[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 50 (Thursday, March 14, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9273-9276]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04095]


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INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION

19 CFR Part 220


Submission and Consideration of Petitions for Duty Suspensions 
and Reductions

AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission.

ACTION: Proposed amendments to rule with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States International Trade Commission (Commission) 
proposes to amend Part 220 of its Rules of Practice and Procedure. Part 
220 governs the submission and consideration of petitions for duty 
suspensions and reductions under the American Manufacturing 
Competitiveness Act of 2016. The amendments are necessary to clarify 
certain provisions and address concerns that have arisen in Commission 
practice.

DATES: To be assured of consideration, written comments must be 
received by 5:15 p.m.: April 15, 2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number MISC-
046, Rulemaking Regarding Petitions for Duty Suspensions/Reductions, by 
any of the following methods:
    --Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments.
    --Agency Website: https://edis.usitc.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments on the website.
    --Mail: For paper submission. U.S. International Trade Commission, 
500 E Street SW, Room 112A, Washington, DC 20436.
    --Hand Delivery/Courier: U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E 
Street SW, Room 112A, Washington, DC 20436. From the hours of 8:45 a.m. 
to 5:15 p.m.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number (MISC-046, Rulemaking Regarding Petitions for Duty 
Suspensions/Reductions), along with a cover letter stating the nature 
of the commenter's interest in the proposed rulemaking. All comments 
received will be posted, without change, to https://edis.usitc.gov 
including any personal information provided. For paper copies, a signed 
original and 8 copies of each set of comments should be submitted to 
Lisa R. Barton, Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E 
Street SW, Room 112A, Washington, DC 20436.
    For access to the docket to read background documents or comments 
received, go to https://edis.usitc.gov and/or the U.S. International 
Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Room 112A, Washington, DC 20436.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa R. Barton, Secretary, telephone 
(202) 205-2000 or William Gearhart, Esquire, Office of the General 
Counsel, United States International Trade Commission, telephone (202) 
205-3091. Hearing-impaired individuals are advised that information on 
this matter can be obtained by contacting the Commission's TDD terminal 
at 202-205-1810. General information concerning the Commission may also 
be obtained by accessing its website at https://www.usitc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The preamble below is designed to assist 
readers in understanding these proposed amendments to the Commission's 
Rules of Practice and Procedure (the Rules). This preamble provides 
background information, a regulatory analysis of the amendments, a 
section-by-section explanation of the amendments, and a description of 
the amendments to the Rules. The Commission encourages members of the 
public to comment on whether the language of the amendments is 
sufficiently clear for users to understand, and to submit any other 
comments they wish to make on the amendments.
    These amendments are being promulgated in accordance with the 
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) (APA). If the Commission 
decides to proceed with this rulemaking after reviewing the comments 
filed in response to this notice, the proposed rule revisions will be 
promulgated in accordance with the applicable requirements of the APA 
and will be codified in 19 CFR part 220.

Background

    Section 335 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1335) authorizes 
the Commission to adopt such reasonable procedures, rules and 
regulations as it deems necessary to carry out its functions and 
duties. In addition, section 3(b)(5) of the American Manufacturing 
Competitiveness Act of 2016 (19 U.S.C. 1332 note) (the Act) directs the 
Commission to prescribe and publish in the Federal Register, and on a 
publicly available internet website of the Commission, procedures to be 
complied with by members of the public submitting petitions for duty 
suspensions and reductions under section 3(b)(1)(A) of that Act.
    The Commission is amending its rules governing the submission and 
consideration of petitions for duty suspensions and reductions under 
the Act. Section 3 of the Act establishes a process for the submission 
and consideration of petitions for duty suspensions and reductions. 
More specifically, it directs the Commission to publish notices, not 
later than October 15, 2016, and October 15, 2019, that requests 
members of the public to submit petitions to the Commission for duty 
suspensions and reductions, provided they can demonstrate that they are 
likely beneficiaries of such duty suspensions or reductions. The Act 
also provides that the petitioners must submit disclosure forms with 
respect to such duty suspensions and reductions. The petitions and 
disclosure forms must be submitted during the 60-day period beginning 
on the date of publication of the Commission's notices. Section 3 of 
the Act also lists the types of information that must be included in a 
petition.
    Section 3 of the Act requires that the Commission publish on its 
website all petitions that contain the required information and the 
related disclosure forms no later than 30 days after the close of the 
60-day filing period. It also provides that members of the public will 
have 45 days from the date of the notice's publication to submit 
comments to the Commission regarding the petitions and disclosure 
forms. The Commission must make those comments available to the public 
on the Commission's website.
    The Commission adopted the rules it is amending as a final rule 
effective December 26, 2018 (see notice published in the Federal 
Register on December 26, 2018 (83 FR 66102)). In so doing the 
Commission adopted, without change, the interim rule published in the 
Federal Register on September 30, 2016 (61 FR 67144). In its notice 
promulgating the interim rule, the Commission invited interested 
parties to file comments on the interim rule; no comments were filed. 
In its notice of final rulemaking published on December 26, 2018, the 
Commission stated that it may propose several amendments to this final 
rule.
    These amendments modify the text of sections 220.5, 220.6, 220.7, 
220.9, 220.10, and 220.11 of Part 220. In addition, these amendments 
re-designate current sections 220.11, 220.12, 220.13, and 220.14 as 
sections

