[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8949-8951]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02070]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY:  United States International Trade Commission.

ACTION:  Notice of proposed collection; comment request.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY:  The proposed information collection is a 3-year extension, 
pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) (the 
``Act''), of the current generic survey clearance previously approved 
by the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB''). The clearance is used 
by the U.S. International Trade Commission (``Commission'') to issue 
information collections (specifically, producer, importer, purchaser, 
and foreign producer questionnaires and certain institution notices) 
for a series of import injury investigations that are required by the 
Tariff Act of 1930 and the Trade Act of 1974. The current generic 
survey clearance is assigned OMB control No. 3117-0016; it will expire 
on June 30, 2017. Comments concerning the proposed information 
collections are requested in accordance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 
the Act; such comments are described in greater detail in the section 
of this notice entitled SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

DATES:  To be assured of consideration, written comments should be 
received no later than 60 days after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES:  Signed comments should be submitted to Lisa Barton, 
Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E St. SW., 
Washington, DC 20436.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Copies of the proposed collection of 
information and supporting documentation may be obtained from Nathanael 
Comly (USITC, tel. no. 202-205-3174). Hearing-impaired persons can 
obtain information on this matter by contacting the Commission's TDD 
terminal on 202-205-1810. Persons with mobility impairments who will 
need special assistance in gaining access to the Commission should 
contact the Office of the Secretary at 202-205-2000. General 
information concerning the Commission may also be obtained by accessing 
its internet server (https://www.usitc.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Request for Comments

    Comments are solicited as to (1) whether the proposed information 
collection is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed information collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) the quality, utility, clarity, 
and design of the information to be collected; and (4) minimization of 
the burden of the proposed information collection on those who are to 
respond (including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological forms of information 
technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses). To 
the extent appropriate, please cite to specific experiences your firm 
has had with other governmental surveys and data collections.

Summary of the Proposed Information Collections

(1) Need for the Proposed Information Collections

    The information requested in questionnaires and five-year review 
institution notices issued under the generic survey clearance is 
utilized by the Commission in the following statutory investigations: 
Antidumping duty, countervailing duty, escape clause, North American 
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) safeguard, market disruption, and 
interference with programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
(USDA). The Commission's generic survey clearance to issue 
questionnaires will not apply to repetitive questionnaires such as 
those issued on a quarterly or annual basis or to other investigations 
and research studies conducted under section 332 of the Trade Act of 
1974. The information provided by firms in response to the 
questionnaires provides factual information used in the Commission's 
determinations in the above-cited statutory investigations. The 
submitted data are consolidated by Commission staff and provided to the 
Commission in the form of a staff report. In addition, in the majority 
of its investigations, the Commission releases completed questionnaires 
returned by industry participants to representatives of parties to its 
investigations under the terms of an administrative protective order, 
the terms of which safeguard the confidentiality of any business 
proprietary or business confidential information. Representatives of 
interested parties also receive a confidential version of the staff 
report under the administrative protective order. Subsequent party 
submissions to the Commission during the investigative process are 
based, in large part, upon their review of the information collected. 
Included in the proposed generic clearance is the administrative 
protective order application form. Also included in the proposed 
generic clearance are the institution notices for the five-year reviews 
of antidumping and countervailing duty orders and suspended 
investigations. Responses to the institution notices will be evaluated 
by the Commission and form much of the record for its determinations to 
conduct either expedited or full five-year reviews of existing 
antidumping and countervailing duty orders.

[[Page 8950]]

(2) Information Collection Plan

    Questionnaires for specific investigations are sent to all 
identified domestic producers manufacturing the product(s) in question. 
Importer and purchaser questionnaires are also sent to all substantial 
U.S. importers/purchasers of the product(s). Finally, all foreign 
manufacturers of the product(s) in question that are represented by 
counsel are sent questionnaires, and, in addition, the Commission 
attempts to contact any other foreign manufacturers, especially if they 
export the product(s) in question to the United States. Firms receiving 
questionnaires include businesses, farms, and/or other for-profit 
institutions; responses by domestic firms are mandatory. The 
institution notices for the five-year reviews are published in the 
Federal Register and solicit comment from interested parties (i.e., 
U.S. producers within the industry in question as well as labor unions 
or representative groups of workers, U.S. importers and foreign 
exporters, and involved foreign country governments).

