60-day FRN

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2024 / Notices
information collection should be
submitted within 30 days of the
publication of this notice on the
following website www.reginfo.gov/
public/do/PRAMain. Find this
particular information collection by
selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day
Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or
by using the search function and
entering either the title of the collection
or the OMB Control Number 0648–0514.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs,
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024–03944 Filed 2–26–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XD739]

New England Fishery Management
Council (NEFMC); Public Meeting
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
AGENCY:

The New England Fishery
Management Council (Council) is
scheduling a joint public meeting of its
Monkfish and Dogfish Committees via
webinar to consider actions affecting
New England fisheries in the exclusive
economic zone (EEZ).
Recommendations from this group will
be brought to the full Council for formal
consideration and action, if appropriate.
DATES: This webinar will be held on
Wednesday, March 13, 2024, at 9 a.m.
ADDRESSES: Webinar registration URL
information:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_
tqcp7-QiT5OILFDpmmYquQ.
Council address: New England
Fishery Management Council, 50 Water
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cate
O’Keefe, Executive Director, New
England Fishery Management Council;
telephone: (978) 465–0492.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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SUMMARY:

Agenda
The Monkfish and Dogfish
Committees will meet to discuss the
repackaged range of alternatives
recommended by the Sturgeon Bycatch
Fishery Management Action Team/Plan
Development Team, the preliminary
draft impact analysis of alternatives, and
recommendations from the Joint

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Monkfish and Spiny Dogfish Advisory
Panel. They will also discuss any Joint
Committee recommendations for final
preferred alternatives for the NEFMC
and Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management
Council (MAFMC) to consider during
their April Council meetings where final
action is anticipated. Other business
may be discussed, as necessary.
Although non-emergency issues not
contained on the agenda may come
before this Council for discussion, those
issues may not be the subject of formal
action during this meeting. Council
action will be restricted to those issues
specifically listed in this notice and any
issues arising after publication of this
notice that require emergency action
under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has
been notified of the Council’s intent to
take final action to address the
emergency. The public also should be
aware that the meeting will be recorded.
Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy
of the recording is available upon
request.
Special Accommodations
This meeting is physically accessible
to people with disabilities. Requests for
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to Cate
O’Keefe, Executive Director, at (978)
465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the
meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 21, 2024.
Rey Israel Marquez,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–03885 Filed 2–26–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
Review and Approval; Comment
Request; a Coastal Management Needs
Assessment and Market Analysis for
Financing Resilience
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection,
request for comment.
AGENCY:

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

SUMMARY:

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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.
DATES: To ensure consideration,
comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received
on or before April 29, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit written comments to
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer,
at NOAA.PRA@noaa.gov. Please
reference OMB Control Number 0648–
0796 in the subject line of your
comments. Do not submit Confidential
Business Information or otherwise
sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection
activities should be directed to Kim
Penn, NOAA Office for Coastal
Management, 1305 East-West Hwy
Silver Spring, MD 20910, (410)701–
0407, and kim.penn@noaa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This is a request for extension of an
approved collection of information
under the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq. and implementing
regulations at 5 CFR part 1320. This
information collection assists NOAA in
the development of funding and
financing coastal resilience learning
products and tools in support of the
Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972
(CZMA), 16 U.S.C. 1451 et seq. NOAA’s
Office for Coastal Management (OCM)
and its regional, State, Federal, and nonprofit partners have worked closely with
coastal managers across the country to
increase the resilience of our coastal
communities, economies and
ecosystems. Under the CZMA, OCM
provides financial and technical
assistance to states and territories,
including that which helps its
customers (coastal managers) develop
hazard mitigation and climate
adaptation plans that include strategies
for short-term responses to immediate
threats (e.g., flooding, hurricanes) as
well as long-term responses to gradual
changes (e.g., sea level rise, drought).
Services are provided through outreach,
training, funding, resource, and tool
development.
Solutions to these resilience
challenges are often complex and crosssectoral. Therefore, coastal decisionmakers regularly point to the need for
more substantial, coordinated, sustained

