68128 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2004 / Notices 

The Convention on the Prohibition of 

the Development, Production, 

Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical 

Weapons and Their Destruction, 

commonly called the Chemical 

Weapons Convention (CWC), is an 

international arms control treaty that 

establishes the Organization for the 

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 

(OPCW) to implement the verification 

provisions of the treaty. The CWC 

imposes a number of obligations on 

countries that have ratified the 

Convention (States Parties), including 

enactment of legislation to prohibit the 

production, storage, and use of chemical 

weapons, and establishment of a 

National Authority for liaison with the 

OPCW and other States Parties. The 

CWC also requires States Parties to 

implement a comprehensive data 

declaration and inspection regime to 

provide transparency and to verify that 

both the public and private sectors of 

States Parties are not engaged in 

activities prohibited under the CWC. 

Schedule 1’’ chemicals are those toxic 

chemicals and precursors identified in 

the Convention as posing a high risk to 

the object and purpose of the 

Convention. The ‘‘Schedule 1’’

chemicals are set forth in the 

Convention’s ‘‘Annex on Chemicals,’’ as 

well as in Supplement No. 1 to part 712 

of the Chemical Weapons Convention 

Regulations (15 CFR 712). 

The ‘‘Schedule 1’’ provisions of the 

Convention that affect commercial 

activities are implemented through part 

712 of the Chemical Weapons 

Convention Regulations and parts 742 

and 745 of the Export Administration 

Regulations, both administered by the 

Bureau of Industry and Security. These 

regulations: 

(1) Prohibit the import of ‘‘Schedule 

1’’ chemicals from States not Party to 

the Convention (15 CFR 712.2(b)); 

(2) Require annual declarations by 

certain facilities engaged in the 

production of ‘‘Schedule 1’’ chemicals 

in excess of 100 grams aggregate per 

calendar year (i.e., declared ‘‘Schedule 

1’’ facilities) for purposes not prohibited 

by the Convention (15 CFR 712.5); 

(3) Require government approval of 

‘‘declared Schedule 1’’ facilities (15 CFR 

712.5(e));

(4) Provide that ‘‘declared Schedule 

1’’ facilities are subject to initial and 

routine inspection by the Organization 

for the Prohibition of Chemical 

Weapons (15 CFR 712.5(d)); 

(5) Require 200 days advance 

notification of establishment of new 

‘‘Schedule 1’’ production facilities 

producing greater than 100 grams 

aggregate of ‘‘Schedule 1’’ chemicals per 

calendar year (15 CFR 712.4); 

(6) Require advance notification and 

annual reporting of all imports and 

exports of ‘‘Schedule 1’’ chemicals to, or 

from, other States Parties to the 

Convention (15 CFR 712.6, 742.18 and 

745); and 

(7) Prohibit the export of ‘‘Schedule 

1’’ chemicals to States not Party to the 

Convention (15 CFR 742.18 and 745.2). 

Discussion and Request for Comments 

In order to assist in determining 

whether the legitimate commercial 

activities and interests of chemical, 

biotechnology, and pharmaceutical 

firms in the United States are being 

significantly harmed by the limitations 

of the Convention on access to, and 

production of, ‘‘Schedule 1’’ chemicals, 

BIS is seeking public comments on any 

effects that implementation of the 

Chemical Weapons Convention has had 

on commercial activities involving 

‘‘Schedule 1’’ chemicals through 

calendar year 2004. 

Submission of Comments 

All comments must be submitted to 

the address indicated in this notice. The 

Department requires that all comments 

be submitted in written form. 

The Department encourages interested 

persons who wish to comment to do so 

at the earliest possible time. The period 

for submission of comments will close 

on December 21, 2004. The Department 

will consider all comments received 

before the close of the comment period. 

