Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 36 / Wednesday, February 23, 2011 / Notices 10005 

For more information, call Yvette 

Springer at (202) 482–2813. 

Dated: February 17, 2011. 

Yvette Springer, 

Committee Liaison Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4027 Filed 2–22–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–JT–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

[Docket No. 110207100–1092–02] 

Reporting for Calendar Year 2010 on 

Offsets Agreements Related to Sales 

of Defense Articles or Defense 

Services to Foreign Countries or 

Foreign Firms 

AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Department of Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; annual reporting 

requirements. 

SUMMARY: This notice is to remind the 

public that U.S. firms are required to 

report annually to the Department of 

Commerce (Commerce) on contracts for 

the sale of defense articles or defense 

services to foreign countries or foreign 

firms that are subject to offsets 

agreements exceeding $5,000,000 in 

value. U.S. firms are also required to 

report annually to Commerce on offsets 

transactions completed in performance 

of existing offsets commitments for 

which offsets credit of $250,000 or more 

has been claimed from the foreign 

representative. This year, such reports 

must include relevant information from 

calendar year 2010 and must be 

submitted to Commerce no later than 

June 15, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Reports should be 

addressed to ‘‘Offsets Program Manager, 

U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of 

Strategic Industries and Economic 

Security, Bureau of Industry and 

Security, Room 3878, Washington, DC 

20230.’’ 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ronald DeMarines, Office of Strategic 

Industries and Economic Security, 

Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. 

Department of Commerce, telephone: 

202–482–3755; fax: 202–482–5650; email: rdemarin@bis.doc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

In 2009, the Congress reauthorized the 

Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA), 

and added a new section 723 to that 

Act, which replaced prior section 309 

and addresses offsets in defense trade 

(See 50 U.S.C. app. 2172). Offsets are 

compensation practices required as a 

condition of purchase in either 

government-to-government or 

commercial sales of defense articles 

and/or defense services, as defined by 

the Arms Export Control Act and the 

International Traffic in Arms 

Regulations. For example, a company 

that is selling a fleet of military aircraft 

to a foreign government may agree to 

offset the cost of the aircraft by 

providing training assistance to plant 

managers in the purchasing country. 

Although this distorts the true price of 

the aircraft, the foreign government may 

require this sort of extra compensation 

as a condition of awarding the contract 

to purchase the aircraft. 

Section 723(a)(1) of the DPA requires 

the President to submit an annual report 

to the Congress on the impact of offsets 

on the U.S. defense industrial base. 

Section 723 directs the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary) to function as the 

President’s executive agent for carrying 

out the responsibilities set forth in that 

section and authorizes the Secretary to 

develop and administer the regulations 

necessary to collect offsets data from 

U.S. defense exporters. 

The authorities of the Secretary 

regarding offsets have been delegated to 

the Under Secretary of Commerce for 

Industry and Security. The regulations 

associated with offsets reporting are set 

forth in part 701 of title 15 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations. 

As described in those regulations, 

U.S. firms are required to report on 

contracts for the sale of defense articles 

or defense services to foreign countries 

or foreign firms that are subject to 

offsets agreements exceeding $5,000,000 

in value. U.S. firms are also required to 

report annually on offsets transactions 

completed in performance of existing 

offsets commitments for which offsets 

credit of $250,000 or more has been 

claimed from the foreign representative. 

Commerce’s annual report to Congress 

includes an aggregated summary of the 

data reported by industry in accordance 

with the offsets regulation and the DPA. 

As provided by section 723(c) of the 

DPA, BIS will not publicly disclose the 

information it receives through offsets 

reporting unless the firm furnishing the 

information specifically authorizes 

public disclosure. The information 

collected is sorted and organized into an 

aggregate report of national offsets data, 

and therefore does not identify 

company-specific information. 

In order to enable BIS to prepare the 

next annual offset report reflecting 

calendar year 2010 data, U.S. firms must 

submit required information on offsets 

agreements and offsets transactions from 

calendar year 2010 to BIS no later than 

June 15, 2011. 

Dated: February 15, 2011. 

Kevin J. Wolf, 

Assistant Secretary for Export 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2011–3916 Filed 2–22–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–JT–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

International Trade Administration 

North American Free Trade Agreement, 

Article 1904 NAFTA Panel Reviews; 

Request for Panel Review 

AGENCY: NAFTA Secretariat, United 

States Section, International Trade 

Administration, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of First Request for Panel 

Review. 

SUMMARY: On February 11, 2011, 

ThyssenKrupp Mexinox S.A. de C.V. 

and Mexinox USA, Inc. (collectively 

‘‘Mexinox’’) filed a First Request for 

Panel Review with the United States 

Section of the NAFTA Secretariat 

pursuant to Article 1904 of the North 

American Free Trade Agreement. Panel 

Review was requested of the final 

determination of the U.S. Department of 

Commerce’s International Trade 

Administration regarding Stainless Steel 

Sheet and Strip in Coils from Mexico. 

This determination was published in 

the Federal Register (76 FR 2332), on 

January 13, 2011. The NAFTA 

Secretariat has assigned Case Number 

USA–MEX–2011–1904–01 to this 

request. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Valerie Dees, United States Secretary, 

NAFTA Secretariat, Suite 2061, 14th 

and Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20230, (202) 482–5438. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Chapter 

19 of the North American Free Trade 

Agreement (‘‘Agreement’’) established a 

mechanism to replace domestic judicial 

review of final determinations in 

antidumping and countervailing duty 

cases involving imports from a NAFTA 

country with review by independent 

binational panels. When a Request for 

Panel Review is filed, a panel is 

established to act in place of national 

courts to review expeditiously the final 

determination to determine whether it 

conforms with the antidumping or 

countervailing duty law of the country 

that made the determination. 

Under Article 1904 of the Agreement, 

which came into force on January 1, 

1994, the Government of the United 

States, the Government of Canada, and 

the Government of Mexico established 

Rules of Procedure for Article 1904 

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