Sustainable, long-term economic growth is a central focus of the President's policies and priorities. The mission of the Department of Commerce is to promote job creation, economic growth, sustainable development, and improved living standards for all Americans by working in partnership with business, universities, communities, and workers to:
¤ Build for the future and promote U.S. competitiveness in the global marketplace by strengthening and safeguarding the Nation's economic infrastructure;
¤ Keep America competitive with cutting-edge science and technology and an unrivaled information base; and
¤ Provide effective management and stewardship of our Nation's resources and assets to ensure sustainable economic opportunities.
The Commerce mission statement, containing our three strategic themes, provides the vehicle for understanding Commerce's aims, how they interlock, and how they are to be implemented through our programs. Working collectively, the bureaus of the Department (including the Office of the Secretary) developed it with the intent that it serve as both a statement of departmental philosophy and as the guiding force behind the Department's programs.
The importance that this mission statement and these strategic themes have for the Nation is amplified by the vision they pursue for America's communities, businesses, and families. Commerce is the smallest Cabinet agency, yet our presence is felt, and our contributions are found, in every State.
The Commerce Department touches Americans daily in many ways--we make possible the weather reports that all of us hear every morning; we facilitate the technology that all of us use in the workplace and in the home each day; we support the development, gathering, and transmitting of information essential to competitive business; we make possible the diversity of companies and goods found in America's (and the world's) marketplace; we support environmental and economic health for the communities in which Americans live.
The Department of Commerce has a clear and powerful vision for itself, for its role in the Federal Government, and for its roles supporting the American people, now and in the future. We confront the intersection of trade promotion, civilian technology, economic development, sustainable development, and economic analysis, and we want to provide leadership in these areas for the Nation. As a Department, we aspire to provide programs and services which serve our country's businesses, communities, and families, as initiated and supported by the President and the Congress. We are dedicated to making those programs and services as effective as possible and to their being delivered in cost-effective ways. We seek to function in close concert with other agencies having complementary responsibilities so that, collectively, our impact can be accurate and powerful. We seek to meet the needs of our customers quickly and efficiently with the programs, information, and services they require and deserve.
As a permanent part of the Federal Government, but serving an Administration and Congress that can vary with election results, we seek to serve the unchanging needs of the Nation, according to the priorities of the President and the Congress. We are able to do this effectively by functioning in accordance with the legislation that undergirds our programs and by working closely with the President and the committees in Congress which have program and financial oversight for our programs.
In his 1996 State of the Union message, the President said: ``Now we move to an age of technology, information, and global competition. These changes have opened vast new opportunities, but they have also presented us with stiff challenges.'' The Vice President sounded a similar call: ``Americans also understand that in a global economy, the only way to maintain America's competitive edge is to lead the world in innovation and new technologies. Investments in science and technology mean better jobs, higher wages, and a growing economy.'' In the 1997 State of the Union address, the President said: ``Over the last four years, we have brought new economic growth by investing in our people, expanding our exports, cutting our deficits, creating over 11 million new jobs, a four-year record.... We face no imminent threat, but we do have an enemy. The enemy of our time is inaction.'' He continued: ``To prepare America for the 21st century, we must harness the powerful forces of science and technology to benefit all Americans.'' Again, in the 1998 State of the Union message, the President said: ``Rarely have Americans lived through so much change, in so many ways, in so short a time. Quietly, but with gathering force, the ground has shifted beneath our feet as we have moved into an Information Age, a global economy, a truly new world. ... As we enter the 21st century, the global economy requires us to seek opportunity not just at home, but in all the markets of the world. We must shape this global economy, not shrink from it. ... Today, record high exports account for fully one-third of our economic growth. I want to keep them going, because that's the way to keep America growing and to advance a safer, more stable world.''
These words help to make clear the role of the Commerce Department: To help keep America as the world's technology leader, to help American companies compete globally, to enable communities to conquer economic challenges, to stimulate the growth of high-pay, high-quality jobs, to preserve and protect the environment and our natural resources as well as safeguarding the public from the adverse impacts of undesirable environmental changes, and to provide information vital for good business and policy decisions.
Commerce promotes and expedites American exports, helps nurture business contacts abroad, protects our firms from unfair foreign competition, and makes how-to-export information accessible to small- and mid-sized companies throughout the Nation so that market opportunities span the globe.
