Department of Commerce June 18, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice invites non-Federal entities to partner with the ocean and coastal mapping programs of NOAA's National Ocean Service on jointly-funded projects of mutual interest, and establishes selection criteria and submission requirements for such projects under the NOAA Rear Admiral Richard T. Brennan Ocean Mapping Fund program. With this funding opportunity, NOAA will match selected non-Federal partners at a 70:30 NOAA:partner ratio for projects totaling up to $1,000,000, and proposing to contract for ocean, coastal and/or Great Lakes mapping data. Selected non-Federal partners further benefit from this opportunity by leveraging NOAA's contracting (NOAA has a pool of pre- qualified technical experts in surveying and mapping) and data management expertise. This ocean and coastal mapping funding opportunity is subject to the availability of funds.

The Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) and NMFS will convene a Western Pacific Stock Assessment Review (WPSAR) of the fishery dependent and life history data that will be used in the future benchmark stock assessment for the multispecies bottomfish complex in Guam.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers/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, 2021, through December 31, 2021.

In this final rule, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) makes changes to the Russia and Belarus sanctions under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). This final rule imposes additional export control measures against Russia and Belarus by expanding the scope of items identified under two EAR supplements that are subject to the EAR's Russian and Belarusian industry sector sanctions; imposing a "software" license requirement for certain EAR99-designated "software" when destined to or within Russia or Belarus; and narrowing the scope of commodities and software that may be authorized for export, reexport, or transfer (in-country) to or within Russia or Belarus under License Exception Consumer Communications Devices (CCD). To promote clarity and facilitate compliance, this final rule also consolidates the EAR's Russian and Belarus sanctions into a single section, while maintaining the existing related regulatory supplements identifying items that are subject to certain of those sanctions. This final rule also amends the EAR by adding five entities and eight addresses to the Entity List and making changes to the Entity List structure. These entries are listed on the Entity List under the destinations of the People's Republic of China (China) and Russia and have been determined by the U.S. Government to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. Lastly, this final rule makes two additional revisions to the EAR: one to confirm the criteria used when revising, suspending, or revoking EAR license exceptions and one revision to clarify the control status of fasteners for purposes of the EAR's Russian and Belarusian industry sector sanctions.