Department of Commerce 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) is amending the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain cold-rolled steel flat products (cold-rolled steel) from the Republic of Korea (Korea) to correct a ministerial error. The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2021, through August 31, 2022.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of the Socio-Economic Panel (SEP) on April 15 and 16, 2024. The Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet on April 16-18, 2024.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) seeks applications for the Department to consider recommending to the Government of Singapore (Singapore) for participation in the Indo- Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) Clean Economy Investor Forum (Forum) hosted by Singapore on June 5-6, 2024. The Forum was announced on November 16, 2023, in the Joint Statement following an IPEF Ministerial meeting. The Forum participants will help advance the climate objectives of the proposed IPEF Clean Economy Agreement by helping facilitate investments in climate-related projects in the Indo- Pacific region. ITA is seeking applications from the U.S. private sector for ITA to consider recommending to Singapore.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for Pacific cod by American Fisheries Act (AFA) trawl catcher/processors (CPs) in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI). This action is necessary to fully use the 2024 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod allocated to AFA trawl CPs in the BSAI.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for the commercial harvest of gag in South Atlantic Federal waters. NMFS has determined that commercial landings of gag exceeded the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) in 2023, and other triggers for the commercial AMs are met. Therefore, NMFS reduces the commercial ACL of gag in the 2024 fishing year by the amount of gag landings that exceeded the 2023 commercial ACL to protect the gag resource from overfishing and continue to allow the recovery of this overfished stock.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) has received additional timely requests to conduct administrative reviews of the antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on certain quartz surface products (quartz surface products) from the People's Republic of China (China). Thus, we are initiating these administrative reviews.

On March 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT or Court) issued its final judgment in MCC Holdings dba Crane Resistoflex v. United States and ASC Engineered Solutions LLC., Court No. 18-00248, Slip Op. 24-30 (CIT March 11, 2024) (Crane Slip Op. 24- 28), sustaining the final remand results of the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce), pertaining to the final scope ruling on certain non-malleable cast iron pipe fittings (pipe fittings) from the People's Republic of China (China). Commerce is therefore amending its Final Scope Ruling to find that ductile iron flanges exported by MCC Holdings dba Crane Resistoflex (Crane) are not within the scope of the antidumping (AD) order on pipe fittings from China. Commerce is also notifying the public that the CIT's final judgment is not in harmony with the Final Scope Ruling.

NMFS announces approval of a Marine Conservation Plan (MCP) for Guam.

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia is transferring a portion of its 2024 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of North Carolina. This adjustment to the 2024 fishing year quota is necessary to comply with the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan (FMP) quota transfer provisions. This announcement informs the public of the revised 2024 commercial quotas for Virginia and North Carolina.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels greater than or equal to 50 feet (15.2 meters (m)) length overall using hook-and-line (HAL) gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2024 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) apportioned to catcher vessels greater than or equal to 50 feet (15.2 m) length overall using HAL gear in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) published notice in the Federal Register of February 6, 2024, in which Commerce published the final results of the 2021-2022 antidumping duty administrative review of certain steel nails (nails) from Malaysia. This notice omitted the name of one non-selected respondent, RM Wire Industries Sdn., Bhd., from Appendix II (``List of Non-Selected Respondents'').

NMFS notifies the public of the aboriginal subsistence whaling quota for bowhead whales assigned to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission (AEWC), and of limitations on the use of the quota deriving from regulations of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). For 2024, the AEWC quota is 93 bowhead whales struck. This quota and other applicable limitations govern the harvest of bowhead whales by whaling captains of the AEWC.

NOAA is soliciting nominations for members of the NOAA Science Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB is the only Federal Advisory Committee with the responsibility to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans, Atmosphere, and NOAA Administrator on long- and short-range strategies for research, education, and application of science to resource management and environmental assessment and prediction. The SAB consists of approximately twenty members reflecting the full breadth of NOAA's areas of responsibility and assists NOAA in maintaining a complete and accurate understanding of scientific issues critical to the agency's missions.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announces that the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee (NAIAC or Committee) will meet via web conference on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, from 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The primary purpose of this meeting is to have invited guests brief the full Committee on topics of interest to the NAIAC's working groups. The briefings are from outside subject matter experts to the full Committee from areas such as industry, nonprofit organizations, the scientific community, the defense and law enforcement communities, and other appropriate organizations. The final agenda will be posted on the NIST website at https://www.nist.gov/itl/national-artificial-intelligence-adv isory- committee-naiac.

NOAA's National Ocean Service (NOS) National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), hereafter NOAA, in partnership with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), is working to build spatial planning capacity in the Southeast United States Region (Southeast U.S.). Through this notice, NOAA is seeking public input to identify coastal and marine spatial data or other critical information to inform marine spatial analyses in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The input we receive from the data development workshop meeting, as well as the responses to the items listed in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document, will be used to inform potential coastal and ocean development activities in the Southeast U.S., such as renewable energy development.

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.

This action proposes to approve and implement Framework Adjustment 66 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. This rule proposes to set catch limits for 8 of the 20 multispecies stocks, modify the accountability measure trigger for Atlantic halibut, and make a temporary modification to the accountability trigger for the scallop fishery for Georges Bank yellowtail flounder. This action is necessary to respond to updated scientific information and to achieve the goals and objectives of the fishery management plan. The proposed measures are intended to help prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, achieve optimum yield, and ensure that management measures are based on the best scientific information available.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is revising the rules of practice in patent cases to update the signature rule to provide for the broader permissibility of electronic signatures using third-party document-signing software, such as DocuSign[supreg] and Acrobat[supreg] Sign, and more closely align signature requirements with the rules of practice in trademark cases. The revised rules will provide additional flexibility and convenience to patent applicants and owners, practitioners, and other parties who sign patent-related correspondence, and promote consistency by establishing signature requirements which are common to both patent and trademark matters.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) will host a presentation on Fish Acoustic Detection Algorithm Research to Identify Fish.

NMFS approves and implements the measures included in Framework Adjustment 38 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan as adopted and submitted by the New England Fishery Management Council. Framework 38 establishes scallop specifications and other measures for fishing years 2024 and 2025. Framework 35 implements measures to protect small scallops which would thereby support rotational access area trips to the fleet in future years. To promote uniformity in the fishery, this final rule also corrects and clarifies regulatory text that is unnecessary, outdated, or unclear. This action is necessary to prevent overfishing and improve both yield-per-recruit and the overall management of the Atlantic sea scallop resource.