Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 28 / Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Notices 6591

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 020100C]

Advisory Committee to the U.S.

Section to the International

Commission for the Conservation of

Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT); Spring

Species Working Group Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The Advisory Committee to

the U.S. Section to ICCAT announces its

spring meeting with its Species Working

Groups on March 6 and 7, 2000.

DATES: The open sessions of the

Committee meeting will be held on

March 6, 2000, from 9:15 a.m. to 2:30

p.m., and on March 7, 2000, from 9:00

a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 11:30 a.m. to

5 p.m. Closed sessions will be held on

March 6, 2000, from 2:30 p.m. to

approximately 6:00 p.m., and on March

7, 2000, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Holiday Inn Silver Spring, 8777

Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring,

Maryland 20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kim

Blankenbeker at (301) 713–2276.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section

to ICCAT will meet in open session to

receive and to discuss information on

(1) 1999 ICCAT meeting results and U.S.

implementation of ICCAT decisions, (2)

NMFS and ICCAT research and

monitoring activities, (3) the Food and

Agriculture Organization’s work related

to illegal, unregulated, and unreported

fishing, (4) the second meeting of

ICCAT’s Working Group on Allocation

Criteria, (5) Advisory Committee

operational issues, (6) consultation

regarding the identification of countries

that are diminishing the effectiveness of

ICCAT, (7) the results of the meetings of

the Committee’s Species Working

Groups, and (8) other matters relating to

the international management of ICCAT

species. The public will have access to

the open sessions of the meeting, but

there will be no opportunity for public

comment.

Sessions of the Advisory Committee’s

Species Working Groups will not be

open to the public, but, as noted earlier,

the results of the working group

discussions will be reported to the full

Advisory Committee during the

Committee’s afternoon open session on

March 7.

Special Accommodations

The meeting locations are physically

accessible to people with disabilities.

Requests for sign language

interpretation or other auxiliary aids

should be directed to Kim Blankenbeker

at (301) 713–2276 at least 5 days prior

to the meeting date.

Dated: February 3, 2000.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 00–3003 Filed 2–9–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING

COMMISSION

Minneapolis Grain Exchange:

Proposed Amendments to the Quality

Specifications of the Durum Wheat

Futures Contract

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading

Commission.

ACTION: Notice of availability of

proposed amendments to contract terms

and conditions.

SUMMARY: The Minneapolis Grain

Exchange (MGE or Exchange) has

proposed amendments to the

Exchange’s durum wheat futures

contract. The proposed amendments

would revise the futures contract’s

quality specifications. The proposed

amendments were submitted under the

Commission’s 45-day Fast Track

procedures which provides that, absent

any contrary action by the Commission,

the proposed amendments may be

deemed approved on February 24,

2000—45 days after the Commission’s

receipt of the proposals. The Acting

Director of the Division of Economic

Analysis (Division) of the Commission,

acting pursuant to the authority

delegated by Commission Regulation

140.96, has determined that publication

of the proposed amendments is in the

public interest, will assist the

Commission in considering the views of

interested persons, and is consistent

with the purposes of the Commodity

Exchange Act.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before February 25, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons should

submit their views and comments to

Jean A. Webb, Secretary, Commodity

Futures Trading Commission, Three

Lafayette Centre, 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20581. In addition,

comments may be sent by facsimile

transmission to facsimile number (202)

418–5521, or by electronic mail to

secretary@cftc.gov. Reference should be

made to the proposed amendments to

the MGE durum wheat futures contract.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Please contact John Bird of the Division

of Economic Analysis, Commodity

Futures Trading Commission, Three

Lafayette Centre, 21st Street NW,

Washington, DC 20581, telephone (202)

418–5274. Facsimile number: (202) 418–

5527. Electronic mail: jbird@cftc.gov

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

futures contract currently calls for the

delivery of durum wheat meeting

specified quality requirements. These

existing requirements, with one

exception, meet or exceed the standards

for U.S. grade No. 2 hard amber durum

wheat. In addition, the contract sets

forth standards for protein content,

falling number, moisture content,

dockage, and hard vitreous amber

kernels which are not specified in the

official U.S. standards for grain. The

proposed amendments would make the

contract’s standards conform to the

requirements for U.S. No. 2 hard amber

durum wheat and would reduce the

contract’s standards for protein content,

falling number, and hard vitreous

kernels. The proposed and current

quality specifications are shown in the

table below.

Grade factor or quality standard Current specification

Proposed specification

Minimum Test Weight ............................................................................................................................. 60 lbs. per bushel 58 lbs. per bushel

Maximum Heat Damaged Kernels .......................................................................................................... 0.2% 0.2%

Maximum Total Damaged Kernels ......................................................................................................... 2.0% 4.0%

Maximum Foreign Material ..................................................................................................................... 1.0% 0.7%

Maximum Shrunken and Broken Kernels ............................................................................................... 3.0% 5.0%

Maximum Total Defects .......................................................................................................................... 5.0% 5.0%

Maximum Total Other Classes ............................................................................................................... 2.0% 2.0%