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All vessels participating in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Vessel Monitoring System program are required to use a National Marine Fisheries Service-approved transmitting unit. This rule codified into regulations the unit type-approval standards, requirements, and procedures for vendors to maintain approval for their products and services. The rule also codified requirements for agency approval, subsequent assessments, a renewal process, and procedures for revoking a unit's approval if the vendor fails to comply with the performance requirements. The previous national process regarding unit type-approval requirements for evaluating performance and improving or revoking unit type approvals was not codified. Therefore, the purpose of this rule was to codify the approval process, improve the enforceability of the approval requirements, and better ensure all unit type approvals remain in compliance and are consistent with the requirements. To eliminate the possibility of duplicating, overlapping, or conflicting Federal regulations, this rule also revised the Greater Atlantic Region's regulations to match those in this rule.