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2024 / Notices

and creative funding opportunities to
support these efforts. The results of an
initial review of more than 200
resources that NOAA conducted in
support of this effort, and informal
conversations with NOAA customers
and other stakeholders indicate that
there is no comprehensive inventory or
guide to understanding and selecting
appropriate funding options or
financing strategies. These findings have
been further confirmed in subsequent
informal discussions with coastal
resilience and finance practitioners at
national venues such as the National
Adaptation Forum and Social Coast
Forum, as well as through the original
needs assessment using this information
collection instrument. NOAA’s coastal
management partners continue to
request support on this topic.
The financing world is one that is
constantly evolving new products and
retiring others. The range of funding and
financing options, from grants and lowinterest loans to more innovative
private-public partnerships and
emerging bonds, presents an everchanging and complex array of choices.
In initial internal communications and
informal discussions conducted
between June 2018 and February 2020,
NOAA customers indicated that these
opportunities and mechanisms are not
well understood, and are generally
inaccessible to coastal managers,
particularly in small to mid-sized
communities, rural areas, and tribal
communities. The initial information
gathered via this collection supported
this.
In many coastal communities,
investment in mitigation and resilience
measures remains either limited or
reactive in response to a catastrophic
event. While there is no data on the
number of adaptation plans that have
been implemented, lack of funding is a
frequently cited barrier to
implementation. At the same time, it
has been estimated that investing in
mitigation can save communities $6 for
every $1 spent through mitigation grants
from agencies including the Federal
Emergency Management Agency,
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, and Economic
Development Administration (according
to the National Institute of Building
Sciences’ October 2018 report, Natural
Hazard Mitigation Saves: Utilities and
Transportation Infrastructure).
Understanding the suite of funding and
financing options available at the time
resilience planning is undertaken, and
then incorporating financial strategies
into the planning process and
recommendations, will help ensure that
these plans are implemented. Section

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310 of the Coastal Zone Management
Act allows for technical assistance and
management-oriented research to
develop and implement state coastal
management program amendments.
NOAA uses the information collected
to develop needs assessments defining
the types of funding, financing
mechanisms, and associated resources
that its state and local coastal manager
customers need for coastal resilience
activities and a market analysis of
existing funding and financing programs
and mechanisms. Simultaneously,
NOAA is identifying existing resources
and partnership opportunities for State
and local coastal managers and NOAA’s
non-profit, academic, and other
customers. Information collected to date
has helped inform the development of
new NOAA funding and financing
products and services and future
collection efforts will help NOAA better
understand the impacts these products
and services have had on coastal
managers’ barriers.
This request is for a set of related
interviews to facilitate this research.
NOAA will perform interviews with
state and local coastal managers, as well
as representatives from non-profit
organizations, academia, the Federal
Government, and the finance industry.
The interviews will collect relevant
information from interviewees on their
experiences with coastal resilience
funding and financing mechanisms,
challenges and opportunities related to
funding and financing coastal resilience,
and technical support needs and
opportunities that NOAA can address.
The information provided by
interviewees will be synthesized into
the needs assessment, which will
address needs and information gaps
partitioned by region, financial scale,
time scale, and scope/sector. The
information provided by interviewees
will also be used to help inform an
inventory of existing entities providing
resources for resilience funding, as well
as a summary of existing and emerging
funding sources and financial tools and
mechanisms for coastal resilience.
Finally, the interviews will inform
recommendations on NOAA’s potential
niche in addressing the identified needs
and gaps.
The resulting research (and any
subsequent resources or tools developed
by NOAA to address identified gaps)
will provide much needed information
to NOAA’s customers on funding and
financing coastal resilience efforts,
including available resources and
mechanisms, best practices and
strategies, real world success stories,
and opportunities for technical and

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financial partnerships with private and
public entities.
II. Method of Collection
Information will be collected during
structured telephone interviews.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648–0796.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Regular submission.
Extension of a currently approved
information collection.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; Not-for-profit
institutions; State, Local, or Tribal
government; Federal Government.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
36.
Estimated Time per Response: 1.25
hours.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 45.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to
Public: $0.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Coastal Zone
Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), 16
U.S.C. 1451 et seq.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to
permit the Department/Bureau to: (a)
Evaluate whether the proposed
information collection is necessary for
the proper functions of the Department,
including whether the information will
have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the
accuracy of our estimate of the time and
cost burden for this proposed collection,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (c)
Evaluate ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected; and (d) Minimize the
reporting burden on those who are to
respond, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or
summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this information
collection request. Before including
your address, phone number, email
address, or other personal identifying
information in your comment, you
should be aware that your entire
comment—including your personal
identifying information—may be made
publicly available at any time. While
you may ask us in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 39 / Tuesday, February 27, 2024 / Notices
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of
the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs,
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2024–03943 Filed 2–26–24; 8:45 a.m.]
BILLING CODE 3510–08–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
[RTID 0648–XD738]

New England Fishery Management
Council; Public Meeting
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
AGENCY:

