This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

63840

Vol. 65, No. 207

Wednesday, October 25, 2000

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Marketing Service

[PY–00–001]

U.S. Trade Descriptions for Poultry

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service,

USDA.

ACTION: Notice of publication of U.S.

Trade Description Tentative Standards

for Poultry with request for comments.

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing

Service (AMS) is publishing the United

States (U.S.) Trade Descriptions for

Poultry. The U.S. Trade Descriptions for

Poultry establish voluntary trade

standards for ready-to-cook chicken

products produced in the U.S. The

descriptions are intended to facilitate

wholesale trading of poultry by

providing a tool to better communicate

product and packaging requirements

among buyers and sellers. Comments

are requested regarding the description’s

effectiveness, ease of use, and technical

accuracy.

DATES: Use of the descriptions will

begin on October 25, 2000 and will

continue until AMS makes a final

determination about the usefulness of

the tentative standards. Comments must

be received on or before April 23, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Questions and written comments may

be submitted to David Bowden, Chief,

Standardization Branch, Poultry

Programs, Agricultural Marketing

Service, United States Department of

Agriculture, Room 3944-South Building,

STOP 0259, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–

0259; faxed to (202) 690–0941; or emailed to pydocket@usda.gov. State that

your comments refer to Docket No. PY–

00–001. Comments received may be

viewed over the Internet at

www.ams.usda.gov/poultry/regulations/

rulemaking/index.htm

or at the address above between 8 a.m.

and 4:30 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday

through Friday, except holidays.

Copies of the tentative U.S. Trade

Descriptions for Poultry are available

over the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov/

poultry/regulations/rulemaking/

index.htm or by writing the address

above, by faxing (202) 690–0941, or by

phoning (202) 720–3506. A fee will be

charged for color copies of the standard

to recover the cost of printing and

distribution.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

The Agricultural Marketing Act of

1946, as amended (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.)

authorizes USDA to develop and

maintain agricultural commodity

standards to facilitate the domestic and

international trading of U.S. agricultural

products. In 1998, the USA Poultry and

Egg Export Council, an industry trade

organization, expressed interest in

having AMS develop voluntary U.S.

standards to facilitate the domestic and

international wholesale trading of

ready-to-cook poultry produced in the

United States. AMS is calling these

standards ‘‘U.S. Trade Descriptions for

Poultry’’ and will maintain them as

AMS 71.

Currently, AMS maintains voluntary

standards that define quality grade

levels for poultry products by limiting

or excluding product defects such as

broken or disjointed bones, exposed

flesh, meat and skin discoloration, and

freezing defects. AMS 71 U.S. Trade

Descriptions for Poultry differ from

these standards in that they describe the

composition of poultry products by

defining characteristics such as which

parts of the bird are included, whether

bone and skin are present, and how the

product is packaged and packed. The

two standards may be used in

conjunction with each other.

Although AMS intends to develop

trade descriptions for all commonly

traded poultry products, descriptions

for ready-to-cook chicken products are

the first to be available for industry use.

These standards consist of word and

picture descriptions for over 70 chicken

product styles and define a numeric

coding system that communicates

product and packaging characteristics

for products to be traded. The

descriptions were developed in

cooperation with the poultry industry,

including national industry

organizations.

A seller may self-certify that delivered

product satisfies all product and

packaging characteristics of the trade

description specified by the buyer. For

additional assurance, however, the

buyer or seller may request that AMS

examine and officially certify that the

product meets the specified U.S. trade

description requirements. The AMS

Poultry Grading Service has procedures

for certifying that products meet the

requirements of the U.S. trade

descriptions. This service is available

for both officially graded and nongraded products.

AMS believes that the effectiveness

and usefulness of a new standard will

be best determined through industry

use. For this reason, AMS is providing

interested parties with 180 days to

comment on their effectiveness, ease of

use, and technical accuracy.

After the comment period has closed,

the Agency will evaluate comments

received and other information to

determine if the tentative U.S. Trade

Descriptions for Poultry should be

modified or become official. Once

determined, the Agency’s decision will

be published as a notice in the Federal

Register.

AMS encourages high-volume

wholesale buyers and sellers of chicken

to use the tentative standards to define

the products they trade. They can do so

by obtaining a copy of the trade

descriptions and using the product

definitions and numeric codes in the

trade descriptions to identify all product

and packaging requirements for the

products they wish to trade. This code

can then be incorporated into the

contract with wording such as ‘‘Product

and packaging shall meet requirements

of U.S. Trade Description No. 70101–

13–11140001270–1*01100114–

184001816–0.’’ An Internet web site will

be developed by AMS to provide online, interactive assistance with the

specification and documentation

process.

Interested parties can obtain further

information or assistance in the use of

the trade descriptions by contacting the

Poultry Programs Standardization

Branch by e-mail

(Carmen.Humphrey@usda.gov), fax (202

690–0941), or phone (202 720–3506).

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 207 / Wednesday, October 25, 2000 / Notices 63841

Dated: October 18, 2000.

Kathleen A. Merrigan,

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing

Service.

[FR Doc. 00–27412 Filed 10–24–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Submission for OMB Review;

Comment Request

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau.

DOC has submitted to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

clearance the following proposal for

collection of information under the

provisions of the Paperwork Reduction

Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).

