Department of Commerce January 2022 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

Notice is hereby given that permits and permit amendments have been issued to the following entities under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as applicable.

On January 3, 2022, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) issued its final judgment in Husteel Co., Ltd. v. United States, Consol. Court No. 19-00112, sustaining the Department of Commerce (Commerce)'s second remand results pertaining to the administrative review of the antidumping duty (AD) order on welded line pipe (WLP) from the Republic of Korea (Korea) covering the period December 1, 2016, through November 30, 2017. Commerce is notifying the public that the CIT's final judgment is not in harmony with Commerce's final results of the administrative review, and that Commerce is amending the final results with respect to the dumping margins assigned to NEXTEEL Co., Ltd. (NEXTEEL), SeAH Steel Corporation (SeAH), and non-selected respondents.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that pentafluoroethane (R-125) from the People's Republic of China (China) is being, or is likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value (LTFV). The period of investigation is July 1, 2020, through December 31, 2020. The final dumping margins of sales at LTFV is listed below in the ``Final Determination'' section of this notice.

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 into law, also known (and referred to subsequently herein) as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which includes a historic investment of $65 billion to help close the digital divide and ensure that all Americans have access to reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is responsible for distributing more than $48 billion in BIL broadband funding through several different programs. NTIA has established multiple avenues for the public to offer input to inform program design and implementation. This includes a series of public virtual listening sessions (see ADDRESSES below) as well as the opportunity for stakeholders across the nation to make their views known in response to this Notice and Request for Comment (Notice). NTIA welcomes input from all interested parties.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) is amending its notice of final results of the 2019 administrative review of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain softwood lumber products (softwood lumber) from Canada.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that exporters of certain aluminum foil (aluminum foil) from the People's Republic of China (China) made sales of subject merchandise at prices less than normal value during the period of review (POR) April 1, 2019, through March 31, 2020.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that the signatory, the Government of Mexico (GOM), and the respondent companies selected for individual examination, respectively, Impulsora Azucarera Del Tropico, S.A. de C.V. (Impulsora Del Tropico) and its affiliate and Ingenio Huixtla SA de C.V. (Ingenio Huixtla) and its affiliates are in compliance with the Agreement Suspending the Countervailing Duty Investigation on Sugar from Mexico, as amended (CVD Agreement), except for certain instances of inconsequential non- compliance. Commerce also preliminarily determines that the CVD Agreement continues to meet its statutory requirements under sections 704(c) and (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), during the POR. However, Commerce intends to address certain issues identified in this review by discussing these issues with the GOM and Mexican producers/exporters, as appropriate. We may request consultations pursuant to the CVD Agreement, as necessary, to resolve these issues.

NMFS corrects the temporary rule that published in the Federal Register on January 3, 2022, which announced the incorrect effective date of January 3, 2022, for the closure of the Atlantic southern zone to commercial harvest of Spanish mackerel. The correct effective date for the closure is January 5, 2022. NMFS identified several errors with references to incorrect dates, so the purpose of this correction is to fix those errors.

This notice sets forth the U.S. Global Change Research Program seeks public comment on the proposed themes and framework of the Fifth National Climate Assessment as indicated by the chapter annotated outlines linked here. Based on input received from this notice, chapter author teams will develop their draft chapters.

NMFS is extending the effective date of temporary specifications that implement three short-notice decisions of the Commission on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Commission or WCPFC). NMFS issued temporary specifications on June 11, 2021, to implement short-notice WCPFC decisions regarding purse seine observer coverage, purse seine transshipments at sea, and transshipment observer coverage. NMFS is extending the effective date of those temporary specifications until April 14, 2022. NMFS is undertaking this action under the authority of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act (WCPFC Implementation Act) to satisfy the obligations of the United States as a Contracting Party to the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is implementing a pilot program to evaluate the effects of permitting applicants to defer responding to subject matter eligibility (SME) rejections in certain patent applications. Under this pilot program, applicants may receive invitations to participate if their applications meet the criteria for the program as specified in this notice, including a criterion that the claims in the application necessitate rejections on SME and other patentability-related grounds. An applicant who accepts the invitation to participate in this pilot program must still file a reply to every Office action mailed in the application, but is permitted to defer responding to SME rejections until the earlier of final disposition of the application, or the withdrawal or obviation of all other outstanding rejections. This notice outlines the conditions, eligibility requirements, and guidelines of the pilot program.

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 South Fork Wind, LLC (South Fork Wind) to take, by Level A harassment and Level B harassment, marine mammals during construction of a commercial wind energy project offshore New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public joint meeting of its Habitat Committee 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 National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) announces approval of revisions to its Personal Body Armor Laboratory Accreditation Program (LAP) for accreditation of laboratories performing tests on ballistic- and stab-resistant personal body armor. The program has been renamed as the Law Enforcement and Corrections Equipment LAP to better reflect the types of testing being performed within this accreditation program and to allow for future expansion of the program for testing of additional law enforcement and corrections equipment.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies were provided to producers and exporters of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, (solar cells) from the People's Republic of China (China) during the period of review (POR), January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019. In addition, we intend to rescind this review with respect to 48 companies. We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

As a result of these expedited sunset reviews, the Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that revocation of the antidumping duty (AD) orders on certain hot-rolled steel flat products (hot-rolled steel) from Australia, Brazil, Japan, the Republic of Korea (Korea), the Netherlands, the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), and the United Kingdom would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping as indicated in the ``Final Results of Sunset Review'' section of this notice.

NMFS received a request from [Oslash]rsted Wind Power North America, LLC, ([Oslash]rsted) for the Renewal of their 2020 IHA to take marine mammals incidental marine site characterization surveys, using high-resolution geophysical (HRG) equipment, in coastal waters from New York to Massachusetts. [Oslash]rsted is also planning to conduct marine site characterization surveys along one or more potential submarine export cable routes (ECRs). The activities for which [Oslash]rsted has requested a Renewal IHA are identical to those covered under the initial IHA, which expired on September 24, 2021. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), prior to issuing the initial IHA in 2020, NMFS requested comments on both the proposed IHA and the potential for renewing the initial authorization if certain requirements were satisfied. The Renewal requirements have been satisfied, and NMFS is now providing an additional 15-day comment period to allow for any additional comments on the proposed Renewal not previously provided during the initial 30-day comment period. If issued, the Renewal would be effective through September 24, 2022.

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed topics of discussion for the upcoming public meeting of the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (Committee).

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily finds that certain producers and/or exporters made sales of refillable stainless steel kegs (kegs) at less than normal value and that one company had no shipments of subject merchandise during the period of review (POR) December 13, 2019, through November 30, 2020. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results of review.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that revocation of the countervailing duty (CVD) order on certain hot-rolled steel flat products (hot-rolled steel) from the Republic of Korea (Korea) would be likely to lead to the continuation or recurrence of countervailable subsidies at the levels indicated in the ``Final Results of Sunset Review'' section of this notice.