Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 209 / Wednesday, October 29, 2014 / Notices 64359 

necessary to fulfill the intent of the 

EPIA. 

The information collected is used 

only by authorized representatives of 

the AMS, Livestock, Poultry, and Seed 

Program’s Quality Assessment Division 

and resident Federal-State graders, 

which includes State agencies 

authorized to conduct inspections on 

AMS’ behalf. The information is only 

used to verify compliance with the EPIA 

and the regulations and to facilitate 

regulatory action. The Agency is the 

primary user of the information; 

secondary users include each 

authorized State agency that have a 

cooperative agreement with AMS. 

Estimate of Burden: Public reporting 

burden for this collection of information 

is estimated to average .31 hours per 

response. 

Respondents: Businesses or other forprofit and small businesses or 

organizations. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

818. 

Estimated Total Annual Responses: 

6,177. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 8 (rounded). 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 1,909 (rounded). 

Comments are invited on: (1) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (3) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

the use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for OMB approval. All comments will 

become a matter of public record. 

Dated: October 23, 2014. 

Rex A. Barnes, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25662 Filed 10–28–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

[Document No. AMS–ST–14–0064] 

Plant Variety Protection Board Meeting 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the 

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is 

announcing a meeting of the Plant 

Variety Protection Board (Board). The 

meeting is being held to discuss a 

variety of topics including, but not 

limited to, work and outreach plans, 

subcommittee activities, and proposals 

for procedure changes. The meeting is 

open to the public. This notice sets forth 

the schedule and location for the 

meeting. 

DATES: Monday, December 8, 2014, from 

1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday, 

December 9, 2014, from 8:00 a.m. to 

5:00 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The Board meeting will be 

held at the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel 

at the Water Tower Room, at 151 East 

Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Maria Pratt, Program Analyst, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

AMS, Science and Technology 

Programs, 1400 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20250. Telephone: 

(202) 260–8983; Fax: (202) 260–8976, or 

Email: maria.pratt@ams.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to the provisions of section 10(a) of the 

FACA (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), this notice 

informs the public that the Plant Variety 

Protection Office (PVPO) is having a 

Board meeting earlier than the 15 day 

requirement of the FACA. The Plant 

Variety Protection Act (PVPA) (7 U.S.C. 

2321 et seq.) provides legal protection in 

the form of intellectual property rights 

to developers of new varieties of plants, 

which are reproduced sexually by seed 

or are tuber-propagated. A certificate of 

Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is 

awarded to an owner of a crop variety 

after an examination shows that it is 

new, distinct from other varieties, 

genetically uniform and stable through 

successive generations. The term of 

protection is 20 years for most crops and 

25 years for trees, shrubs, and vines. 

The PVPA also provides for a statutory 

Board (7 U.S.C. 2327). The PVPA Board 

is composed of 14 individuals who are 

experts in various areas of development 

and represent the seed industry sector, 

academia and government. The duties of 

the Board are to: (1) Advise the 

Secretary concerning the adoption of 

rules and regulations to facilitate the 

proper administration of the FACA; (2) 

provide advisory counsel to the 

Secretary on appeals concerning 

decisions on applications by the PVPO 

and on requests for emergency publicinterest compulsory licenses; and (3) 

advise the Secretary on any other 

matters under the Regulations and Rules 

of Practice and on all questions under 

Section 44 of the FACA, ‘‘Public Interest 

in Wide Usage’’ (7 U.S.C. 2404). 

The purpose of the meeting will be to 

discuss the PVPO 2014 achievements, 

2015 work plan and outreach plan, 

ongoing process improvements, updates 

on electronic applications/database 

conversion, plans for PVP recognition 

by other countries, the activities of the 

subcommittee to evaluate molecular 

techniques for PVP distinctness 

characterization and proposals for 

procedure changes. 

Agenda Items: The agenda will 

include, welcome and introductions, 

discussions on program activities that 

encourage the development of new 

plant varieties and also address appeals 

to the Secretary. There will be 

presentations on future PVP plans, 

electronic PVP application/computer 

database development, and the use of 

molecular markers for PVP applications. 

The meeting will be open to the public. 

Those wishing to participate are 

encouraged to pre-register by December 

1, 2014 by contacting Maria Pratt, 

Program Analyst; Telephone: (202) 260– 

8983; Email: maria.prat@ams.usda.gov. 

Meeting Accommodations: The 

meeting hotel is ADA compliant, and 

the USDA provides reasonable 

accommodations to individuals with 

disabilities where appropriate. If you 

need a reasonable accommodation to 

participate in this public meeting, 

please notify Maria Pratt at: Email: 

maria.pratt@ams.usda.gov or (202) 268– 

8983. Determinations for reasonable 

accommodation will be made on a caseby-case basis. Minutes of the meeting 

will be available for public review 30 

days following the meeting at the 

internet Web site http://

www.ams.usda.gov/PVPO. 

Dated: October 23, 2014. 

Rex A. Barnes, 

Associate Administrator, Agricultural 

Marketing Service. 

[FR Doc. 2014–25658 Filed 10–28–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

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