The New England Fishery
Management Council (Council) is
scheduling a public hybrid meeting of
its Risk Policy Working Group to
consider actions affecting New England
fisheries in the exclusive economic zone
(EEZ). This meeting will be held inperson with a webinar option.
Recommendations from this group will
be brought to the full Council for formal
consideration and action, if appropriate.
DATES: This meeting will be held on
Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 9 a.m.
ADDRESSES:
Meeting address: This meeting will be
held at the Hilton Garden Inn, 100 High
Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801;
telephone: (603) 431–1499.
Webinar registration URL
information:
https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_
W_gl369EQKmGn7iFlqOLXQ.
Council address: New England
Fishery Management Council, 50 Water
Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cate
O’Keefe, Executive Director, New
England Fishery Management Council;
telephone: (978) 465–0492.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:

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Agenda
The Risk Policy Working Group
(RPWG) will address the terms of
reference (TORs) approved by the New
England Fishery Management Council
(Council), including progress made in
reviewing the Council’s current Risk
Policy, and Risk Policy Road Map (TOR
1). They will also continue the
development of a revised risk policy
(TOR 2). The RPWG will outline a
possible new approach and consider the

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process of implementing the risk policy
with ABC control rules and other
management decisions.
Other business will be discussed, if
necessary.
Although non-emergency issues not
contained on the agenda may come
before this Council for discussion, those
issues may not be the subject of formal
action during this meeting. Council
action will be restricted to those issues
specifically listed in this notice and any
issues arising after publication of this
notice that require emergency action
under section 305(c) of the MagnusonStevens Act, provided the public has
been notified of the Council’s intent to
take final action to address the
emergency. The public also should be
aware that the meeting will be recorded.
Consistent with 16 U.S.C. 1852, a copy
of the recording is available upon
request.
Special Accommodations
This meeting is physically accessible
to people with disabilities. Requests for
sign language interpretation or other
auxiliary aids should be directed to Cate
O’Keefe, Executive Director, at (978)
465–0492, at least 5 days prior to the
meeting date.
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.
Dated: February 21, 2024.
Rey Israel Marquez,
Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable
Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–03888 Filed 2–26–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–22–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Patent and Trademark Office
[Docket No. PTO–P–2023–0053]

Updated Guidance for Making a Proper
Determination of Obviousness
United States Patent and
Trademark Office, Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

The United States Patent and
Trademark Office (USPTO or Office) is
publishing this updated guidance to
provide a review of the flexible
approach to determining obviousness
that is required by KSR Int’l Co. v.
Teleflex Inc. (KSR). The focus of this
document is on post-KSR precedential
cases of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal
Circuit), to provide further clarification
for decision-makers on how the
Supreme Court’s directives should be
applied. While highlighting the
requirement for a flexible approach to

SUMMARY:

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the obviousness determination, this
updated guidance also emphasizes the
need for a reasoned explanation when
reaching a conclusion that a claimed
invention would have been obvious.
This updated guidance, together with
the direction provided in the Manual of
Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP),
serves as operable guidance for USPTO
personnel when applying the law of
obviousness.
DATES: This guidance is effective on
February 27, 2024.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kathleen Kahler Fonda, Senior Legal
Advisor, Office of Patent Legal
Administration, Office of the Deputy
Commissioner for Patents, at
Kathleen.Fonda@uspto.gov or 571–272–
7754; or Steven J. Fulk, Legal Advisor,
Office of Patent Legal Administration,
Office of the Deputy Commissioner for
Patents, at Steven.Fulk@uspto.gov or
571–270–0072.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: More than
15 years have passed since the Supreme
Court’s unanimous decision regarding
the obviousness of a claimed invention
under 35 U.S.C. 103 rendered in KSR
Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398,
127 S. Ct. 1727 (2007). Since then, the
Federal Circuit has helped to refine the
contours of the obviousness inquiry.
This updated guidance serves as a
reminder for USPTO personnel of the
flexible approach to obviousness that is
required under KSR and Federal Circuit
precedent.
This guidance does not constitute
substantive rulemaking and hence does
not have the force and effect of law. It
has been developed as a matter of
internal Office management and is not
intended to create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable
by any party against the Office.
Rejections will continue to be based on
the substantive law, and it is these
rejections that are appealable.
Consequently, any failure by Office
personnel to follow this guidance is
neither appealable nor petitionable.
The Office does not intend to
announce any new Office practice or
procedure by way of this updated
guidance. This guidance is based on the
Office’s current understanding of the
law and is believed to comport with the
binding precedent of the Supreme Court
and the Federal Circuit. Furthermore, it
is meant to be consistent with the
Office’s present examination policy.
However, if any earlier guidance from
the Office, including any section of the
current MPEP (9th Edition, Rev.
07.2022, February 2023), is inconsistent
with the updated guidance set forth in
this notice, Office personnel are to

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