80 FR 65984 - Application(s) for Duty-Free Entry of Scientific Instruments

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 208 (October 28, 2015)

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 208 (Wednesday, October 28, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65984-65985]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-27459]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Application(s) for Duty-Free Entry of Scientific Instruments

    Pursuant to Section 6(c) of the Educational, Scientific and 
Cultural Materials Importation Act of 1966 (Pub. L. 89-651, as amended 
by Pub. L. 106-36; 80 Stat. 897; 15 CFR part 301), we invite comments 
on the question of whether instruments of equivalent scientific value, 
for the purposes for which the instruments shown below are intended to 
be used, are being manufactured in the United States.
    Comments must comply with 15 CFR 301.5(a)(3) and (4) of the 
regulations and be postmarked on or before November 17, 2015. Address 
written comments to Statutory Import Programs Staff, Room 3720, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Washington, DC 20230. Applications may be 
examined between 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the U.S. Department of 
Commerce in Room 3720.
    Docket Number: 15-029. Applicant: University of California, Irvine, 
816 F Engineering Tower, Irvine, CA 92697-2575. Instrument: Electron 
Microscope. Manufacturer: JEOL Ltd., Japan. Intended Use: The 
instrument will be used to determine nanoparticle size, crystal 
structure, interface and defect structure, surface structure, 
composition, electronic state, bad-gap, cell structure, magnetic domain 
structure, 3D-structure and phase transformation of various materials 
such as metals, ceramics, semiconductors, superconductors, polymers and 
cells. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of 
the same general category manufactured in the United States. 
Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: June 12, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-031. Applicant: University of California, Irvine, 
816 F Engineering Tower, Irvine, CA 92697-2575. Instrument: Electron 
Microscope. Manufacturer: JEOL Ltd., Japan. Intended Use: The 
instrument will be used to determine nanoparticle size, crystal 
structure, interface and defect structure, surface structure, 
composition, electronic state, bad-gap, cell structure, magnetic domain 
structure, 3D-structure and phase transformation of various materials 
such as metals, ceramics, semiconductors, superconductors, polymers and 
cells. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of 
the same general category manufactured in the United States. 
Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: June 12, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-035. Applicant: Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut 
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Instrument: Electron Microscope. 
Manufacturer: JEOL Ltd., Japan. Intended Use: The instrument will be 
used to understand the structure of metal alloys, polymers, ceramics, 
semiconductors and biological structures and relate this to the 
material performance by obtaining structural and morphological 
information about the materials using electron diffraction, bright 
field and dark field imaging. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There 
are no instruments of the same general category manufactured in the 
United States. Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: July 
20, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-036. Applicant: The Trustees of Princeton 
University, 701 Carnegie Center, Princeton, NJ 08540. Instrument: 
Electron Microscope. Manufacturer: FEI Czech Republic s.r.o., Czech 
Republic. Intended Use: The instrument will be used for a wide range of 
applications including microstructural and chemical analysis of the 
first hydration products of cement, using samples prepared by 
supercritical drying, to elucidate the process of strength development 
and identify the effects of additives on the kinetics and 
microstructure, and the structural analysis of non-conducting nanowires 
used as gas sensors. Free Entry: There are no instruments of the same 
general category manufactured in the United States. Application 
accepted by Commissioner of Customs: July 20, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-037. Applicant: The Trustees of Princeton 
University, 701 Carnegie Center, Princeton, NJ 08540. Instrument: 
Electron Microscope. Manufacturer: FEI Electron Optics BV, the 
Netherlands. Intended Use: The instrument will be used for research 
such as the interfacial atomic structure of ferromagnetic insulator-
topological insulator heterostructures, using FIB prepared thin cross-
sections, to elucidate the temperature effect on near-stoichiometric 
materials which might lead to the development of spintronic devices 
based on the large anomalous Hall Effect, and the development and 
fabrication of uniformly dispersed nanoparticle-doped chalcogenide 
glass. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of 
the same general category manufactured in the United States. 
Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: July 30, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-038. Applicant: South Dakota State University, 
1400 North Campus Drive, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Box 
2120, South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota 57007. 
Instrument: Electron Microscope. Manufacturer: JEOL Ltd., Japan. 
Intended Use: The instrument will be used to develop techniques for 
stronger, lighter and cheaper next generation wind turbine blades by 
characterizing internal and interface structure of nano-fiber enhanced 
composites, as well as other research. Justification for Duty-Free 
Entry: There are no instruments of the same general category 
manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by Commissioner 
of Customs: August 3, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-039. Applicant: University of Texas Southwestern 
Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390. Instrument: 
Electron Microscope. Manufacturer: FEI Company, the Netherlands. 
Intended

[[Page 65985]]

