Department of Commerce January 18, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 7, 2022, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) updated the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement necessary controls on advanced computing integrated circuits (ICs), computer commodities that contain such ICs, and certain semiconductor manufacturing items, and to make other changes to the EAR to ensure that appropriate controls are in place for these items, including specific activities of ``U.S. persons.'' This rule makes an initial update to the controls to more effectively achieve the policy objectives identified in previous regulations by adding the same controls implemented on China in that rule to Macau. The public may submit comments on the controls in the October 7 advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing equipment rule, which BIS is extending to Macau in this rule. BIS intends to publish a subsequent rule to respond to the comments received, including making updates to the controls included in the October 7 advanced computing and semiconductor manufacturing equipment rule.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued a modified incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the U.S. Navy to incidentally harass, by Level A and Level B harassment, marine mammals during construction activities associated with the replacement of Pier 3 at Naval Station Norfolk at Norfolk, Virginia.

To speed up patent examination and give applicants more comprehensive prior art by combining the search expertise of United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Japan Patent Office (JPO), and Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) examiners before issuing a first Office action, the USPTO, in partnership with the JPO and the KIPO, is extending the Expanded Collaborative Search Pilot (CSP) program for an additional two years, through October 31, 2024. Requests to participate in the Expanded CSP program that were filed between October 31, 2022, and January 18, 2023, will be considered. In addition, the partner intellectual property (IP) offices have collaborated on a new petition option for participation in the Expanded CSP program. The new petition option, which has several enhancements compared to the current petition form and process, permits an applicant to file a combined petition in either the USPTO or one of the partner IP offices rather than separate petitions in each office. Enhancements include a more user-friendly layout, the addition of multilingual text, and a foundation for data collection that both satisfies the petition requirements and streamlines the process for partaking in the Expanded CSP program.

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.

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to construction at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, over the course of five years (2023-2028). Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is proposing regulations to govern that take and requests comments on the proposed regulations. NMFS responses to comments will be included in the notice of the final decision.