Department of Commerce 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that sales of large residential washers (LRW) from Mexico were made at less than normal value (NV) during the period of review, February 1, 2018 through January 31, 2019.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will convene two virtual industry roundtable listening sessions on aspects of the implementation plan of the Secure 5G Strategy.

NMFS issues final specifications for the 2021 Atlantic bluefish fishery. This action is necessary to establish allowable harvest levels to prevent overfishing, consistent with the most recent scientific information, as required by the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan. This rule also informs the public of the final fishery specifications for the 2021 fishing year.

On November 17, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published in the Federal Register a final rule on setting and adjusting trademark fees that is scheduled to go into effect on January 2, 2021. This final rule changes the effective date of one fee paid by international applicants under the Madrid Protocol from January 2, 2021, to February 18, 2021.

NMFS announces that the State of North Carolina is transferring a portion of its 2020 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of Connecticut. This quota adjustment is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised commercial quotas for North Carolina and Connecticut.

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the State of Delaware, and the Commonwealth of Virginia are transferring a portion of their 2020 commercial bluefish quota to the State of North Carolina, the State of Rhode Island, and the State of New York, respectively. These quota adjustments are necessary to comply with the Atlantic Bluefish Fishery Management Plan quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised commercial bluefish quotas for Massachusetts, North Carolina, Delaware, Rhode Island, Virginia, and New York.

NMFS has received a request from the United States Navy (Navy) for the re-issuance of a previously issued incidental harassment authorization (IHA) with the change being a modification to the effective dates. The initial IHA authorizes take of one species of marine mammal, by Level B harassment only, incidental to pile driving associated with the South Quay Wall Recapitalization Project, Naval Station Mayport, Florida. The project has been delayed and none of the work covered in the current IHA has been conducted. The Navy has requested the IHA be re-issued with the following effective dates: January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021. The scope of the activities and anticipated effects remain the same, authorized take numbers are not changed, and the required mitigation, monitoring, and reporting remains the same as included in the initial IHA. Therefore, NMFS re- issued the IHA.

The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) requires federal agencies to modernize their data management practices to develop and support evidence-based policymaking. The Act requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), or the head of an agency designated by the Director, to establish the Advisory Committee on Data for Evidence Building (Advisory Committee). In a letter dated September 3, 2019, OMB delegated managerial and administrative responsibility for this Federal advisory committee to the Department of Commerce Office of Under Secretary for Economic Affairs (OUSEA).

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces that the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Advisory Board will hold an open meeting on Tuesday, February 23, 2021.

This notice announces a public meeting of the Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee (Committee). The Committee provides advice to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on spectrum management policy matters.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of certain metal lockers and parts thereof (metal lockers) from the People's Republic of China (China). The period of investigation is January 01, 2019 through December 31, 2019. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The Bureau of the Census (U.S. Census Bureau) publishes this notice to announce that it is planning to conduct the 2022 Economic Census. The Census Bureau also is requesting public comment on the 2022 Economic Census content. This collection will be fully electronic using a secure encrypted internet data collection system called Centurion. The Economic Census is conducted at 5-year intervals (years ending in 2 and 7) and is the most comprehensive compilation of statistics about U.S. businesses and the economy.

This action implements approved measures for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Amendment 21 to the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan. This rule changes the summer flounder commercial state quota allocation system and fishery management plan goals and objectives. This action is intended to increase equity in state allocations when annual coastwide commercial quotas are at or above historical averages, while recognizing the economic reliance coastal communities have on the state allocation percentages currently in place.

The federal government ceased printing of paper nautical charts in April 2014. Since then, the Office of Coast Survey has successfully transitioned the printing of paper nautical charts to the private sector and, since the Federal Register Notice of January 2, 2014, has certified more than three dozen companies to print and sell NOAA nautical charts and the United States Coast Pilot[supreg]. This transition has resulted in a broad market providing product differentiation with optional value-added features. However, Coast Survey is in the process of reducing the amount of traditional NOAA paper nautical products that it maintains as it moves to facilitating a method from which paper charts can be derived from the NOAA's electronic navigational charts (NOAA ENC[supreg]) found on website: https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/charts/ noaa-enc.html. Within the next five years, the number of unique charts that will be available for vendors to print will be reduced by roughly 60%. Coast Survey recognized that a hold on accepting new applications must be put in place until the final number of traditional paper charts that NOAA will maintain is determined. The plan for transitioning away from the traditional NOAA paper charts is available in the ``Sunsetting Traditional NOAA Paper Charts'' document found on the following website: https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/publications/docs/raster- sunset.pdf. To maintain a healthy market that meets the needs of recreational and commercial mariners, Coast Survey is suspending the certifications for new, non-certified printers of charts while continuing to maintain certification of printers who continue to meet standards as provided under their current agreements. There are currently eight certified printers of the Coast Pilot. Coast Survey feels the market can bear no more that 10 of these printers. Once there are 10 certified printers of the Coast Pilot, Coast Survey will suspend the certifications for new, non-certified printers of the Coast Pilot.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of forged steel fluid end blocks (fluid end blocks) from the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany).

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of forged steel fluid end blocks (fluid end blocks) from India.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of forged steel fluid end blocks (fluid end blocks) from the Federal Republic of Germany (Germany) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV) for the period of investigation October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will convene a virtual meeting of a multistakeholder process on promoting software component transparency on January 13, 2021.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that imports of prestressed concrete steel wire strand (PC strand) from Argentina, Colombia, Egypt, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV).

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that 4th tier cigarettes from the Republic of Korea (Korea) are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV) during the period of investigation (POI), October 1, 2018 through September 30, 2019. The final weighted-average dumping margins are listed below in the section entitled ``Final Determination.''

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of seamless carbon and alloy steel standard, line, and pressure pipe (seamless pipe) from the Republic of Korea (Korea). The period of investigation is January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2019. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.