Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 23, 2018 / Notices 3189 

U.S. Patent No. 7,113,502; U.S. Patent 

No. 7,752,564; U.S. Patent No. 

8,300,156; and U.S. Patent No. 

9,521,466. The notice of investigation 

named as respondents: Sony 

Corporation of Tokyo, Japan; Sony 

Corporation of America, of New York, 

New York; Sony Electronics Inc. of San 

Diego, California; Sony Interactive 

Entertainment, Inc. of Tokyo, Japan; as 

well as Sony Mobile Communications 

(USA), Inc., Sony Interactive 

Entertainment LLC, and Sony 

Interactive Entertainment America LLC, 

each of San Mateo, California 

(collectively, ‘‘Sony’’). The Office of 

Unfair Import Investigations was also 

named as a party. 

On December 15, 2017, ARRIS and 

Sony filed a joint motion to terminate 

the investigation in view of a patent 

cross license agreement between the 

parties that settles this investigation. On 

December 18, 2017, the Commission 

investigative attorney responded in 

support of the motion. 

On December 20, 2017, the presiding 

ALJ granted the motion as the subject 

ID. The ID finds that the motion 

complies with Commission Rules, and 

that granting the motion is not contrary 

to the public interest. ID at 1–3; see 19 

CFR 210.21(b), 210.50(b)(2). 

No petitions for review of the ID were 

filed. The Commission has determined 

not to review the ID. 

The authority for the Commission’s 

determination is contained in section 

337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as 

amended (19 U.S.C. 1337), and in Part 

210 of the Commission’s Rules of 

Practice and Procedure (19 CFR part 

210). 

By order of the Commission. 

Issued: January 18, 2018. 

Lisa R. Barton, 

Secretary to the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2018–01155 Filed 1–22–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7020–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 

Drug Enforcement Administration 

[Docket No. DEA–392] 

Bulk Manufacturer of Controlled 

Substances Application: Organix, Inc. 

Correction 

Notice document 2017–28180, 

appearing on page 539, in the issue of 

January 4, 2018 was inadvertently 

published in error and should not have 

appeared in the Federal Register. 

[FR Doc. C1–2017–28180 Filed 1–22–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1301–00–D 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Employment and Training 

Administration 

Labor Certification Process for the 

Temporary Employment of Aliens in 

Non-Agricultural Employment in the 

United States 

AGENCY: Employment and Training 

Administration, Department of Labor. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Employment and 

Training Administration (ETA) of the 

Department of Labor (Department) is 

issuing this notice to announce to 

employers and other interested 

stakeholders about a process change to 

better assure fairness regarding the 

issuance of H–2B temporary labor 

certifications due to the unprecedented 

volume of applications received on 

January 1, 2018. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William W. Thompson, II, 

Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor 

Certification, Box #12–200, Employment 

& Training Administration, U.S. 

Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210. 

Telephone number: 202–513–7350 (this 

is not a toll-free number). 

Individuals with hearing or speech 

impairments may access the telephone 

number above via TTY by calling the 

toll-free Federal Information Relay 

Service at 1–877–889–5627. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

H–2B Visas: Statutory Background and 

OFLC Process 

The Immigration and Nationality Act 

(INA) sets the annual number of aliens 

who may be issued H–2B visas or 

otherwise provided H–2B nonimmigrant 

status by the Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS) to perform temporary 

non-agricultural work at 66,000. Up to 

33,000 H–2B visas may be issued in the 

first half of a fiscal year (October 1 to 

March 31), and the remaining semiannual allocation of 33,000 visas will be 

available for employers seeking to hire 

H–2B workers during the second half of 

the fiscal year (April 1 to September 30). 

This announcement concerns the 

processing of the H–2B temporary labor 

certification applications for the April 

1–September 30, 2018 period of need. 

The Employment and Training 

Administration’s Office of Foreign Labor 

Certification (OFLC) process for 

obtaining an H–2B certification is a twostep process for employers. Employers 

must first file a complete and accurate 

Application for Temporary Employment 

Certification (ETA Form 9142B). 