Commerce encourages development in every community by clearing the way for private sector growth by building or rebuilding economically deprived and distressed communities. We promote minority entrepreneurship to establish businesses that frequently anchor neighborhoods and create new job opportunities. We work with the private sector to enhance competitive assets.
As the Nation looks to revitalize our industries and communities, Commerce works as a partner with private entities to build America with an eye on the future. So through technology, research and development, and innovation, we are making sure America is on the winning side.
Commerce's considerable information capacities help businesses understand clearly where our national and world economies are going and to take advantage of that knowledge by planning the road ahead. Armed with this information, businesses can undertake the new ventures, investments, and expansions that make our economy grow.
The capacity for managing the Nation's assets and resources is another key policy driver for Commerce, an essential one in our ability to help the Nation succeed in the future. These activities--ranging from protecting our fisheries to controlling the radio frequency spectrum to protecting intellectual property--affect the economy directly.
This Department of Commerce has instituted the programs and policies that mean cutting-edge, competitive, better paying jobs. We work everyday to boost exports, to deregulate business, to help smaller manufacturers battle foreign competition, to advance the technologies critical to our future prosperity, to invest in our communities, and to fuse economic and environmental goals.
The Department of Commerce is American business' surest ally in job creation, serving as a vital resource base, a tireless advocate, and its Cabinet-level voice.
The Department's regulatory plan directly tracks these policy and program priorities, only a few of which involve regulation of the private sector by the Department.
Responding to the Administration's Regulatory Philosophy and Principles
The vast majority of the Department's programs and activities do not involve regulation. Of the Department's 12 primary operating units, only 5--the Bureau of Export Administration, the International Trade Administration (ITA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Patent and Trademark Office--plan significant preregulatory or regulatory actions for the Regulatory Plan year. Only two of these operating units--ITA and NOAA--have a regulatory action rising to the level of the most important of the Department's significant regulatory actions planned for the Regulatory Plan year.
Though not principally a regulatory agency, the Department of Commerce has long been a leader in advocating and using market-oriented regulatory approaches in lieu of traditional command-and-control regulations when such approaches offer a better alternative. All regulations are designed and implemented to maximize societal benefits while placing the smallest possible burden on those being regulated.
The Commerce Department is also refocusing on its regulatory mission by taking into account, among other things, the President's regulatory principles. To the extent permitted by law, all preregulatory and regulatory activities and decisions adhere to the Administration's statement of regulatory philosophy and principles, as set forth in section 1 of Executive Order 12866. Moreover, we have made bold and dramatic changes, never being satisfied with the status quo. Over the past 5 years, we have emphasized, initiated, and expanded programs that work in partnership with the American people to secure the Nation's economic future. At the same time, we have down-sized, cut regulations, closed offices, and eliminated programs and jobs that are not part of our core mission. The bottom line is that, after much thought and debate, we have made many hard choices needed to make this Department ``state of the art.''
The Secretary has prohibited the issuance of any regulation that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, gender, or any other suspect category and requires that all regulations be written in simple, plain English and be understandable to those affected by them. The Secretary also requires that the Department afford the public the maximum possible opportunity to participate in departmental rulemakings, even where public participation is not required by law.
Compliance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act
The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) requires, among other things, that agencies regulating the activities of small businesses establish two related programs. Section 213 of SBREFA requires each such agency to have a program for providing regulatory compliance guidance to small businesses. Section 223 requires agencies regulating the activities of small businesses to establish a program for reduction and, in appropriate cases, waiver of civil penalties for violations of a statutory or regulatory requirement by a small entity.
Within the Commerce Department, two agencies regulate the activities of small business, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA). Both NOAA and BXA have established programs to comply with the requirements of SBREFA.
With respect to section 223, NOAA has established a Fix-It Notice (FIN) program for the reduction or waiver of civil penalties under several of the natural resource protection statutes NOAA enforces, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Under the FIN program, dozens of minor, first-time violations, which are of a technical nature and which do not have a direct natural resource impact, receive a Fix-It Notice which allows the violation to be corrected in lieu of a penalty. The Fix-It Notice identifies the violation and allows the violator a specified amount of time to ``fix'' the violation. At this time, there are over 130 types of violations that have been included in the FIN program. NOAA's Civil Administrative Penalty Schedule has been amended to reflect the FIN program.
