[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 25 (Tuesday, February 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7950-7951]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02547]


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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; NMFS Implementation of International Trade Data System

    The Department of Commerce will submit the following information 
collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite 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. Public comments were previously requested via the 
Federal Register on September 23, 2022 (87 FR 58065) during a 60-day 
comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public 
comments.
    Agency: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.
    Title: NMFS Implementation of International Trade Data System.
    OMB Control Number: 0648-0732.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Regular submission (extension of a current 
information collection).
    Number of Respondents: 2,380 per year.
    Average Hours per Response: International Trade Fisheries Permits, 
20 minutes; Dataset submission in ITDS/ACE, 18 minutes; Audit Response, 
30 minutes; Supply Chain Recordkeeping, 16 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 86,793 hours.
    Needs and Uses: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Office 
of International Affairs, Trade, and Commerce requests a regular 
submission of the extension of a current information collection. The 
Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 (SAFE Port Act, 
Pub. L. 109-347) requires all Federal agencies with a role in import 
admissibility decisions to collect information electronically through 
the International Trade Data System (ITDS). The Department of the 
Treasury has the U.S. Government lead on ITDS development and Federal 
agency integration. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) developed 
the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) as an internet-based system 
for the collection and dissemination of information for ITDS. The 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB), through its e-government 
initiative, oversees Federal agency participation in ITDS, with a focus 
on reducing duplicate reporting across agencies and migrating paper-
based reporting systems to electronic information collection. Numerous 
Federal agencies are involved in the regulation of international trade 
and many of these agencies participate in the decision-making process 
related to import, export, and transportation. Agencies also use trade 
data to monitor and report trade activity. NMFS is a partner government 
agency in the ITDS project as it monitors the trade of certain fishery 
products. Electronic collection of seafood trade data through a single 
portal has resulted in an overall reduction of the public reporting 
burden and the agency's data collection costs, has improved the 
timeliness and accuracy of admissibility decisions, and has increased 
the effectiveness of applicable trade restrictive measures.
    NMFS is responsible for implementation of trade measures and 
monitoring programs for fishery products subject to the documentation 
requirements of Regional Fishery Management Organizations (RFMOs) and/
or domestic laws. RFMOs are international fisheries organizations, 
established by treaties, to promote international cooperation to 
achieve effective and responsible marine stewardship and ensure 
sustainable fisheries management. The United States is a signatory to 
many RFMO treaties, and Congress has passed legislation to carry out 
U.S. obligations under those treaties, including trade measures to 
support conservation. Trade measures and monitoring programs enable the 
United States to exclude products that do not meet the RFMO criteria 
for admissibility to U.S. markets.
    Pursuant to domestic statutory authorities and/or multilateral 
agreements, NMFS has implemented a number of monitoring programs to 
collect information from the seafood industry regarding the origin of 
certain fishery products. The purpose of these programs is to determine 
the admissibility of the products in accordance with the specific 
criteria of the trade measure or documentation requirements in effect. 
The three NMFS trade monitoring programs originally included in the OMB 
information collection approved under Control Number 0648-0732 are the 
Highly Migratory Species International Trade Program (HMS ITP) which 
regulates trade in specified commodities of tuna, swordfish, billfish, 
and shark fins; the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) trade 
program which regulates trade in Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish and 
other fishery products caught in the area where the Convention on the 
Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) applies; and 
the Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (TTVP), which regulates 
trade in frozen and/or processed tuna products (refer to 50 CFR 
216.24(f)(2)(iii) for a complete list).
    Separately, NMFS initially received approval from OMB for the 
Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) under Control Number 0648-
0739. NMFS implemented SIMP under the authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 
Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA). Section 307(1)(Q) of the 
MSA prohibits the importation of fish or fish products that have been 
harvested

[[Page 7951]]

in violation of a foreign law or regulation, or in contravention of a 
binding conservation measure of an RFMO to which the United States is a 
contracting party. Under SIMP, information on the harvest event must be 
submitted in ACE as part of the entry filing for designated fish 
products to allow NMFS to determine that the fish or fish products were 
lawfully acquired and are therefore admissible into U.S. commerce. In 
2019, NMFS included shrimp and abalone entries in SIMP, and received 
initial OMB approval for the additional reporting burden for shrimp and 
abalone entries under a separate Control Number (0648-0776).
    In the 2020 collection renewal of 0648-0732, OMB granted the NMFS 
request to merge all the trade monitoring programs under one 
collection, which incorporated the reporting burdens associated with 
collections 0648-0739 and 0648-0776 within the scope of 0648-0732. 
Generally, these trade monitoring programs are similar and require 
anyone who intends to import, export, and/or re-export regulated 
species to obtain an International Fisheries Trade Permit (IFTP) from 
NMFS; obtain documentation on the flag-nation authorization for the 
harvest from the foreign exporter; and submit this information to NMFS. 
Depending on the commodity, specific information may also be required, 
such as the flag-state of the harvesting vessel, the ocean area of 
catch, the fishing gear used, the harvesting vessel name, and details 
and authorizations related to harvest, landing, transshipment, and 
export.
    Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; 
Federal government.
    Frequency: Annual trade permits; electronic reports upon import/
export; provision of supply chain documents when selected for audit.
    Respondent's Obligation: Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits.
    Legal Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1385, 16 U.S.C. 1826(a), 16 U.S.C. 
971(a), 19 U.S.C. 1411.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of 
Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 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 0648-0732.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-02547 Filed 2-6-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-22-P