Following review and acceptance from 

OFLC, the employer must then conduct 

recruitment of U.S. workers and file a 

recruitment report. The Department 

reviews those reports and issues final 

labor certification decisions to 

employers who comply with all 

regulatory requirements as they are 

returned to OFLC by employers. 

Employers granted temporary labor 

certification are then eligible to file a 

petition with the United States 

Citizenship and Immigration Services 

(USCIS) at the DHS. 

Process Change for Granting 

Temporary Labor Certification 

Because of the intense competition for 

H–2B visas in recent years, the semiannual visa allocation, and the 

regulatory requirement that employers 

apply with OFLC for a temporary labor 

certification 75 to 90 days before the 

start date of work, employers who wish 

to obtain visas for their workers under 

the semi-annual allotment for periods of 

need beginning from April 1–September 

30, 2018, must promptly apply for a 

temporary labor certification and then 

file a petition with USCIS before the cap 

is reached. As a result, OFLC typically 

experiences a significant ‘‘spike’’ in 

labor certification applications at the 

beginning of January for temporary or 

seasonal jobs during the U.S.’s early 

spring and summer weather months. 

Thus, on January 1, 2017 (FY 2017), 

OFLC received 1,538 applications 

covering approximately 26,673 worker 

positions for a work start date of April 

1, 2017; approximately 80% of the 

entire semi-annual visa allocation of 

33,000. By contrast, on January 1, 2018, 

OFLC received approximately 4,498 

applications covering 81,008 worker 

positions requesting an April 1, 2018, 

start date of work. This unprecedented 

level of employer requests for H–2B 

workers on January 1, 2018 is 

approximately three times greater than 

the number of applications received on 

January 1, 2017, and more than two and 

one-half times greater than the 33,000 

semi-annual visa allotment for FY 2018 

permitted under the INA. In previous 

years, OFLC processed applications as 

expeditiously as possible in a manner 

irrespective of the time of day the 

application was filed, only focusing on 

processing applications by the day they 

were filed. Although OFLC is working 

as expeditiously as possible to issue first 

actions, review responses to Notices of 

Deficiency, and issue Notices of 

Acceptance, the overwhelming 

workload this year has strained OFLC’s 

processing system and resulted in 

delays for the majority of all 

applications filed on January 1. OFLC 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
3190 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 15 / Tuesday, January 23, 2018 / Notices 

expects the first 2,400 applications filed 

on January 1 (which represent 

approximately 40,000 worker positions) 

will be processed for first actions by 

next week, with the remainder of all 

filed applications processed for first 

actions in the weeks that follow. 

Employers receiving Notices of 

Acceptance can proceed to meet the 

additional regulatory requirements, 

including recruitment of U.S. workers 

and submission of recruitment reports. 

Employers receiving Notices of 

Deficiency that are corrected, and who 

then receive a Notice of Acceptance, can 

also proceed to meet the additional 

regulatory requirements. In order to 

promote fairness for employers in 

accessing the H–2B program and due to 

the unprecedented volume of 

applications on January 1, OFLC is 

making a change to its process regarding 

the issuance of final labor certification 

decisions. This process change will 

better reflect the sequential order in 

which employers filed applications. 

Thus, OFLC will not begin releasing 

certified H–2B applications (Form ETA– 

9142B Application for Temporary 

Employment Certification) until 

February 20, 2018. On that day, OFLC 

will release certified H–2B applications 

that have met all regulatory 

requirements as of that day in sequential 

order based on the original calendar day 

and time the application was filed (i.e., 

receipt time). Thereafter, OFLC will 

continue to release certified H–2B 

applications in a sequential manner 

until all applications are released. OFLC 

will continue to issue rejections, 

withdrawals, and denials of labor 

certification applications in accordance 

with standard procedures. This process 

change will allow employers who filed 

promptly on January 1, 2018, sufficient 

time to meet regulatory requirements, 

including the recruitment and hiring of 

qualified and available U.S. workers, 

thus preserving the sequential order of 

filing that took place on January 1, 2018, 

to the extent possible. 