Fix-It Notices may be issued by either the National Marine Fisheries Service Office for Law Enforcement or by U.S. Coast Guard Boarding Officers operating in their deputized capacity. Since March 1996, approximately 208 Fix-It Notices were issued in lieu of penalties, many to small entities. The FIN program has helped NOAA achieve compliance and has had a positive response from the regulated community, many of whom are small entities.
NOAA issues written warnings rather than penalties for many minor violations. Since March 1996, NOAA issued approximately 908 written warnings. In addition, NOAA has a ``Summary Settlement System'' which allows violators, including small entities, to choose not to contest an alleged violation and to pay a reduced penalty within a specified time period following receipt of the Summary Settlement Notice. Since March 1996, approximately 392 Summary Settlement offers were extended by NOAA.
With respect to section 213, NOAA has a comprehensive program for providing regulatory guidance to small entities, which comprise much of NOAA's regulated community. It has long been NOAA's practice to answer inquiries by small entities whenever appropriate in the interest of administering statutes and regulations. Inquiries are received via telephone, mail, and electronic mail; during public hearings, town hall meetings, and workshops held by NOAA throughout the year; and in the day-to-day interactions that small entities have with NOAA personnel. As a result, NOAA answers tens of thousands of inquiries from small entities each year.
BXA administers a classification and advisory opinion program. Under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which sets the criteria for export of dual-use items, commercial items with potential military or weapons proliferation applications, an exporter has a responsibility to classify the item it seeks to export to determine if an export license is required. In light of this responsibility, BXA has established a program whereby an exporter can ask BXA whether the item is subject to the EAR and, if so, the correct classification of that item. Further, for a given end-use, end-user, or destination, BXA will advise an exporter whether an export license is required or likely to be granted. The regulations describing this program can be found at 15 CFR 748.3.
In addition, BXA spends a great deal of time working with industry to educate them about the export control provisions of the EAR. BXA has an aggressive outreach program which has trained over 3,000 exporters during fiscal year 1998. For example, as a standard part of the seminar, BXA provides guidelines entitled ``Export Management System Guidelines'' to assist firms in ensuring that their exports and export decisions are consistent with the EAR. The EAR also contain ``Know Your Customer'' guidelines and ``red flag'' indicators, designed to assist exporters in complying with regulatory requirements.
As violations of the EAR have significant national security and foreign policy implications, we do not believe it appropriate for BXA to develop a penalty reduction or waiver program for violations of the provisions of the EAR. Small and large businesses alike bear responsibility for safeguarding this Nation's overall security and foreign policy interests.
Description of Agency Regulations
International Trade Administration
The International Trade Administration (ITA) is responsible for most nonagricultural trade promotion and enforcement activities of the Federal Government. It works with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in coordinating U.S. trade policy. A large component of ITA's activities do not involve regulation. However, ITA has important regulatory authority under a number of U.S. trade laws.
ITA administers programs to strengthen domestic export competitiveness and to promote U.S. industry's increased participation in international markets. ITA's trade development program includes policy development, industry analysis, and promotion organized by industrial sectors such as science and electronics, basic industries, chemicals and allied products, energy, and textiles and apparel. Among its regulatory activities, ITA issues certificates of review providing export trading companies with limited immunity from liability under antitrust laws.
ITA helps achieve the major departmental goal of opening and expanding foreign markets and promoting increased exports of U.S. goods and services in markets with the highest potential for growth, such as Asia and Latin America, and in important growing sectors, such as computers, telecommunications, and environmental technologies. The report of the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee outlined more than 60 specific actions to strengthen U.S. export promotion efforts. Many of these actions, such as increasing U.S. businesses' awareness of sources of and access to trade finance and the establishment of one-stop U.S. Export Assistance Centers, directly involve ITA but do not involve regulation.