Use: The instrument will be used to learn how imaged proteins and 
molecules perform their cellular functions, using cryo-transmission 
electron microscopy. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no 
instruments of the same general category manufactured in the United 
States. Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: August 10, 
2015.
    Docket Number: 15-040. Applicant: UT Battelle, Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Road, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-
6138. Instrument: Electron Microscope. Manufacturer: FEI Company, Czech 
Republic. Intended Use: The instrument will be used to study metals and 
ceramics for nuclear power applications, using transmission electron 
microscopy to study the evolution of defects in the crystalline 
structures of the materials before and after irradiation. Justification 
for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of the same general 
category manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by 
Commissioner of Customs: August 14, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-041. Applicant: University of Minnesota, 116 Tate 
Lab of Physics, Minneapolis, MN 55455-0149. Instrument: IVVI Measuring 
System with Modules. Manufacturer: Delft University of Technology, the 
Netherlands. Intended Use: The instrument will be used to uncover novel 
quantum properties of certain semiconductors or superconductors, such 
as InAs, GaSb or devices combining these with superconductors such As 
Al and Nb, using high-sensitivity electronic current and voltage 
measurements. Unique properties of this instrument include modular 
integration of pA sensitivity ammeter, required to measure very small 
electrical currents down to several pA, low-noise transimpedance 
amplifier, required to transform the electrical currents into voltage 
signals of a few mV that can be measured with conventional laboratory 
voltmeters, and low-noise digital-to-analogue converter and signal 
switchboxes. The entire setup is battery-operated and is programmable 
via an optically-decoupled input to minimize electrical noise 
interference from electrical power lines or other instruments. 
Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of the same 
general category manufactured in the United States. Application 
accepted by Commissioner of Customs: August 18, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-042. Applicant: Purdue University, 610 Purdue 
Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Instrument: SuperK EXTREME EXR-20 20 
MHz with SuperK VARIA High 50dB with Power Lock. Manufacturer: NKT 
Photonics, Denmark. Intended Use: The instrument will be used to image 
tissue or tissue like materials with high optical scatter using Optical 
Diffusion Tomography (ODT), providing useful information for the study 
of biological and chemical processes. The instrument has a wide turning 
range, which is important for exciting different fluorophores of 
interest, providing specificity to chemical processes, a short pulse 
width which is important for performing time-gated measurements, high 
laser power which is important for obtaining a high SNR from laser 
light traveling through centimeters of tissue or related scattering 
medium, and a 20MHz repetition rate which is important for time-gated 
measurements given the temporal response time of tissue. Justification 
for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of the same general 
category manufactured in the United States. Application accepted by 
Commissioner of Customs: September 4, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-043. Applicant: New York Structural Biology 
Center, 89 Convent Ave., New York, NY 10027. Instrument: Electron 
Microscope. Manufacturer: FEI Co., the Netherlands. Intended Use: The 
instrument will be used to determine the three-dimensional structure of 
biological assemblies to determine the manner in which they function 
and the mechanisms through which they interact with other cellular 
components. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments 
of the same general category manufactured in the United States. 
Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: August 27, 2015.
    Docket Number: 15-045. Applicant: University of Massachusetts 
Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655. Instrument: 
Vitrobot. Manufacturer: FEI Electron Optics, B.V., the Netherlands. 
Intended Use: The instrument will be used to understand the three-
dimensional structure of purified proteins and complexes at the atomic 
level, and how this is related to their function, by freezing them, 
then examining them in the frozen state in an electron microscope. The 
instrument can precisely control the humidity at any level, and can 
also control the temperature of the chamber, which is essential to 
freeze the proteins and complexes under exactly defined conditions, 
which is a requirement for all of the studies. The specimen remains in 
the humidity-controlled environment until the instant of freezing, 
which is essential to prevent any evaporation of water from the 
specimen before freezing. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are 
no instruments of the same general category manufactured in the United 
States. Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: September 15, 
2015.
    Docket Number: 15-046. Applicant: National Institute for 
Occupational Safety & Health, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Room B104, 
Morgantown, WV 26505. Instrument: Electron Microscope. Manufacturer: 
JEOL Ltd., Japan. Intended Use: The instrument will be used to 
determine the effects of exposing animal lung tissues and cells to 
particles such as silica and asbestos, nanoparticles such as carbon 
nanotubes, Titanium Dioxide, graphene and cellulose, in order to make 
recommendations to industry as to how to protect workers from lung 
disease. Justification for Duty-Free Entry: There are no instruments of 
the same general category manufactured in the United States. 
Application accepted by Commissioner of Customs: September 28, 2015.

    Dated: October 20, 2015.
Gregory W. Campbell,
Director of Subsidies Enforcement, Enforcement and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2015-27459 Filed 10-27-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P