(3) Description of the Information To Be Collected

    Information is collected to be utilized in the above mentioned 
statutory investigations; the primary instruments, namely 
questionnaires, are described below. Although the content of each 
questionnaire will differ based on the needs of a particular 
investigation, questionnaires are based on long-established, generic 
formats. Producer questionnaires generally consist of the following 
four parts: (part I) general questions relating to the organization and 
activities of the firm; (part II) data on capacity, production, 
inventories, employment, and the quantity and value of the firm's 
shipments and purchases from various sources; (part III) financial 
data, including income-and-loss data on the product in question, data 
on asset valuation, research and development expenses, and capital 
expenditures; and (part IV) pricing and market factors. (Questionnaires 
may, on occasion, also contain part V, an abbreviated version of the 
above-listed parts, used for gathering data on additional product 
categories.) Importer questionnaires generally consist of three parts: 
(part I) general questions relating to the organization and activities 
of the firm; (part II) data on the firm's imports and the shipment and 
inventories of its imports; and (part III) pricing and market factors 
similar to that requested in the producer questionnaire. Purchaser 
questionnaires generally consist of four parts: (part I) general 
questions relating to the organization and activities of the firm; 
(part II) data concerning the purchases of the product by the firm and 
the names of the firm's vendors; (part III) market characteristics and 
purchasing practices; and (part IV) comparisons between imported and 
U.S.-produced product. An abbreviated purchaser questionnaire may also 
be sent in a preliminary phase investigation, consisting of two parts: 
(part I) data concerning the purchases of the product by the firm; and 
(part II) questions regarding purchasing practices, and in an adequacy 
phase of a review investigation, consisting of one part: (part I) 
general questions regarding the industry. Foreign producer 
questionnaires generally consist of (part I) general questions relating 
to the organization and activities of the firm; (part II) data 
concerning the firm's manufacturing operations; and may include (part 
III) market factors. The notices of institution for the five-year 
reviews include 11 specific requests for information that firms are to 
provide if their response is to be considered by the Commission.

(4) Estimated Burden of the Proposed Information Collection

    The Commission estimates that information collections issued under 
the requested generic clearance will impose an average annual burden of 
192,998 hours on 6,789 respondents (i.e., recipients that provide a 
response to the Commission's questionnaires or the notices of 
institution of five-year reviews). Table 1 lists the projected annual 
burden for each type of information collection for the July 2017- June 
2020 period.

(5) Minimization of Burden

    The Commission periodically reviews its investigative processes, 
including data collection, to reduce the information burden. 
Questionnaires clearly state that estimates are acceptable for certain 
items. They are designed in part with check-in type formats to simplify 
the response. The reporting burden for smaller firms is reduced in that 
the sections of the questionnaire that are applicable to their 
operations are typically more limited. Requests by parties to expand 
the data collection or add items to the questionnaire for specific 
investigations may not be accepted if the Commission believes such 
requests will increase the response burden while not substantially 
adding to the investigative record. While completed questionnaires 
historically were returned to the Commission in paper form, recently 
the vast majority have been submitted electronically. The Commission is 
promoting options for electronic submission such as providing the 
questionnaires on the Commission's Web site in a fillable Word format 
and has created a secure drop box which questionnaire respondents can 
use to securely upload completed questionnaires. The information 
provided in response to its notices of institution for the five-year 
reviews is typically submitted in document form directly to the Office 
of the Secretary although it may be submitted to the Commission's 
Electronic Data Information System (EDIS) and Electronic Docket. In 
addition, the Commission has reduced the information burden by 
streamlining the questionnaires. For example, the Commission removed 
redundant fields, added auto-calculated reconciliation fields, enabled 
population of whole data tables, and reduced the number of years data 
is collected for in certain five-year reviews.

                              Table 1--Projected Annual Burden Data, by Type of Information Collection, July 2017-June 2020
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                        Foreign       Institution
                       Item                            Producer        Importer        Purchaser       producer     notices for 5-  Other \1\    Total
                                                    questionnaires  questionnaires  questionnaires  questionnaires   year reviews
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of respondents.............................             750           2,000           1,600           1,400             183        856      6,789
Frequency of response.............................               1               1               1               1               1          1          1
Total annual responses............................             750           2,000           1,600           1,400             183        856      6,789
Hours per response................................              52              41              23              22              10          3       28.4
                                                   -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total hours...................................          39,000          82,000          36,800          30,800           1,830      2,568    192,998
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ e.g. Administrative Protective Order forms and questionnaires to purchasers in the adequacy phase of a review investigation.


[[Page 8951]]

    No record keeping burden is known to result from the proposed 
collection of information.

    By order of the Commission.

    Issued: January 26, 2017.
Lisa R. Barton,
Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2017-02070 Filed 1-31-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7020-02-P