Title: Advance Monthly Retail Sales

Survey.

Form Number(s): SM–44(00)A, SM–

44(00)AS, SM–44(00)AE, SM–72(00)A.

Agency Approval Number: 0607–

0104.

Type of Request: Revision of a

currently approved collection.

Burden: 4,500 hours.

Number of Respondents: 4,500.

Avg Hours Per Response: 5 minutes.

Needs and Uses: The Advance

Monthly Retail Sales Survey (MARTS)

provides an early indication of current

retail sales activity at the United States

level. Policymakers such as the Federal

Reserve Board need to have the most

timely estimates in order to anticipate

economic trends and act accordingly.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis

(BEA), the Council of Economic

Advisors (CEA), and other government

agencies and businesses use the data to

formulate economic policy and make

decisions. These estimates have a high

BEA priority because of their timeliness.

There would be approximately a month

delay in the availability of these data if

this survey were not conducted. Data

are collected monthly from small,

medium, and large size businesses,

selected using a stratified random

sampling procedure. The MARTS

sample is re-selected periodically,

generally at two year intervals. Small

and medium-size retailers are requested

to participate for those two years, after

which they are replaced with new panel

members. Smaller firms have less of a

chance for selection due to our sampling

procedure. We are increasing the sample

size from 4,100 to 4,500 to improve the

quality of the estimates.

This request is for the clearance of

four similar report forms SM–44(00)A;

SM–44(00)AE; SM–44(00)AS & SM–

72(00)A which will be replacing the

form B–104 previously used to collect

data in this survey on the Standard

Industrial Classification (SIC) basis. The

new forms will enable us to collect

information on the North American

Industry Classification System (NAICS)

basis. All forms request similar data

items but a variety of forms is needed

to either address collecting E-commerce

sales or the firm’s specific kind-ofbusiness.

Affected Public: Businesses or other

for-profit organizations.

Frequency: Monthly.

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C.,

Section 182.

OMB Desk Officer: Susan Schechter,

(202) 395–5103.

Copies of the above information

collection proposal can be obtained by

calling or writing Madeleine Clayton,

Departmental Forms Clearance Officer,

(202) 482–3129, Department of

Commerce, room 6086, 14th and

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,

DC 20230 (or via the Internet at

mclayton@doc.gov).

Written comments and

recommendations for the proposed

information collection should be sent

within 30 days of publication of this

notice to Susan Schechter, OMB Desk

Officer, room 10201, New Executive

Office Building, Washington, DC 20503.

Dated: October 20, 2000.

Madeleine Clayton,

Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office

of the Chief Information Officer.

[FR Doc. 00–27423 Filed 10–24–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Economic Development Administration

Notice of Petitions by Producing Firms

for Determination of Eligibility To

Apply for Trade Adjustment

Assistance

AGENCY: Economic Development

Administration (EDA), Commerce.

ACTION: To give firms an opportunity to

comment.

Petitions have been accepted for filing

on the dates indicated from the firms

listed below.

LIST OF PETITION ACTION BY TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR PERIOD AUGUST 16, 2000–SEPTEMBER 22, 2000

Firm name Address Date petition

accepted Product

Compol, Inc .......................... 415 Campbell Mill Road, Mason, NH 03048 28–Sep–2000 ........... Special purpose radio receivers utilizing

sub frequencies for use of targeted segments of the general public.

BGF Industries Inc ............... 3802 Robert Porcher Way, Greensboro,

NC 27410.

28–Sep–2000 ........... Fiberglass fabric for the electronics, automotive, aerospace and marine industries.

Nelson-Whittaker, Ltd. dba,

Central Specialties, Ltd.

220–D Exchange Drive, Crystal Lake, IL

60014.

28–Sep–2000 ........... Metal stands for trays or luggage.

Aneco Trousers Corporation 713 Linden Avenue, Hanover, PA 17331 ... 28–Sep–2000 ........... Men’s trousers of wood and wool blend

material.

Datatest, Inc ......................... 6850 Hibbs Lane, Levittown, PA 19057 ..... 28–Sep–2000 ........... Instruments for measuring variables of liquids or gases.

Cozzoli Machine Company .. 401 East Third Street, Plainfield, NJ 07060 28–Sep–2000 ........... Custom filling machinery and systems.

Taos Drum Company ........... 3956 Hwy 68, Ranchos de Taos, Taos, NM

87557.

29–Sep–2000 ........... Native drums.

Superior Gearbox Co., Inc ... 803 West Hwy. 32, Stockton, MO 65785 ... 02–Oct–2000 ............ Right-angle gearboxes and pump drives.

Santa Fe Furniture Co. dba,

Taos Furniture Co.

1807 Second Street, Santa Fe, NM 87505 02–Oct–2000 ............ Furniture of wood for bedrooms, dining

rooms and entertainment centers.

E&S Equipment, Inc ............. 109 Skyland Drive, Norman, OK 73071 ..... 02–Oct–2000 ............ Valve parts.

Electron Corporation (The) ... 5101 S. Rio Grande Street, Littleton, CO

80120.

02–Oct–2000 ............ Gray and ductile iron castings.

Sassco, Inc. dba Taku

Smokeries, dba Taku Fisheries.

550 S. Franklin Street, Juneau, AK 99801 02–Oct–2000 ............ Fresh and frozen seafood.