[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 69 (Tuesday, April 11, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Page 18355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-5278]



[[Page 18355]]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-53,209]


Computer Sciences Corporation, Financial Services Group, East 
Hartford, Connecticut;Notice of Revised Determination On Remand

    On January 27, 2006, the U.S. Court of International Trade (USCIT) 
issued a third remand order directing the Department of Labor 
(Department) to further investigate workers' eligibility to apply for 
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) in the matter of Former Employees of 
Computer Sciences Corporation v. United States Secretary of Labor 
(Court No. 04-00149).
    The initial determination for the workers of Computer Sciences 
Corporation, Financial Services Group, East Hartford, Connecticut 
(``CSC'') was issued on October 24, 2003 and published in the Federal 
Register on November 28, 2003 (68 FR 66878). The Department's negative 
determination was based on the findings that the subject worker group 
provided business and information consulting, specialized application 
software, and technology outsourcing support to customers in the 
financial services industry, and that the workers did not produce an 
article within the meaning of Section 222 of the Trade Act of 1974.
    The Department issued a Notice of Negative Determination on 
Reconsideration on February 3, 2004 and published the Notice in the 
Federal Register on February 24, 2004 (69 FR 8488). The Department 
determined that while CSC produced software, the workers were 
ineligible to apply for TAA because CSC neither shifted software 
production abroad nor imported software like or directly competitive 
with that produced at the subject facility.
    On July 29, 2004, the Department issued a Negative Determination on 
Reconsideration on Remand for the workers of the subject firm on the 
basis that packing functions did not shift to India, that all storing 
and copying functions remained in the United States, and that CSC did 
not import software like or directly competitive with software produced 
at the subject facility. The Department's Notice was published in the 
Federal Register on August 10, 2004 (69 FR 48526).
    On August 24, 2005, the Department issued a Notice of Negative 
Determination on Remand. The Notice of the second remand determination 
was published in the Federal Register on September 1, 2005 (70 FR 
52129). The Department determined that the Vantage-One software code 
produced by CSC, not embodied on a physical medium, is not an article, 
that CSC did not shift production of an article abroad, and that there 
were no increased imports of software like or directly competitive with 
the software produced at the subject facility.
    Since the publication of the last remand determination, the 
Department has revised its policy to acknowledge that, at least in the 
context of this case, there are tangible and intangible articles and to 
clarify that the production of intangible articles can be distinguished 
from the provision of services. Software and similar intangible goods 
that would have been considered articles for the purposes of the Trade 
Act if embodied in a physical medium will now be considered to be 
articles regardless of their method of transfer.
    The Department stresses that it will continue to implement the 
longstanding precedent that firms must produce an article to be 
certified under the Act. This determination is not altered by the fact 
the provision of a service may result in the incidental creation of an 
article. For example, accountants provide services for the purposes of 
the Act even though, in the course of providing those services, they 
may generate audit reports or similar financial documents that might be 
articles on the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. 
Because the new policy may have ramifications beyond this case of which 
the Department is not fully cognizant, the new policy will be further 
developed in rulemaking.
    Moreover, because it is the Department's practice to apply current 
policy instead of the policy which existed during the investigative 
period if doing so is favorable to the workers, the Department 
conducted the third remand investigation under the new policy.
    After careful review of the facts, the Department has determined 
that the subject firm produced an intangible article (financial 
software for Vantage-One) that would have been considered an article if 
embodied in a physical medium, that employment at the subject facility 
declined during the relevant period, that CSC shifted production of the 
such software abroad, and that CSC increased imports of software like 
or directly competitive with that produced at the subject facility.

Conclusion

    After careful review of the facts generated through the immediate 
remand investigation, I determine that increased imports of software 
like or directly competitive with that produced by the subject firm 
contributed importantly to the total or partial separation of a 
significant number of workers at the subject facility. In accordance 
with the provisions of the Act, I make the following certification:

All workers of Computer Sciences Corporation, Financial Services 
Group, East Hartford, Connecticut, who became totally or partially 
separated from employment on or after September 22, 2002, through 
two years from the issuance of this revised determination, are 
eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance under Section 223 
of the Trade Act of 1974.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 24th day of March 2006.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
 [FR Doc. E6-5278 Filed 4-10-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P