for 2020-2022; and implements accountability measures, possession limits, permitting and reporting requirements, exempted fisheries, and other administrative measures for Atlantic chub mackerel caught from Maine through North Carolina.

This action serves as a notice that NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary), has found that Southern Atlantic red porgy is now subject to overfishing and remains overfished, the Western and Central North Pacific Ocean (WCNPO) stock of striped marlin remains both subject to overfishing and overfished, and the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPO) stock of oceanic whitetip shark is now both subject to overfishing and overfished. NMFS, on behalf of the Secretary, notifies the appropriate regional fishery management council (Council) whenever it determines that overfishing is occurring, a stock is in an overfished condition, or a stock is approaching an overfished condition.

The New England Fishery Management Council is convening a meeting of its Groundfish Advisory Panel via webinar 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.

As required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS has considered public comments for revisions of the 2019 marine mammal stock assessment reports (SARs). This notice announces the availability of 65 final 2019 SARs that were updated and finalized.