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

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office or USPTO) published a request for comments in the Federal Register on October 18, 2022, seeking comments from the public on the requirements to practice before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Through this notice, the Office is extending the period for written public comments until January 31, 2023.

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.

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) publishes this final rule to amend the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to reflect decisions made at the November 2021 and March 2022 Australia Group (AG) Virtual Implementation Meetings and the AG Plenary Meeting held in July 2022. The amendments include revisions to certain Export Control Classification Numbers to clarify the controls on genetic elements and genetically modified organisms and the scope of the exclusion that applies to medical isolators ``specially designed'' for barrier nursing or transportation of infected patients; and makes clarifications by adding four naturally occurring, dual-use marine toxins (specifically, brevetoxins, gonyautoxins, nodularins and palytoxin) and removing cholera toxin. The addition of these four toxins is consistent with Section 1758 of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA) regarding emerging and foundational technologies. Finally, this rule also includes amendments to reflect the AG Plenary updates to the nomenclature of certain bacteria and fungi, and the clarification of the definition of ``disinfected'' as it applies to certain biological equipment.

This final rule announces carryover allocation from fishing year 2021 into fishing year 2022 for the Northeast Multispecies sectors program. This action is necessary to distribute carryover quota to sectors. The carryover adjustments in this rule are routine and formulaic, and industry expects them each year.

NMFS has received a request from Bluepoint Wind, LLC (BPW) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to marine site characterization surveys in coastal waters off of New York and New Jersey in the New York Bight, specifically within the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (Lease) Area OCS-A 0537 and associated export cable route (ECR) area. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-time, one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorization and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of Pacific cod from vessels using jig gear to catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters) length overall using hook-and-line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. This action is necessary to allow the A season apportionment of the 2023 total allowable catch of Pacific cod to be harvested.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Groundfish Plan Teams will meet February 2, 2023.

The National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE) will hold a public meeting on Thursday, February 9, 2023. In 2022, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo has appointed a cohort of 33 members to NACIE, and this will be this cohort's third meeting. NACIE will continue to consider the development of a national entrepreneurship strategy, an overview of Federal support for technology innovation and entrepreneurship, and an exploration of critical emerging technologies, and the regional technology and innovation hubs program recently enacted and funded by Congress.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has begun its annual preseason process to develop regulations to manage the 2023 ocean salmon fisheries off the U.S. West Coast. This document informs the public of opportunities to provide oral and written comments on the development of 2023 ocean salmon regulations.

The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the 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.

Notice is hereby given that Douglas Nowacek, Ph.D., Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University Marine Laboratory, 135 Duke Marine Lab Rd, Beaufort, NC 28516, has applied for an amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 22156-02.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold two virtual public scoping meetings pertaining to Amendment 46 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Snapper Grouper Resources in the South Atlantic Region. This amendment would establish a permit and education requirement for the private recreational component of the snapper grouper fishery.

We, NMFS, announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the Oregon Coast (OC) and Southern Oregon and Northern California Coastal (SONCC) Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) or, alternatively, list only the spring- run Chinook salmon components of the OC ESU and the SONCC ESU as threatened or endangered under the ESA. The Petitioners also requested that we designate critical habitat concurrently with the listing. With respect to the request to list the entire OC and SONCC ESUs, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial information indicating the petitioned actions may be warranted. For the request to list only the spring-run components of those ESUs, we do not find that the petition presents substantial scientific and commercial information indicating that the petitioned action is warranted. We will conduct status reviews of the OC and SONCC Chinook salmon ESUs to determine whether the petitioned actions are warranted. To ensure that the status reviews are comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information pertaining to these species from any interested party.