Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 165 / Monday, August 25, 2008 / Notices 50049 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Institute of Allergy and 

Infectious Diseases; Notice of Meeting 

Pursuant to section 10(a) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2), notice 

is hereby given of a meeting of the AIDS 

Research Advisory Committee, NIAID. 

The meeting will be open to the 

public, with attendance limited to space 

available. Individuals who plan to 

attend and need special assistance, such 

as sign language interpretation or other 

reasonable accommodations, should 

notify the Contact Person listed below 

in advance of the meeting. 

Name of Committee: AIDS Research 

Advisory Committee, NIAID; AIDS Vaccine 

Research Subcommittee. 

Date: September 16–17, 2008. 

Time: September 16, 2008, 8:30 a.m. to 5 

p.m. 

Agenda: To discuss the implication of 

recent vaccine trial results for future HIV 

vaccine development. 

Place: National Institutes of Health, 

Natcher Building, 45 Center Drive, 

Conference Rooms E1/E2, Bethesda, MD 

20892. 

Time: September 17, 2008, 8:30 a.m. to 

Adjourned 

Agenda: To discuss the implication of 

recent vaccine trail results for future HIV 

vaccine development. 

Place: National Institutes of Health, 

Natcher Building, 45 Center Drive, 

Conference Rooms E1/E2, Bethesda, MD 

20892. 

Contact Person: James A. Bradac, PhD, 

Program Official, Preclinical Research and 

Development Branch, Division of AIDS, 

Room 5116, National Institutes of Health/ 

NIAID, 6700B Rockledge Drive, Bethesda, 

MD 20892–7628, 301–435–3754, 

jbradac@mail.nih.gov. 

In the interest of security, NIH has 

instituted stringent procedures for entrance 

onto the NIH campus. All visitor vehicles, 

including taxicabs, hotel, and airport shuttles 

will be inspected before being allowed on 

campus. Visitors will be asked to show one 

form of identification (for example, a 

government-issued photo ID, driver’s license, 

or passport) and to state the purpose of their 

visit. 

(Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Nos. 93.855, Allergy, Immunology, 

and Transplantation Research; 93.856, 

Microbiology and Infectious Diseases 

Research, National Institutes of Health, HHS) 

Dated: August 15, 2008. 

Jennifer Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. E8–19440 Filed 8–22–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

[Docket No. USCG–2008–0885] 

Public Meeting on Amendments to the 

International Mobile Satellite 

Organization (IMSO) Convention 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of meeting. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) 

will hold a public meeting on issues 

related to proposed amendments to the 

Convention of the International Mobile 

Satellite Organization (IMSO). 

Background documentation may be 

found on the Department of State’s Web 

site: http://www.state.gov/e/eeb/cip/ 

imso/. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Thursday, September 4, 2008 from 10 

a.m. to 12 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 Second 

Street, SW., Washington, DC. Room 

6103. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lieutenant Commander Jason Smith at 

(202) 372–1376 or by e-mail to 

jason.e.smith2@uscg.mil or fax to (202) 

372–1925. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

public meeting will discuss proposed 

Amendments to the International 

Mobile Satellite Organization (IMSO) 

Convention to Improve Governance and 

Transparency of IMSO, to provide IMSO 

with the necessary legal authority to 

perform its role in the Congressionallymandated Long Range Identification and 

Tracking of Ships (LRIT) system and to 

provisionally apply those amendments 

in advance of their formal entry into 

force. 

The amendments are intended to 

improve the governance and 

transparency of IMSO oversight and 

responsibilities that may affect U.S. and 

non-U.S. mobile satellite services 

providers. The IMSO is convening its 

biennial Assembly of Parties meeting 

September 29–October 3, 2008, in 

Malta, during which the 92 member 

governments (Parties) will have the 

opportunity to consider and act on U.S. 

proposals (1) to amend the 

intergovernmental IMSO Convention to 

improve the governance and 

transparency of (i) IMSO’s performance 

of its role in oversight of providers for 

the Global Maritime Distress and Safety 

System (GMDSS) and (ii) IMSO’s 

performance of its role as Coordinator of 

Long Range Identification and Tracking 

of ships (LRIT) for the International 

Maritime Organization’s Maritime 

Safety Committee (IMO MSC); and (2) to 

consider whether to provisionally apply 

those amendments upon their adoption 

by the IMSO Assembly, pending their 

formal entry into force. 

Currently, the IMSO’s authority for 

oversight of GMDSS services applies 

exclusively to Inmarsat PLC. In 

September 2006, the IMSO Assembly 

adopted amendments to the IMSO 

Convention that were intended to 

extend IMSO’s GMDSS oversight to 

include all mobile satellite service 

providers, not just Inmarsat PLC. 

Additionally, in the context of work that 

has been ongoing in the IMO, the IMSO 

Assembly of Parties at the same meeting 

adopted an amendment to the IMSO 

Convention that purports to authorize 

IMSO to perform certain review and 

auditing functions for a new vessel 

‘‘LRIT’’ system being developed for 

maritime security. The United States, 

along with other Parties, objected to 

these amendments because they did not 

contain sufficient elements of 

transparency for IMSO’s governance and 

do not provide an adequate legal 

foundation for IMSO to undertake 

functions as LRIT Coordinator. Further, 

at an extraordinary Assembly of Parties 

meeting in March 2007, a majority of 

Parties attending the Assembly decided 

to provisionally apply them, again over 

the United States’ objection. In the 

meantime, the Congress has mandated 

that the Department of Homeland 

Security develop and implement, 

consistent with international treaties, 

conventions, and agreements to which 

the United States is a party, an LRIT 

system for all vessels equipped with 

GMDSS or equivalent technology. See 

46 U.S.C. 70115. In a related 

development, over United States’

objection, the IMO’s Maritime Safety 

Committee (MSC) decided to 

recommend, and the IMO Assembly 

adopted, a resolution mandating that 

new satellite providers admitted to the 

GMDSS by the MSC must be overseen 

by IMSO. See IMO Res. A.1001(25), 

which revoked and replaced IMO Res. 

A.888(21). Because of these latter 

developments, particularly the adoption 

by the IMO of Res. A.1001, and in order 

to put the IMSO on a sound legal 

foundation that will provide sufficient 

governance and transparency principles 

for IMSO’s operations in these two new 

functions, the United States is planning 

to propose and negotiate a draft set of 

amendments to the IMSO Convention at 

the upcoming Assembly of Parties that 

will accomplish these purposes. The 

public meeting is intended to solicit 

public comment on that approach. 


ebenthall on PRODPC60 with NOTICES