Comments received after the end of the 

comment period will be considered if 

possible, but their consideration cannot 

be assured. The Department will not 

accept comments accompanied by a 

request that a part or all of the material 

be treated confidentially because of its 

business proprietary nature or for any 

other reason. The Department will 

return such comments and materials to 

the persons submitting the comments 

and will not consider them. All 

comments submitted in response to this 

notice will be a matter of public record 

and will be available for public 

inspection and copying. 

The Office of Administration, Bureau 

of Industry and Security, U.S. 

Department of Commerce, displays 

public comments on the BIS Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) Web site at 

http://www.bis.doc.gov/foia. This office 

does not maintain a separate public 

inspection facility. If you have technical 

difficulties accessing this web site, 

please call BIS’s Office of 

Administration, at (202) 482–2165, for 

assistance.

Dated: November 18, 2004. 

Peter Lichtenbaum, 

Assistant Secretary for Export 

Administration.

[FR Doc. 04–25950 Filed 11–22–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–33–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

[Docket No. 041103306–4306–01] 

RIN 0693–AB54 

Announcing Draft of Federal 

Information Processing Standard 

(FIPS) 201, Personal Identification 

Verification for Federal Employees and 

Contractors

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology (NIST), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: This notice announces Draft 

Federal Information Processing 

Standard (FIPS) 201, Personal 

Identification Verification for Federal 

Employees and Contractors, for public 

review and comment. The draft of FIPS 

201 is being proposed in response to 

tasking to the Secretary of Commerce by 

the President to promulgate, in 

accordance with applicable law, a 

Federal standard for secure and reliable 

forms of identification for Federal 

employees. The standard specifies the 

minimum necessary technical and 

operational requirements for such 

Federal identification credentials. Prior 

to the submission of this proposed 

standard to the Secretary of Commerce 

for review and approval, it is essential 

that consideration be given to the needs 

and views of the public, users, the 

information technology industry, and 

Federal, State and local government 

organizations. The purpose of this 

notice is to solicit such views.

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before December 23, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be 

sent to: Chief, Computer Security 

Division, Information Technology 

Laboratory, Attention: Comments on 

Draft FIPS 201, 100 Bureau Drive—Stop 

8930, National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 

20899–8930. Electronic comments may 

also be sent to: 

DRAFTFIPS201@nist.gov. The draft of 

the standard is available via http://

csrc.nist.gov/piv-project/index.html.

Comments received in response to this 

notice will be published electronically 

at http://csrc.nist.gov.

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 225 / Tuesday, November 23, 2004 / Notices 68129

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

William Barker, Computer Security 

Division, National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 

20899–8930, telephone (301) 975–8443, 

e-mail: william.barker@nist.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

27, 2004, the President signed 

Homeland Security Presidential 

Directive (HSPD) Number 12 that 

directed the Secretary of Commerce to 

promulgate a Federal Standard by 

February 27, 2005, that assures secure 

and reliable forms of identification of 

Federal and Federal contractor 

employees. In response, the NIST 

Computer Security Division has 

initiated development of this standard. 

The principal requirements of HSPD 

Number 12 are to create a secure and 

reliable automated system that may be 

used Government-wide to: (1) Establish 

the authentic true identity of an 

individual; (2) issue an identity 

credential token to each authenticated 

individual containing an ‘‘electronic 

representation’’ of the identity and the 

person to whom it is issued which can 

later be verified using appropriate 

technical means when access to a secure 

Federal facility or information system is 

requested; (3) provide graduated criteria 

that provide appropriate levels of 

assurance and security to the 

application; (4) be strongly resistant to 

identity fraud, counterfeiting, and 

exploitation by individuals, terrorist 

organizations, or conspiracy groups; (5) 

initiate development and use of 

interoperable automated systems 

meeting these requirements. 

To meet these requirements, the draft 

FIPS proposes (1) a credential issuance 

process that relies upon identity 

documentation supplemented by record 

checking; (2) specifications for storage 

of biometric information on the identity 

credential; (3) use of existing graduated 

criteria for employee position sensitivity 

and physical/logical access levels; (4) 

security controls to counter fraud and 

exploitation; and (5) information to 

facilitate agency establishment of realtime credential validity checking and 

integration of the new credential into 

physical and logical access systems. 