ITA also enforces our trade laws to ensure free and fair competition in our domestic market between U.S.- and foreign-manufactured goods. It administers and enforces the antidumping and countervailing duty laws of the United States. It investigates whether exports to the United States are subsidized or sold at less than fair value; when it finds that they are, and the U.S. International Trade Commission finds that a U.S. industry has been injured or threatened with material injury as a result, it issues an order to the U.S. Customs Service to impose offsetting duties. In addition, ITA administers the Foreign Trade Zone and Watch Quota Programs and the Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Materials Importation Act.
Antidumping and Countervailing Duties Regulations
The top regulatory priority of ITA is completing revision of the countervailing duty regulations to conform to legislation implementing the results of the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations.
The Subsidies/Countervailing Measures Agreement of the Uruguay Round (Agreement) establishes general principles regarding the administration of the countervailing duty law. In order to facilitate the administration of this law and to provide greater predictability for private parties affected by this law, it will be necessary to promulgate regulations which, where appropriate and feasible, translate the principles of the Agreement and the implementing legislation into specific and predictable rules. By clarifying the methodologies and procedures used in administering the countervailing duty law, the efficiency and fairness of this law will be enhanced at little, if any, additional cost. The manner in which these regulations are drafted could have a significant impact on various important sectors of the economy, including steel and lumber.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration establishes and administers Federal policy for the conservation and management of the Nation's oceanic, coastal, and atmospheric resources. It provides a variety of essential environmental services vital to public safety and to the Nation's economy, such as weather forecasts and storm warnings. It is a source of objective information on the state of the environment. NOAA plays the lead role in achieving the departmental goal of promoting stewardship and assessment of the global environment.
In recognition that economic growth must go hand-in-hand with environmental stewardship, the Commerce Department, through NOAA, conducts programs designed to provide a better understanding of the connections between environmental health, economics, and national security. Commerce's emphasis on ``sustainable fisheries'' is saving fisheries and confronting short-term economic dislocation, while boosting long-term economic growth. The Department of Commerce is where business and environmental interests intersect, and the classic debate on the use of natural resources is transformed into a ``win-win'' situation for the environment and the economy.
Three of NOAA's major components, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the National Ocean Service (NOS), and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), exercise regulatory authority.
NMFS oversees the management and conservation of the Nation's marine fisheries, protects marine mammals, and promotes the economic development of the U.S. fishing industries. NOS assists the coastal States in their management of land and ocean resources in their coastal zones, including estuarine research reserves; manages the Nation's national marine sanctuaries; monitors marine pollution; and directs the national program for deep-seabed minerals and ocean thermal energy. NESDIS administers the civilian weather satellite program and licenses private organizations to operate commercial land-remote sensing satellite systems.
The Administration is committed to an environmental strategy that promotes sustainable economic development and rejects the false choice between environmental goals and economic growth. The intent is to have the Government's economic decisions be guided by a comprehensive understanding of the environment. The Department of Commerce through NOAA has a unique role in promoting stewardship of the global environment through effective management of the Nation's marine and coastal resources and in monitoring and predicting changes in the Earth's environment, thus linking trade, development, and technology with environmental issues. NOAA has the primary Federal responsibility for providing the sound scientific observations, assessments, and forecasts of environmental phenomena on which resource management and other societal decisions can be made.
In the environmental stewardship area, NOAA's goals include rebuilding U.S. fisheries by refocusing policies and fishery management planning on increased scientific information; increasing the populations of depleted, threatened, or endangered species of marine mammals by implementing recovery plans that provide for their recovery while still allowing for economic and recreational opportunities; promoting healthy coastal ecosystems by ensuring that economic development is managed in ways that maintain biodiversity and long-term productivity for sustained use; and modernizing navigation and positioning services. In the environmental assessment and prediction area, goals include modernizing the National Weather Service; implementing reliable seasonal and interannual climate forecasts to guide economic planning; providing science-based policy advice on options to deal with very long term (decadal to centennial) changes in the environment; and advancing and improving short-term warning and forecast services for the entire environment.
Magnuson-Stevens Act Rulemakings
Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) rulemakings concern the conservation and management of fishery resources in the U.S. 3-to-200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Among the several hundred rulemakings that NOAA plans to issue in the Regulatory Plan year, a number of the preregulatory and regulatory actions will be significant. The exact number of such rulemakings is unknown, since they are usually initiated by the actions of eight regional Fishery Management Councils (FMCs) that are responsible for preparing fishery management plans (FMPs) and FMP amendments and for drafting implementing regulations for each managed fishery and by other circumstances which cannot be predicted. Once a rulemaking is triggered by a FMC, the Magnuson-Stevens Act places stringent deadlines upon NMFS in which it must exercise its rulemaking responsibilities. Most of these rulemakings will be minor, involving only the opening or closing of a fishery under an existing FMP. While no one Magnuson-Stevens Act rulemaking is among the Department's most important significant regulatory actions, and therefore none is specifically described below, the sum of these actions, and a few of the individual actions themselves, are highly significant.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act, which is the primary legal authority for Federal regulation to conserve and manage fishery resources, establishes eight regional FMCs responsible for preparing FMPs and FMP amendments. NMFS issues regulations to implement FMPs and FMP amendments. FMPs address a variety of fishery matters, including depressed stocks, over-fished stocks, gear conflicts, and foreign fishing. One of the problems that FMPs may use is preventing overcapitalization (preventing excess fishing capacity) of fisheries by limiting access to those dependent on the fishery in the past and/or by allocating the resource through individual transferable quotas which can be sold on the open market to other participants or those wishing access. Quotas set on good scientific information whether as a total fishing limit for a species in a fishery or as a share assigned to each vessel participant enable stressed stocks to rebuild. Other measures include staggering fishing seasons or limiting gear types to avoid gear conflicts on the fishing grounds and establishing seasonal and area closures to protect fishery stocks.
NMFS favors the concept of framework FMPs where applicable. Such FMPs provide ranges, boundaries, and decision rules within which NMFS can change management measures without formally amending the FMP. Further, consistent with the recommendations on improving regulatory systems accompanying the Report of the National Performance Review, NMFS favors using market-oriented approaches in managing fisheries. Open-access fisheries are destined to have too many people investing too much money in vessels and equipment. Access controls (e.g., a limited number of permits) represent a rational approach for managing fishery resources; they can be used to control fishing mortality levels and to prevent over-fishing, economic dissipation, and subsequent economic and social dislocation. Of course overall quotas will need to be set based on the best scientific information available as to such things as stock status and optimum yields.
The FMCs provide a forum for public debate and, using the best scientific information available, make the judgments needed to determine optimum yield on a fishery-by-fishery basis. Optional management measures are examined and selected in accordance with the national standards set forth in the Magnuson-Stevens Act. This process, including the selection of the preferred management measures, constitutes the development, in simplified form, of an FMP. The FMP, together with draft implementing regulations and supporting documentation, is submitted to NMFS for review against the national standards set forth in the Magnuson-Stevens Act, in other provisions of the Act, and other applicable laws. The same process applies to amending an existing approved FMP.
The Magnuson-Stevens Act contains 10 national standards against which fishery management measures are judged. NMFS has supplemented the standards with guidelines interpreting each standard and is currently in the process of updating and adding to those guidelines. One of the national standards requires that management measures, where practicable, minimize costs and avoid unnecessary duplication. Under the guidelines, NMFS will not approve management measures submitted by an FMC unless the fishery is in need of management. Together, the standards and the guidelines correspond to many of the Administration's principles of regulation as set forth in section 1(b) of Executive Order 12866. One of the national standards establishes a qualitative equivalent to the Executive Order's ``net benefits'' requirement--one of the focuses of the Administration's statement of regulatory philosophy as stated in section 1(a) of the Order.
Licensing of Private Commercial Remote-Sensing Satellite Systems
NOAA/NESDIS is planning to issue final regulations revising its procedures governing the licensing of private commercial Earth remote-sensing space systems under title II of the Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992, 15 U.S.C. 5601 et seq. (1992 Act).
Title II of the 1992 Act requires that any person subject to the jurisdiction or control of the United States obtain a license from the Secretary of Commerce before operating a private remote-sensing space system. The authority to issue licenses has been delegated to the Administrator of NOAA and redelegated to the Assistant Administrator for Satellite and Information Services.