As required, OFLC will grant 

temporary labor certification only after 

the employer’s H–2B application has 

met all the requirements for approving 

labor certification under 20 CFR 655.50 

and the subpart. In accordance with 

regulatory requirements, OFLC will 

send all certified H–2B applications to 

the employer, or the employer’s 

authorized attorney or agent, by means 

normally assuring next day delivery. 

Signed in Washington, DC, this 18th day of 

January 2018. 

William W. Thompson, II, 

Administrator, Office of Foreign Labor 

Certification. 

[FR Doc. 2018–01166 Filed 1–18–18; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4510–FP–P 

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Sunshine Act Meeting; National 

Science Board 

The National Science Board, pursuant 

to NSF regulations (45 CFR part 614), 

the National Science Foundation Act, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 1862n–5), and the 

Government in the Sunshine Act (5 

U.S.C. 552b), hereby gives notice of the 

scheduling of a teleconference for the 

transaction of National Science Board 

business, as follows: 

TIME AND DATE: Open meeting of the 

Executive Committee of the National 

Science Board, to be held Monday, 

January 29, 2018, from 4:00–5:00 p.m. 

EST. 

PLACE: This meeting will be held by 

teleconference at the National Science 

Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Ave., 

Alexandria, VA 22314. 

STATUS: Open. 

MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: Committee 

Chair’s Opening Remarks; approval of 

Executive Committee Minutes of 

October 10, 2017; discuss issues and 

topics for an agenda of the NSB Meeting 

scheduled for February 21–22, 2018. 

CONTACT PERSON FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Point of contact for this meeting is: 

James Hamos, 2415 Eisenhower Ave., 

Alexandria, VA 22314. Telephone: (703) 

292–8000. 

You may find meeting information 

and updates (time, place, subject matter 

or status of meeting) at http://

www.nsf.gov/nsb/meetings/notices.jsp

#sunshine. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: An audio 

listening line will be available for the 

public. Members of the public must 

contact the Board Office to request the 

number by sending an email to 

nationalsciencebrd@nsf.gov at least 24 

hours prior to the teleconference. 

Chris Blair, 

Executive Assistant to the NSB Office. 

[FR Doc. 2018–01303 Filed 1–19–18; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 7555–01–P 

NEIGHBORHOOD REINVESTMENT 

CORPORATION 

Regular Board of Directors Meeting; 

Sunshine Act 

TIME AND DATE: 1:00 p.m., Wednesday, 

February 14, 2018. 

PLACE: NeighborWorks America— 

Gramlich Boardroom, 999 North Capitol 

Street NE, Washington DC 20002. 

STATUS: Open (with the exception of 

Executive Sessions). 

CONTACT PERSON: Rutledge Simmons, 

Acting EVP & General Counsel/ 

Secretary, (202) 760–4105; RSimmons@

nw.org. 

AGENDA 

I. Call to Order 

II. Approval of Minutes 

III. Executive Session: External Audit 

Presentation 

IV. Executive Session: CEO Search 

Update 

V. Executive Session: Internal Audit 

Update 

VI. Executive Session: Report from 

Interim CEO 

VII. Approval of External Audit 

VIII. Approval of LIFT Funding Increase 

IX. CMS Next Generation 

X. Management Program Background 

and Updates 

XI. Adjournment 

The General Counsel of the 

Corporation has certified that in his 

opinion, one or more of the exemptions 

set forth in 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(2) and (4) 

permit closure of the following 

portion(s) of this meeting: 

• External Audit Update 

• Audit Committee Report 

• Report from CEO 

Rutledge Simmons, 

Acting EVP & General Counsel/Corporate 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2018–01280 Filed 1–19–18; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 7570–02–P 

NUCLEAR REGULATORY 

COMMISSION 

[NRC–2018–0001] 

Sunshine Act Meeting Notice 

DATES: Weeks of January 22, 29, 

February 5, 12, 19, 26, 2018. 

PLACE: Commissioners’ Conference 

Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 

Maryland. 

STATUS: Public and Closed. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES