50 CFR § 600.1500-600.1516 - Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions - Vessel Monitoring System Type-Approval

222 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 600.1417 (c) Unless the state can demonstrate that a given category of anglers is so small it has no significant probability of biasing estimates of fishing effort if these anglers are not included in a rep resentative sample, a state may not be designated as an exempted state if its licensing or registration program ex cludes anglers in any category other than those listed in paragraph (b) of this section. (d) Required enhancements to ex empted state license-holder data. An exempted state must submit the fol lowing angler identification data by Jan. 1, 2012, or within two years of the effective date of the Memorandum of Agreement, whichever is later, and thereafter in accordance with the Memorandum of Agreement. States that provide NMFS with notice that they are required to enact legislation or to enter into formal memoranda of agreement or contracts with other state agencies to comply with this re quirement must submit the data with in three years of the effective date of the Memorandum of Agreement: (1) Name, address and telephone num ber, updated annually, of excluded an glers over age 59, unless the state can demonstrate that the number of an glers excluded from the license or reg istration requirement based on having a date of birth before June 1, 1940 is so small it has no significant probability of biasing estimates of fishing effort if these anglers are not included in a rep resentative sample; (2) Name, address and telephone num ber, updated annually, of holders of state lifetime and multi-year licenses; (3) Name, address and telephone num ber of state combination license hold ers who fished in tidal waters in the prior year, or who intend to fish in tidal waters. The Memorandum of Agreement will define the boundaries of the state’s tidal waters for this pur pose. [73 FR 79717, Dec. 30, 2008, as amended at 77 FR 42191, July 18, 2012] § 600.1417 Requirements for exempted state designation based on submis sion of recreational survey data. (a) To be designated as an exempted state based on the state’s participation in a regional survey of marine and anadromous recreational fishing catch and effort, a state may submit to NMFS a proposal that fully describes the state’s participation in a qualifying regional survey, and the survey’s sam ple design, data collection and avail ability. (b) A qualifying regional survey must: (1) Include all of the states within each region as follows: (i) Maine, New Hampshire, Massachu setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela ware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro lina, South Carolina, Georgia and Flor ida (Atlantic coast); (ii) Florida (Gulf of Mexico coast), Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas; (iii) Puerto Rico; (iv) U.S. Virgin Islands; (v) California, Oregon and Wash ington; (vi) Alaska; (vii) Hawaii; or (viii) American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. (2) Utilize angler registry data, or di rect field counts to obtain angler ef fort, or other appropriate statistical means to obtain fishing effort; (3) Utilize angler registry data to identify individuals to be surveyed by telephone, mail or Internet if such re gional survey includes a telephone sur vey component; and (4) Meet NMFS survey design and data collection standards. [73 FR 79717, Dec. 30, 2008, as amended at 77 FR 42192, July 18, 2012] Subpart Q—Vessel Monitoring System Type-Approval SOURCE: 85 FR 40921, July 8, 2020, unless otherwise noted. § 600.1500 Definitions and acronyms. In addition to the definitions in the Magnuson-Stevens Act and in § 600.10, and the acronyms in § 600.15, the terms and acronyms in this subpart have the following meanings: Authorized entity means a person, de fined at 16 U.S.C. 1802(36), authorized to 223 Fishery Conservation and Management § 600.1500 receive data transmitted by a VMS unit. Bench configuration means the con figuration of a VMS unit after it has been customized to meet the Federal VMS requirements. Bundle means a mobile communica tions service and VMS unit sold as a package and considered one product. If a bundle is type-approved, the re questor will be the type-approval hold er for the bundled MCS and VMS unit. Cellular communication means the wireless transmission of VMS data via a cellular network. Communication class means the sat ellite or cellular communications oper ator from which communications serv ices originate. Electronic form means a pre-formatted message transmitted by a VMS unit that is required for the collection of data for a specific fishery program (e.g., declaration system, catch effort reporting). Enhanced Mobile Transceiver Unit (EMTU) means a type of MTU that is capable of supporting two-way commu nication, messaging, and electronic forms transmission via satellite. An EMTU is a transceiver or communica tions device, including an antenna, and dedicated message terminal and dis play which can support a dedicated input device such as a tablet or key board, installed on fishing vessels par ticipating in fisheries with a VMS re quirement. Enhanced Mobile Transceiver Unit, Cel lular Based (EMTU-C) means an EMTU that transmits and receives data via cellular communications, except that it may not need a dedicated message terminal and display component at the time of approval as explained at § 600.1502(a)(6). An EMTU–C only needs to be capable of transmission and re ception when in the range of a cellular network. Latency means the state of untimely delivery of Global Positioning System position reports and electronic forms to NMFS (i.e., information is not deliv ered to NMFS consistent with timing requirements of this subpart). Mobile Communications Service (MCS) means the satellite and/or cellular communications services used with particular VMS units. Mobile Communications Service Pro vider (MCSP) means an entity that sells VMS satellite and/or cellular commu nications services to end users. Mobile Transmitter Unit (MTU) means a VMS unit capable of transmitting Global Positioning System position re ports via satellite. (MTUs are no longer approved for new installations on VMS vessels). Notification Letter means a letter issued by NMFS to a type-approval holder identifying an alleged failure of a VMS unit, MCS, or the type-approval holder to comply with the require ments of this subpart. Position report means the unique glob al positioning system (GPS) report generated by a vessel’s VMS unit, which identifies the vessel’s latitude/ longitude position at a point in time. Position reports are sent from the VMS unit via the MCS, to authorized enti ties. Requestor means a vendor seeking type-approval. Service life means the length of time during which a VMS unit remains fully operational with reasonable repairs. Sniffing means the unauthorized and illegitimate monitoring and capture, through use of a computer program or device, of data being transmitted over a network. Spoofing means the reporting of a false Global Positioning System posi tion and/or vessel identity. Time stamp means the time, in hours, minutes, and seconds in a position re port. Each position report is time stamped. Type-approval holder means an appli cant whose type-approval request has been approved pursuant to this sub part. Vendor means a commercial provider of VMS hardware, software, and/or mo bile communications services. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) means, for purposes of this subpart, a satellite and/or cellular based system designed to monitor the location and movement of vessels using onboard VMS units that send Global Posi tioning System position reports to an authorized entity. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) data means the data transmitted to author ized entities from a VMS unit. 224 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 600.1501 Vessel Monitoring System Program means the Federal program that man ages the vessel monitoring system, data, and associated program-compo nents, nationally and in each NMFS re gion; it is housed in the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and At mospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service’s Office of Law Enforcement. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Unit means MTU, EMTU or EMTU-C, as well as the units that can operate as both an EMTU and an EMTU-C. Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) Vessels means vessels that operate in federally managed fisheries with a requirement to carry and operate a VMS unit. § 600.1501 Vessel Monitoring System type-approval process. (a) Applicability. Unless otherwise specified, this section applies to EMTUs, EMTU-Cs, units that operate as both an EMTU and EMTU-C, and MCSs. Units that can operate as both an EMTU and EMTU-C must meet the requirements for both an EMTU and an EMTU-C in order to gain type-approval as both. MTUs are no longer eligible for type-approval. (b) Application submission. A requestor must submit a written type-approval request and electronic copies of sup porting materials that include the in formation required under this section to the NMFS Office of Law Enforce ment (OLE) at: U.S. Department of Commerce; National Oceanic and At mospheric Administration; National Marine Fisheries Service; Office of Law Enforcement; Attention: Vessel Moni toring System Office; 1315 East-West Highway, SSMC3, Suite 3301, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910. (c) Application requirements. (1) EMTU, EMTU-C, and MCS Identifying Information: In a type-approval re quest, the requestor should indicate whether the requestor is seeking ap proval for an EMTU, EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle and must specify identifying characteristics, as applicable: Commu nication class; manufacturer; brand name; model name; model number; software version and date; firmware version number and date; hardware version number and date; antenna type; antenna model number and date; tablet, monitor or terminal model number and date; MCS to be used in conjunction with the EMTU/EMTU-C; entity providing MCS to the end user; and current global and regional cov erage of the MCS. (2) Requestor-approved third party business entities: The requestor must provide the business name, address, phone number, contact name(s), email address, specific services provided, and geographic region covered for the fol lowing third party business entities: (i) Entities providing bench configu ration for the EMTU/EMTU-C at the warehouse or point of supply. (ii) Entities distributing/selling the EMTU/EMTU-C to end users. (iii) Entities currently approved by the requestor to install the EMTU/ EMTU-C onboard vessels. (iv) Entities currently approved by the requestor to offer a limited war ranty. (v) Entities approved by the re questor to offer a maintenance service agreement. (vi) Entities approved by the re questor to repair or install new soft ware on the EMTU/EMTU-C. (vii) Entities approved by the re questor to train end users. (viii) Entities approved by the re questor to advertise the EMTU/EMTU C. (ix) Entities approved by the re questor to provide other customer serv ices. (3) Regulatory Requirements and Documentation: In a type-approval re quest, a requestor must: (i) Identify the NMFS region(s) and/ or Federal fisheries for which the re questor seeks type-approval. (ii) Include copies of, or citation to, applicable VMS regulations and re quirements in effect for the region(s) and Federal fisheries identified under paragraph (c)(3)(i) of this section that require use of VMS. (iii) Provide a table with the type-ap proval request that lists in one column each requirement set out in §§ 600.1502 through 600.1509 and regulations de scribed under paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of this section. NMFS OLE will provide a template for the table upon request. The requestor must indicate in subse quent columns in the table: 225 Fishery Conservation and Management § 600.1502 (A) Whether the requirement applies to the type-approval; and (B) Whether the EMTU, EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle meets the requirement. (iv) Certify that the features, compo nents, configuration and services of the requestor’s EMTU/EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle comply with each requirement set out in §§ 600.1502 through 600.1509 and the regulations described under paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of this section. (v) Certify that, if the request is ap proved, the requestor agrees to be re sponsible for ensuring compliance with each requirement set out in §§ 600.1502 through 600.1509 and the regulations de scribed under paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of this section over the course of the type-approval period. (vi) Provide NMFS OLE with two EMTU/EMTU-Cs loaded with forms and software, if applicable, for each NMFS region or Federal fishery, with acti vated MCS, for which a type-approval request is submitted for a minimum of 90 calendar days for testing and evalua tion. For EMTU-Cs, the forms and soft ware may be loaded onto a dedicated message terminal and display compo nent to which the EMTU-C can con nect. Copies of forms currently used by NMFS are available upon request. As part of its review, NMFS OLE may per form field tests and at-sea trials that involve demonstrating every aspect of EMTU/EMTU-C and communications operation. The requestor is responsible for all associated costs including pay ing for: Shipping of the EMTU/EMTU-C to the required NMFS regional offices and/or headquarters for testing; the MCS during the testing period; and shipping of the EMTU/EMTU-C back to the vendor. (vii) Provide thorough documenta tion for the EMTU/EMTU-C and MCS, including: EMTU/EMTU-C fact sheets; installation guides; user manuals; any necessary interfacing software; MCS global and regional coverage; perform ance specifications; and technical sup port information. (d) Certification. A requestor seeking type-approval of an EMTU/EMTU-C to operate with a class or type of commu nications, as opposed to type-approval for use with a specific MCS, shall cer tify that the EMTU/EMTU-C meets re quirements under this subpart when using at least one MCSP within that class or type of communications. (e) Notification. Unless additional time is required for EMTU/EMTU-C testing, NMFS OLE will notify the re questor within 90 days after receipt of a complete type-approval request as follows: (1) If a request is approved or par tially approved, NMFS OLE will pro vide notice as described under § 600.1510 and the type-approval letter will serve as official documentation and notice of type-approval. OLE will publish and maintain the list of type-approved units on their Vessel Monitoring Sys tem web page. (2) If a request is disapproved or par tially disapproved: (i) OLE will send a letter to the re questor that explains the reason for the disapproval/partial disapproval. (ii) The requestor may respond to NMFS OLE in writing with additional information to address the reasons for disapproval identified in the NMFS OLE letter. The requestor must submit this response within 21 calendar days of the date of the OLE letter sent under paragraph (e)(2)(i) of this section. (iii) If any additional information is submitted under paragraph (e)(2)(ii) of this section, NMFS OLE, after review ing such information, may either take action under paragraph (e)(1) of this section or determine that the request should continue to be disapproved or partially disapproved. In the latter case, the NMFS OLE Director will send a letter to the requestor that explains the reasons for the continued dis approval/partial disapproval. The NMFS OLE Director’s decision is final upon issuance of this letter and is not appealable. § 600.1502 Communications functionality. (a) Unless otherwise specified, this subsection applies to all VMS units. Units that can operate as both an EMTU and EMTU-C must meet the re quirements for both an EMTU and an EMTU-C in order to gain type-approval as both. The VMS unit must: (1) Be able to transmit all automati cally-generated position reports. 226 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 600.1503 (2) Provide visible or audible alarms onboard the vessel to indicate malfunc tioning of the VMS unit. (3) Be able to disable non-essential alarms in non-Global Maritime Dis tress and Safety System (GMDSS) in stallations. (4) EMTU/EMTU-Cs must be able to send communications that function uniformly throughout the geographic area(s) covered by the type-approval, except an EMTU-C only needs to be ca pable of transmission and reception when in the range of a cellular net work. (5) EMTU/EMTU-Cs must have two way communications between the unit and authorized entities, via MCS, or be able to connect to a device that has two-way communications. (6) EMTU/EMTU-Cs must be able to run or to connect to a dedicated mes sage terminal and display component that can run software and/or applica tions that send and receive electronic forms and internet email messages for the purpose of complying with VMS re porting requirements in Federal fish eries. Depending on the reporting re quirements for the fishery(s) in which the requester is seeking type-approval, an EMTU-C type-approval may not re quire the inclusion of a dedicated mes sage terminal and display component at the time of approval, but the capa bility to support such a component must be shown. (7) Have messaging and communica tions mechanisms that are completely compatible with NMFS vessel moni toring and surveillance software. (b) In addition, messages and commu nications from a VMS unit must be able to be parsed out to enable clear billing of costs to the government and to the owner of a vessel or EMTU/ EMTU-C, when necessary. Also, the costs associated with position report ing and the costs associated with other communications (for example, personal email or communications/reports to non-NMFS Office of Law Enforcement entities) must be parsed out and billed to separate parties, as appropriate. § 600.1503 Position report data formats and transmission. Unless otherwise specified, this sub section applies to all VMS units, MCSs and bundles. Units that can operate as both an EMTU and EMTU-C must meet the requirements for both an EMTU and an EMTU-C in order to gain type approval as both. To be type-approved in any given fishery, a VMS unit must also meet any additional positioning information as required by the applica ble VMS regulations and requirements in effect for each fishery or region for which the type-approval applies. The VMS unit must meet the following re quirements: (a) Transmit all automatically-gen erated position reports, for vessels managed individually or grouped by fleet, that meet the latency require ment under § 600.1504. (b) When powered up, must automati cally re-establish its position reporting function without manual intervention. (c) Position reports must contain all of the following: (1) Unique identification of an EMTU/ EMTU-C and clear indication if the unit is an EMTU-C. (2) Date (year/month/day with cen tury in the year) and time stamp (GMT) of the position fix. (3) Date (year/month/day with cen tury in the year) and time stamp (GMT) that the EMTU-C position re port was sent from the EMTU-C. (4) Position fixed latitude and lon gitude, including the hemisphere of each, which comply with the following requirements: (i) The position fix precision must be to the decimal minute hundredths. (ii) Accuracy of the reported position must be within 100 meters (328.1 ft). (d) An EMTU/EMTU-C must have the ability to: (1) Store 1,000 position fixes in local, non-volatile memory. (2) Allow for defining variable report ing intervals between 5 minutes and 24 hours. (3) Allow for changes in reporting in tervals remotely and only by author ized users. (e) An EMTU/EMTU-C must generate specially identified position reports upon: (1) Antenna disconnection. (2) Loss of positioning reference sig nals. (3) Security events, power-up, power down, and other status data. 227 Fishery Conservation and Management § 600.1506 (4) A request for EMTU/EMTU-C sta tus information such as configuration of programming and reporting inter vals. (5) The EMTUs loss of the mobile communications signals. (6) An EMTU must generate a spe cially identified position report upon the vessel crossing of a pre-defined geo graphic boundary. § 600.1504 Latency requirement. (a) Ninety percent of all pre-pro grammed or requested Global Posi tioning System position reports during each 24-hour period must reach NMFS within 15 minutes or less of being sent from the VMS unit, for 10 out of 11 con secutive days (24-hour time periods). (b) NMFS will continually examine latency by region and by type-approval holder. (c) Exact dates for calculation of la tency will be chosen by NMFS. Days in which isolated and documented system outages occur will not be used by NMFS to calculate a type-approval holder’s latency. § 600.1505 Messaging. (a) Unless otherwise specified, this section applies to all VMS units, MCSs, and bundles. Units that can operate as both an EMTU and EMTU-C must meet the requirements for both an EMTU and an EMTU-C in order to gain type approval as both. Depending on the re porting requirements for the fishery(s) in which the requester is seeking type approval, an EMTU-C type-approval may not require the inclusion of a dedi cated message terminal and display component at the time of approval, but the capability to support such a com ponent must be shown. To be type-ap proved in any given fishery, a VMS unit must meet messaging information requirements under the applicable VMS regulations and requirements in effect for each fishery or region for which the type-approval applies. The VMS unit must also meet the following requirements: (b) An EMTU must be able to run software and/or applications that send email messages for the purpose of com plying with VMS reporting require ments in Federal fisheries that require email communication capability. An EMTU-C must be able to run or con nect to a device that can run such soft ware and/or applications. In such cases, the EMTU/EMTU-C messaging must provide for the following capabilities: (1) Messaging from vessel to shore, and from shore to vessel by authorized entities, must have a minimum sup ported message length of 1 KB. For EMTU-Cs, this messaging capability need only be functional when in range of shore-based cellular communica tions. (2) There must be a confirmation of delivery function that allows a user to ascertain whether a specific message was successfully transmitted to the MCS email server(s). (3) Notification of failed delivery to the EMTU/EMTU-C must be sent to the sender of the message. The failed deliv ery notification must include sufficient information to identify the specific message that failed and the cause of failure (e.g., invalid address, EMTU/ EMTU-C switched off, etc.). (4) The EMTU/EMTU-C must have an automatic retry feature in the event that a message fails to be delivered. (5) The EMTU/EMTU-C user interface must: (i) Support an ‘‘address book’’ capa bility and a function permitting a ‘‘reply’’ to a received message without re-entering the sender’s address. (ii) Provide the ability to review by date order, or by recipient, messages that were previously sent. The EMTU/ EMTU-C terminal must support a min imum message history of 50 sent mes sages—commonly referred to as an ‘‘Outbox’’ or ‘‘Sent’’ message display. (iii) Provide the ability to review by date order, or by sender, all messages received. The EMTU/EMTU-C terminal must support a minimum message his tory of at least 50 messages in an inbox. § 600.1506 Electronic forms. Unless otherwise specified, this sub section applies to all EMTUs, EMTU Cs, MCSs, and bundles. (a) Forms. An EMTU/EMTU-C must be able to run, or to connect to and trans mit data from a device that can run electronic forms software. Depending on the reporting requirements for the fishery(s) in which the requester is 228 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 600.1507 seeking type-approval, an EMTU-C type-approval may not require the in clusion of a dedicated message ter minal and display component at the time of approval, but the capability to support such a component must be shown. The EMTU/EMTU-C must be able to support forms software that can hold a minimum of 20 electronic forms, and it must also meet any additional forms requirements in effect for each fishery or region for which the type-ap proval applies. The EMTU/EMTU-C must meet the following requirements: (1) Form Validation: Each field on a form must be capable of being defined as Optional, Mandatory, or Logic Driv en. Mandatory fields are those fields that must be entered by the user before the form is complete. Optional fields are those fields that do not require data entry. Logic-driven fields have their attributes determined by earlier form selections. Specifically, a logic driven field must allow for selection of options in that field to change the val ues available as menu selections on a subsequent field within the same form. (2) A user must be able to select forms from a menu on the EMTU/ EMTU-C. (3) A user must be able to populate a form based on the last values used and ‘‘modify’’ or ‘‘update’’ a prior submis sion without unnecessary re-entry of data. A user must be able to review a minimum of 20 past form submissions and ascertain for each form when the form was transmitted and whether de livery was successfully sent to the type-approval holder’s VMS data proc essing center. In the case of a trans mission failure, a user must be pro vided with details of the cause and have the opportunity to retry the form submission. (4) VMS Position Report: Each form must include VMS position data, in cluding latitude, longitude, date and time. Data to populate these fields must be automatically generated by the EMTU/EMTU-C and unable to be manually entered or altered. (5) Delivery and Format of Forms Data: Delivery of form data to NMFS must employ the same transport secu rity and reliability as set out in § 600.1507 of this subpart. The forms data and delivery must be completely compatible with NMFS vessel moni toring software. (b) Updates to Forms. (1) The EMTU/ EMTU-C and MCS must be capable of providing updates to forms or adding new form requirements via wireless transmission and without manual in stallation. (2) From time to time, NMFS may provide type-approved applicants with requirements for new forms or modi fications to existing forms. NMFS may also provide notice of forms and form changes through the NMFS Work Order System. Type-approved applicants will be given at least 60 calendar days to complete their implementation of new or changed forms. Applicants will be capable of, and responsible for trans lating the requirements into their EMTU/EMTU-C-specific forms defini tions and wirelessly transmitting the same to all EMTU/EMTU-C terminals supplied to fishing vessels. § 600.1507 Communications security. Communications between an EMTU/ EMTU-C and MCS must be secure from tampering or interception, including the reading of passwords and data. The EMTU/EMTU-C and MCS must have mechanisms to prevent to the extent possible: (a) Sniffing and/or interception dur ing transmission from the EMTU/ EMTU-C to MCS. (b) Spoofing. (c) False position reports sent from an EMTU/EMTU-C. (d) Modification of EMTU/EMTU-C identification. (e) Interference with Global Mari time Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) or other safety/distress func tions. (f) Introduction of malware, spyware, keyloggers, or other software that may corrupt, disturb, or disrupt messages, transmission, and the VMS system. (g) The EMTU/EMTU-C terminal from communicating with, influencing, or interfering with the Global Posi tioning System antenna or its functionality, position reports, or send ing of position reports. The position re ports must not be altered, corrupted, degraded, or at all affected by the oper ation of the terminal or any of its pe ripherals or installed-software. 229 Fishery Conservation and Management § 600.1511 (h) VMS data must be encrypted and sent securely through all associated cellular, satellite, and internet com munication pathways and channels. § 600.1508 Field and technical services. As a requirement of its type-ap proval, a type-approval holder must communicate with NMFS to resolve technical issues with a VMS Unit, MCS or bundle and ensure that field and technical services includes: (a) Diagnostic and troubleshooting support to NMFS and fishers, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days per week, and year-round. (b) Response times for customer serv ice inquiries that shall not exceed 24 hours. (c) Warranty and maintenance agree ments. (d) Escalation procedures for resolu tion of problems. (e) Established facilities and proce dures to assist fishers in maintaining and repairing their EMTU, EMTU-C, or MTU. (f) Assistance to fishers in the diag nosis of the cause of communications anomalies. (g) Assistance in resolving commu nications anomalies that are traced to the EMTU, EMTU-C, or MTU. (h) Assistance to NMFS Office of Law Enforcement and its contractors, upon request, in VMS system operation, re solving technical issues, and data anal yses related to the VMS Program or system. § 600.1509 General. (a) An EMTU/EMTU-C must have the durability and reliability necessary to meet all requirements of §§ 600.1502 through 600.1507 regardless of weather conditions, including when placed in a marine environment where the unit may be subjected to saltwater (spray) in smaller vessels, and in larger vessels where the unit may be maintained in a wheelhouse. The unit, cabling and an tenna must be resistant to salt, mois ture, and shock associated with sea going vessels in the marine environ ment. (b) PII and Other Protected Informa tion. Personally identifying informa tion (PII) and other protected informa tion includes Magnuson-Stevens Act confidential information as provided at 16 U.S.C. 1881a and Business Identifi able Information (BII), as defined in the Department of Commerce Informa tion Technology Privacy Policy. A type-approval holder is responsible for ensuring that: (1) All PII and other protected infor mation is handled in accordance with applicable state and Federal law. (2) All PII and other protected infor mation provided to the type-approval holder by vessel owners or other au thorized personnel for the purchase or activation of an EMTU/EMTU-C or arising from participation in any Fed eral fishery are protected from disclo sure not authorized by NMFS or the vessel owner or other authorized per sonnel. (3) Any release of PII or other pro tected information beyond authorized entities must be requested and ap proved in writing, as appropriate, by the submitter of the data in accordance with 16 U.S.C. 1881a, or by NMFS. (4) Any PII or other protected infor mation sent electronically by the type approval holder to the NMFS Office of Law Enforcement must be transmitted by a secure means that prevents inter ception, spoofing, or viewing by unau thorized individuals. § 600.1510 Notification of type-ap proval. (a) If a request made pursuant to § 600.1501 (type-approval) is approved or partially approved, NMFS will issue a type-approval letter to indicate the specific EMTU/EMTU-C model, MCSP, or bundle that is approved for use, the MCS or class of MCSs permitted for use with the type-approved EMTU, and the regions or fisheries in which the EMTU/EMTU-C, MCSP, or bundle is ap proved for use. (b) The NMFS Office of Law Enforce ment will maintain a list of type-ap proved EMTUs/EMTU-C, MCSPs, and bundles on a publicly available website and provide copies of the list upon re quest. § 600.1511 Changes or modifications to type-approvals. Type-approval holders must notify NMFS Office of Law Enforcement (OLE) in writing no later than 2 days 230 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 600.1512 following modification to or replace ment of any functional component or piece of their type-approved EMTU, EMTU-C, or MTU configuration, MCS, or bundle. If the changes are substan tial, NMFS OLE will notify the type approval holder in writing within 60 calendar days that an amended type approval is required or that NMFS will initiate the type-approval revocation process. § 600.1512 Type-approval revocation process. (a) If at any time, a type-approved EMTU/EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle fails to meet requirements at §§ 600.1502 through 600.1509 or applicable VMS reg ulations and requirements in effect for the region(s) and Federal fisheries for which the EMTU/EMTU-C or MCS is type-approved, or if an MTU fails to meet the requirements under which it was type-approved, OLE may issue a Notification Letter to the type-ap proval holder that: (1) Identifies the MTU, EMTU, EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle that alleg edly fails to comply with type-approval regulations and requirements; (2) Identifies the alleged failure to comply with type-approval regulations and requirements, and the urgency and impact of the alleged failure; (3) Cites relevant regulations and re quirements under this subpart; (4) Describes the indications and evi dence of the alleged failure; (5) Provides documentation and data demonstrating the alleged failure; (6) Sets a response date by which the type-approval holder must submit to NMFS OLE a written response to the Notification Letter, including, if appli cable, a proposed solution; and (7) Explains the type-approval hold er’s options if the type-approval holder believes the Notification Letter is in error. (b) NMFS will establish a response date between 30 and 120 calendar days from the date of the Notification Let ter. The type-approval holder’s re sponse must be received in writing by NMFS on or before the response date. If the type-approval holder fails to re spond by the response date, the type approval will be revoked. At its discre tion and for good cause, NMFS may ex tend the response date to a maximum of 150 calendar days from the date of the Notification Letter. (c) A type-approval holder who has submitted a timely response may meet with NMFS within 21 calendar days of the date of that response to discuss a detailed and agreed-upon procedure for resolving the alleged failure. The meet ing may be in person, conference call, or webcast. (d) If the type-approval holder dis agrees with the Notification Letter and believes that there is no failure to com ply with the type-approval regulations and requirements, NMFS has incor rectly defined or described the failure or its urgency and impact, or NMFS is otherwise in error, the type-approval holder may submit a written objection letter to NMFS on or before the re sponse date. Within 21 calendar days of the date of the objection letter, the type-approval holder may meet with NMFS to discuss a resolution or redefi nition of the issue. The meeting may be in person, conference call, or webcast. If modifications to any part of the Notification Letter are required, then NMFS will issue a revised Notifi cation Letter to the type-approval holder. However, the response date or any other timeline in this process would not restart or be modified unless NMFS decides to do so, at its discre tion. (e) The total process from the date of the Notification Letter to the date of final resolution should not exceed 180 calendar days, and may require a shorter timeframe, to be determined by NMFS, depending on the urgency and impact of the alleged failure. In rare circumstances, NMFS, at its discre tion, may extend the time for resolu tion of the alleged failure. In such a case, NMFS will provide a written no tice to the type-approval holder in forming him or her of the extension and the basis for the extension. (f) If the failure to comply with type approval regulations and requirements cannot be resolved through this proc ess, the NMFS OLE Director will issue a Revocation Letter to the type-ap proval holder that: (1) Identifies the MTU, EMTU, EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle for which type-approval is being revoked; 231 Fishery Conservation and Management § 600.1516 (2) Summarizes the failure to comply with type-approval regulations and re quirements, including describing its ur gency and impact; (3) Summarizes any proposed plan, or attempts to produce such a plan, to re solve the failure; (4) States that revocation of the MTU, EMTU, EMTU-C, MCS, or bun dle’s type-approval has occurred; (5) States that no new installations of the revoked unit will be permitted in any NMFS-managed fishery requiring the use of VMS; (6) Cites relevant regulations and re quirements under this subpart; (7) Explains why resolution was not achieved; (8) Advises the type-approval holder that: (i) The type-approval holder may re apply for a type-approval under the process set forth in § 600.1501, and (ii) A revocation may be appealed pursuant to the process under § 600.1513. § 600.1513 Type-approval revocation appeals process. (a) If a type-approval holder receives a Revocation Letter pursuant to § 600.1512, the type-approval holder may file an appeal of the revocation to the NMFS Assistant Administrator. (b) An appeal must be filed within 14 calendar days of the date of the Rev ocation Letter. A type-approval holder may not request an extension of time to file an appeal. (c) An appeal must include a com plete copy of the Revocation Letter and its attachments and a written statement detailing any facts or cir cumstances explaining and refuting the failures summarized in the Revocation Letter. (d) The NMFS Assistant Adminis trator may, at his or her discretion, af firm, vacate, or modify the Revocation Letter and send a letter to the type-ap proval holder explaining his or her de termination, within 21 calendar days of receipt of the appeal. The NMFS As sistant Administrator’s determination constitutes the final agency decision. § 600.1514 Revocation effective date and notification to vessel owners. (a) Following issuance of a Revoca tion Letter pursuant to § 600.1512 and any appeal pursuant to § 600.1513, NMFS will provide notice to all vessel owners impacted by the type-approval revoca tion via letter and FEDERAL REGISTER notice. NMFS will provide information to impacted vessel owners on: (1) The next steps vessel owners should take to remain in compliance with regional and/or national VMS re quirements; (2) The date, 60–90 calendar days from the notice date, on which the type-ap proval revocation will become effec tive; (3) Reimbursement of the cost of a new type-approved EMTU/EMTU-C, should funding for reimbursement be available pursuant to § 600.1516. § 600.1515 Litigation support. (a) All technical aspects of a type-ap proved EMTU, EMTU-C, MTU, MCS, or bundle are subject to being admitted as evidence in a court of law, if needed. The reliability of all technologies uti lized in the EMTU, EMTU-C, MTU, MCS, or bundle may be analyzed in court for, inter alia, testing proce dures, error rates, peer review, tech nical processes and general industry acceptance. (b) The type-approval holder must, as a requirement of the holder’s type-ap proval, provide technical and expert support for litigation to substantiate the EMTU/EMTU-C, MCS, or bundle ca pabilities to establish NMFS Office of Law Enforcement cases against viola tors, as needed. If the technologies have previously been subject to such scrutiny in a court of law, the type-ap proval holder must provide NMFS with a brief summary of the litigation and any court findings on the reliability of the technology. (c) The type-approval holder will be required to sign a non-disclosure agree ment limiting the release of certain in formation that might compromise the effectiveness of the VMS operations. § 600.1516 Reimbursement opportuni ties for revoked Vessel Monitoring System type-approval products. (a) Subject to the availability of funds, vessel owners may be eligible for reimbursement payments for a replace ment EMTU/EMTU-C if: 232 50 CFR Ch. VI (10–1–22 Edition) § 600.1600 (1) All eligibility and process require ments specified by NMFS are met as described in NMFS Policy Directive 06– 102; and (2) The replacement type-approved EMTU/EMTU-C is installed on the ves sel, and reporting to NMFS Office of Law Enforcement; and (3) The type-approval for the pre viously installed EMTU/EMTU-C has been revoked by NMFS; or (4) NMFS requires the vessel owner to purchase a new EMTU/EMTU-C prior to the end of an existing unit’s service life. (b) The cap for individual reimburse ment payments is subject to change. If this occurs, NMFS Office of Law En forcement will publish a notice in the FEDERAL REGISTER announcing the change. Subpart R—Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology SOURCE: 82 FR 6337, Jan. 19, 2017, unless otherwise noted. § 600.1600 Purpose and scope. Section 303(a)(11) of the Magnuson Stevens Act requires that any fishery management plan (FMP) with respect to any fishery shall establish a stand ardized reporting methodology to as sess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in the fishery. 16 U.S.C. 1853(a)(11). The purpose of a standard ized reporting methodology is to col lect, record, and report bycatch data in a fishery that, in conjunction with other relevant sources of information, are used to assess the amount and type of bycatch occurring in the fishery and inform the development of conserva tion and management measures that, to the extent practicable, minimize by catch and bycatch mortality. This sub part sets forth requirements for and guidance on establishing and reviewing a standardized reporting methodology. § 600.1605 Definitions and word usage. (a) Definitions. In addition to the defi nitions in the Magnuson-Stevens Act and § 600.10, standardized reporting meth odology means an established, con sistent procedure or procedures used to collect, record, and report bycatch data in a fishery, which may vary from one fishery to another. Bycatch assessment is not part of the standardized report ing methodology, but must be consid ered as described in § 600.1610(a)(2)(iv). (b) Word usage. The terms ‘‘bycatch’’ and ‘‘fishery’’ are used in the same manner as in 16 U.S.C. 1802. The terms ‘‘must’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘may’’, ‘‘will’’, ‘‘could’’, and ‘‘can’’ are used in the same manner as in § 600.305(c). The term ‘‘Council’’ is used in the same manner as in § 600.305(d)(10), and in cludes the regional fishery manage ment Councils and the Secretary of Commerce, as appropriate (16 U.S.C. 1854(c) and (g)). § 600.1610 Establishing and reviewing standardized bycatch reporting methodologies in fishery manage ment plans. (a) Establishing a standardized report ing methodology—(1) Fishery management plan contents. An FMP must identify the required procedure or procedures that constitute the standardized re porting methodology for the fishery. The required procedures may include, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: Observer programs, elec tronic monitoring and reporting tech nologies, and self-reported mechanisms (e.g., recreational sampling, industry reported catch and discard data). The FMP, or a fishery research plan au thorized under 16 U.S.C. 1862, must ex plain how the standardized reporting methodology meets the purpose de scribed in § 600.1600, based on an anal ysis of the requirements under § 600.1610(a)(2). The FMP, or fishery re search plan authorized under 16 U.S.C. 1862, may reference analyses and infor mation in other FMPs, FMP amend ments, Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) reports, or other documents. Councils should work to gether and collaborate on standardized reporting methodologies for fisheries that operate across multiple jurisdic tions, as appropriate. In addition to proposing regulations necessary to im plement the standardized reporting methodology, a Council should also provide in its FMP, or a fishery re search plan authorized under 16 U.S.C. 1862, guidance to NMFS on how to ad just implementation of a standardized reporting methodology consistent with