On July 10, 1987, NOAA published final regulations implementing title IV of the Land Remote Sensing Act of 1984 (the 1984 Act) setting forth the procedural requirements for obtaining a license. In 1988, the Radio Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) filed a Petition for Rulemaking requesting NOAA to reopen these regulations in light of the President's January 5, 1988, Decision Directive encouraging commercial space development. On January 18, 1989, NOAA responded to this Petition, agreeing to reopen the regulations and incorporate certain principles favorable to commercial development that were consistent with the Directive. (See 54 FR 1945.)
Shortly thereafter, Congress began to review the 1984 Act and, on October 28, 1992, enacted the 1992 Act, which repealed and succeeded the 1984 Act. The 1992 Act made significant changes to the 1984 Act, particularly with regard to the latter's requirement that all unenhanced data must be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis. The 1992 Act also provided for judicial review of certain licensing and enforcement actions. NOAA has issued 10 licenses under the regime established in the 1992 Act.
On March 9, 1994, the President issued a Policy Decision to ``support and enhance U.S. competitiveness in the field of remote-sensing space capabilities while at the same time protecting U.S. interests in national security and international obligations.'' This policy established a number of policies that promote an appropriate balance between these interests. Specifically, the President's policy announced the goal of enhancing U.S. competitiveness in a market that is projected to be worth approximately $2 billion worldwide by the year 2000, while at the same time addressing the national security concerns brought up by other Government agencies. The President's policy covers foreign access to remote-sensing systems, technology, products, and data. It states that there is a presumption that systems whose capabilities are already available in the global marketplace will be ``favorably considered.'' It also elaborated eight more conditions that are to be applied to any license. The most significant of these conditions are:
1) During periods when national security or international obligations and/or foreign policies may be compromised, as defined by the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State respectively, the Secretary of Commerce may, after consultation with the appropriate agencies, require the licensee to limit data collection and/or distribution by the system to the extent necessitated by the given situation. Decisions to impose such limits only will be made by the Secretary of Commerce in consultation with the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State, as appropriate. Disagreements between Cabinet Secretaries may be appealed to the President;
2) that the licenses are not subject to foreign ownership, above a specified threshold, without the explicit permission of the Secretary of Commerce; and
3) licensees must notify the U.S. Government of its intent to enter into significant or substantial agreements with new foreign customers. Interested agencies are to be given advance notice of such agreements to allow them to review the proposed agreement in light of national security, international obligations, and foreign policy concerns. The President's policy stated that the definition of a significant or substantial agreement, as well as the time frames and other details of this process, were to be defined by the Commerce Department in regulations.
On December 4, 1995, a Notice of Inquiry and Request for Public Comment was published in the Federal Register, wherein NOAA sought public comment to decide whether, and to what extent, the 1987 regulations needed revision in light of the President's Policy and the 1992 Act and, if so, which issues should be addressed. NOAA received seven sets of comments. Additionally, NOAA held a public hearing at the Department of Commerce on June 14, 1996, at which it received additional input from interested parties. The main theme that emerged at the public hearing was the need for transparency and predictability in the regulations.
On November 3, 1997, NOAA issued a proposed rule to revise its remote-sensing licensing procedures. The proposed regulations would update the 1987 regulations to reflect the above described intervening events and information gathered through the public process, as well as the experience gained during recent licensing procedures. The intent of the proposed regulations would be to help promote the development of the commercial remote-sensing industry by keeping Government oversight to the minimum necessary to ensure protection of U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and by making that role predictable and transparent to the affected applicants and licensees. An underlying premise is that the long-term national security and foreign policy interests of the United States are best served by helping the U.S. industry to lead this emerging market.
The November 3, 1997, proposed regulations incorporate the basic regulatory principle that any restrictions on a licensee, including those required for national security and foreign policy purposes, must be the least burdensome possible to achieve the stated objective. Further, the proposed rule would establish a notice mechanism for allowing up to 49 percent foreign ownership in the licensee and monitoring domestic investment so that control of the remote-sensing system cannot be transferred without a formal amendment to the license. As required by the President's 1994 policy, the rule sought to define what foreign agreements are significant or substantial and must be submitted for review. Agency actions under the regulation would be reviewable by an administrative law judge.
On April 1, 1998, NOAA held a public meeting to listen to public comments on the proposed regulations. The public comment period ended the next day, April 2, 1998. NOAA received 18 sets of substantive comments on the regulations and is currently reviewing these and revising the proposed regulations accordingly.