Under the requirements of HSPD 

Number 12, the standard must be 

promulgated by February 27, 2005. 

NIST anticipates that the initial 

standard will be augmented over the 

course of two to three years as 

additional supporting technical 

guidelines, recommendations, reference 

implementations, and conformance tests 

are developed.

Authority: NIST’s activities to develop 

computer security standards to protect 

Federal non-national security systems is 

undertaken pursuant to specific 

responsibilities assigned to NIST in the 

Federal Information Security Management 

Act of 2002. In addition, development of 

FIPS 201 is being undertaken in response to 

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 

Number 12.

Dated: November 18, 2004. 

Richard F. Kayser, 

Acting Deputy Director.

[FR Doc. 04–25953 Filed 11–22–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–CN–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

Visiting Committee on Advanced 

Technology

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology Department of 

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of partially closed 

meeting. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 

2, notice is hereby given that the 

Visiting Committee on Advanced 

Technology (VCAT), National Institute 

of Standards and Technology (NIST), 

will meet Tuesday, December 7, 2004, 

from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Visiting 

Committee on Advanced Technology is 

composed of fifteen members appointed 

by the Director of NIST; who are 

eminent in such fields as business, 

research, new product development, 

engineering, labor, education, 

management consulting, environment, 

and international relations. The purpose 

of this meeting is to review and make 

recommendations regarding general 

policy for the Institute, its organization, 

its budget, and its programs within the 

framework of applicable national 

policies as set forth by the President and 

the Congress. The agenda will include 

an update on NIST’s activities; a 

preview of a new NIST overview; a 

VCAT member’s presentation on 

managing organizations with remote 

sites; an update on outreach strategy; an 

update on the Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership Program; and updates from 

the Fall Senior Management Board 

Strategy Retreat. Two laboratory tours 

are scheduled. Discussions scheduled to 

begin at 8:15 a.m. and to end at 9 a.m. 

on December 7, on the NIST budget and 

planning information will be closed. 

Agenda may change to accommodate 

Committee business. The final agenda 

will be posted on the NIST Web site. All 

visitors to the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology site will 

have to pre-register to be admitted. 

Please submit your name, time of 

arrival, e-mail address and phone 

number to Carolyn Peters no later than 

Thursday, December 2, 2004, and she 

will provide you with instructions for 

admittance. Mrs. Peter’s e-mail address 

is carolyn.peters@nist.gov and her 

phone number is (301) 975–5607.

DATES: The meeting will convene on 

December 7 at 8:15 a.m. and will 

adjourn at 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in 

the Employees Lounge, Administration 

Building, at NIST, Gaithersburg, 

Maryland. Please note admittance 

instructions under SUMMARY paragraph.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Carolyn J. Peters, Visiting Committee on 

Advanced Technology, National 

Institute of Standards and Technology, 

Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899–1000, 

telephone number (301) 975–5607.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Assistant Secretary for Administration, 

with the concurrence of the General 

Counsel, formally determined on 

December 24, 2003, that portions of the 

meeting of the Visiting Committee on 

Advanced Technology which deal with 

discussion of sensitive budget and 

planning information that would cause 

harm to third parties if publicly shared 

be closed in accordance with section 

10(d) of the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. app. 2.

Dated: November 18, 2004. 

Hratch G. Semerjian, 

Acting Director.

[FR Doc. 04–25952 Filed 11–22–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration

[I.D. 111804B]

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

Council (MAFMC); Public Meetings

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (Council) and its 

Magnuson-Stevens Act (MSA) 

Reauthorization Committee; its 

Ecosystem Committee; and, its 

Executive Committee will hold public 

meetings.

DATES: The meetings will be held on 

Tuesday, December 7, 2004 through