[[Page 9274]]

220.12, 220.13, 220.14, and 220.15, respectively. The Commission is 
inviting comments only on the changes in the text of the above rule 
sections.
    The changes principally (1) require petitions to include certain 
additional information to assist the Commission in evaluating a 
petition, (2) clarify and provide additional instruction with respect 
to information to be included in a petition, (3) revise the requirement 
regarding the time when a petition may be withdrawn. The changes also 
divide section 220.11 into two sections, section 220.11 and section 
220.12, and renumber current sections 220.12 through 220.14.

Procedure for Adopting the Proposed Amendments

    Consistent with its ordinary practice, the Commission is issuing 
these proposed amendments in accordance with the notice-and-comment 
rulemaking procedure in section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act 
(APA) (5 U.S.C. 553). That procedure entails the following steps: (1) 
Publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking; (2) solicitation of 
public comments on the proposed amendments; (3) Commission review of 
public comments on the proposed amendments, and (4) publication of 
final amendments at least 30 days prior to their effective date.

Regulatory Analysis of Proposed Amendments to the Commission's Rules

    The Commission has determined that these proposed amendments to the 
rules do not meet the criteria described in section 3(f) of Executive 
Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and thus do not constitute a 
``significant regulatory action'' for purposes of the Executive Order.
    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is 
inapplicable to this rulemaking because it is not one for which a 
notice of proposed rulemaking is required under 5 U.S.C. 553(b) or any 
other statute. Although the Commission has chosen to publish a notice 
of proposed rulemaking, these proposed regulations are ``agency rules 
of procedure and practice,'' and thus are exempt from the notice 
requirement imposed by 5 U.S.C. 553(b).
    These proposed rules do not contain federalism implications 
warranting the preparation of a federalism summary impact statement 
pursuant to Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, Aug. 4, 1999).
    No actions are necessary under title II of the Unfunded Mandates 
Reform Act of 1995, Public Law 104-4 (2 U.S.C. 1531-1538) because the 
proposed amendments to the rules will not result in the expenditure by 
state, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the 
private sector, of $100,000,000 or more in any one year (adjusted 
annually for inflation), and will not significantly or uniquely affect 
small governments, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 601(5).
    The proposed rules are not ``major rules'' as defined by section 
251 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 
(5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.). Moreover, they are exempt from the reporting 
requirements of that Act because they contain rules of agency 
organization, procedure, or practice that do not substantially affect 
the rights or obligations of non-agency parties.
    The Commission previously submitted an information collection 
request for its secure web portal for the Miscellaneous Tariff Bills 
Petition System to the Office of Management and Budget for Paperwork 
Reduction Act clearance. See 81 FR 58531 (Aug. 25, 2016). The 
Commission received the appropriate clearance. However, this clearance 
expires on September 30, 2019, and the Commission will be seeking a new 
clearance. The Commission intends to process the information it 
collects consistent with these rules as amended, and the Commission 
intends to obtain the appropriate clearance required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act before it begins its next information collection on 
October 15, 2019.

