Department of Commerce March 11, 2024 – 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 OMB.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of aluminum extrusions from Indonesia. The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

NMFS announces the final 2024 and 2025 harvest specifications, apportionments, and prohibited species catch (PSC) allowances for the groundfish fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the remainder of the 2024 and the start of the 2025 fishing years and to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the BSAI (FMP). The 2024 harvest specifications supersede those previously set in the final 2023 and 2024 harvest specifications, and the 2025 harvest specifications will be superseded in early 2025 when the final 2025 and 2026 harvest specifications are published. The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the BSAI in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

On January 22, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) published the preliminary results of the changed circumstances review (CCR) of the antidumping duty (AD) order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from India. For these final results, Commerce continues to find that Elque Ventures Private Limited (Elque Ventures) is the successor-in-interest to Elque & Co.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes revisions to existing regulations governing the confidentiality of information submitted in compliance with any requirement or regulation under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act; MSA). The purposes of these revisions are to make both substantive and non-substantive changes in light of amendments to the MSA under the 1996 Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) and the 2006 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (MSRA) and amendments to the High Seas Driftnet Fishing Moratorium Protection Act (FMPA) under the 2015 Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing Enforcement Act (IUU Fishing Act). NMFS proposes additional revisions necessary to address some issues that concern its application of the MSA confidentiality of information requirements to information requests.

On March 9, 2023, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) implemented the First-Time Filer Expedited Examination Pilot Program, which permits patent applications from certain micro entity first-time filers to be advanced out of turn for examination and reviewed earlier (accorded special status). The pilot program was originally scheduled to end on March 11, 2024. In view of the continued interest in the program, the USPTO is extending it until either March 11, 2025, or until the date on which the USPTO grants a total of 1,000 petitions since the start of the pilot program, whichever occurs first. All pilot parameters will remain the same as those for the original pilot.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of aluminum extrusions from the Republic of Turkey (Turkey). The period of investigation (POI) is January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) finds that producers/exporters of stainless steel flanges (flanges) from India did not make sales of subject merchandise in the United States at prices below normal value (NV) during the period of review (POR) October 1, 2021, through September 30, 2022.

In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, its implementing regulations, and NMFS' MMPA Regulations for Taking Marine Mammals Incidental to Geophysical Surveys Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the Gulf of Mexico, notification is hereby given that a Letter of Authorization (LOA) has been issued to Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell) for the take of marine mammals incidental to geophysical survey activity in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that CS Wind Malaysia Sdn Bhd (CS Wind), a producer/exporter of utility scale wind towers (wind towers) from Malaysia, received countervailable subsidies during the period of review (POR) March 25, 2021, through December 31, 2021.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that certain producer and exporters of ripe olives from Spain received countervailable subsidies during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Pacific Council) Habitat Committee (HC) will hold an online public meeting.