Section-by-Section Explanation of the Proposed Amendments

Part 220--Process for Consideration of Petitions for Duty Suspensions 
and Reductions

    Sections 220.1 through 220.4 of part 220, which refer, 
respectively, to the applicability of this part, set out applicable 
definitions, and state who may file a petition and the time for filing, 
are not changed.
    Section 220.5 lists the types of information that must be set forth 
in a petition. The amendment modifies section 220.5 in five respects. 
First, it amends section 220.5(e)(1) to clarify that the U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection (CBP) ruling requested should be one that 
indicates CBP's classification of the article. Second, it divides 
section 220.5(h) into two parts. New paragraph (1) requires petitions 
to include an estimate of both total value and, in addition, dutiable 
value in U.S. dollars for the next 5 calendar years, and new paragraph 
(2) requires petitions to include an estimate of the share of total 
imports represented by the petitioner's imports of the subject article. 
Third, the amendment modifies section 220.5(j) to require that the 
petition include ``The names of any domestic producers of the article, 
if available.'' Fourth, it adds a new subsection (n) that requires the 
petition to include a certification that the information supplied in 
the petition is complete and correct to the best of the petitioner's 
knowledge and belief and that the petitioner understands that the 
information submitted is subject to audit and verification by the 
Commission. Fifth, it re-designates existing subsection (n) as 
subsection (o).
    Section 220.6 describes the information that should be included in 
the description of the article for which a duty suspension or reduction 
is being sought. The Commission proposes to amend section 220.6(a)(4) 
to delete current wording that requires that the description be 
``sufficiently clear as to be administrable by CBP.'' The Commission 
would substitute more specific wording that requires the petition to 
describe the article based on the existing Harmonized Tariff Schedule 
(HTS) category's description (at the 8- or 10-digit level) in HTS 
chapters 1 through 97, or to delineate an article representing a subset 
of the coverage of the applicable HTS category using terminology 
already included in the HTS or interpreted in pertinent CBP rulings.
    Section 220.7 describes what constitutes a properly filed petition 
and describes how the Commission will treat identical and overlapping 
petitions filed by the same petitioner. The Commission proposes to make 
two changes to this section. First, it proposes to expand the title of 
the rule section to indicate that the rule also applies to identical 
and overlapping petitions filed by the same petitioner. Second, it 
proposes to amend section 220.7(b)(2) to delete the word ``generally.'' 
Section 220.7(b)(2) currently states that when a petitioner has filed 
one or more identical or overlapping petitions, the Commission will 
``generally'' consider the earliest filed pending petition to be the 
petition of record, leaving open the possibility that the Commission 
might consider a different petition for another reason. In the few 
instances in which the Commission received a petition that fell into 
this category during the 2016 filing period, the Commission considered 
the earliest filed petition to be the petition of record. This change 
removes any uncertainty.
    Section 220.8 states that, in the case of petitions for identical 
or overlapping articles received from multiple petitioners, the 
Commission may consolidate those petitions and publish a single 
recommendation. The

[[Page 9275]]

Commission is not proposing any changes.
    Section 220.9 addresses withdrawal of petitions, submission of new 
petitions, and amendments to petitions. The Commission proposes to 
amend section 220.9(a), which currently states that a petitioner may 
withdraw a petition at any time prior to the time the Commission 
transmits its final report to Congress. The Commission proposes to 
revise this subsection to state that a petitioner may withdraw a 
petition ``no later than 30 days after the Commission submits its 
preliminary report.''
    Current section 220.10 addresses Commission publication and public 
availability of petitions and opportunity for the public to comment on 
such petitions. The Commission proposes to divide section 220.10 into 
two separate sections, with section 220.10 retitled ``Commission 
publication and public availability of petitions,'' and new section 
220.11 titled ``Public comment period.'' Revised section 220.10 tracks 
the text of current section 220.10(a). The Commission proposes to 
delete the title of subsection (a) of current 220.10 and incorporate it 
into the new title of section 220.10.
    New section 220.11, titled as ``Public comment period,'' contains 
four subsections. New subsection (a), ``Time for filing,'' largely 
tracks the wording in current section 220.10(b). New subsection (b) 
includes a list of information items that must be included in a 
comment, including certain information about the commenter; a statement 
about whether the comment supports, opposes, or takes no position on 
the petition; and a certification statement. It also refers commenters 
to the Commission's Handbook on MTB Filing Procedures and requires that 
commenters comply with those requirements. New subsection (c) sets out 
a list of requirements that apply to comments from domestic producers. 
Comments must include: (1) A description of the product alleged to be 
identical, like, or directly competitive with the product that is the 
subject of the petition; (2) the Chemical Abstracts Services registry 
number (if any); (3) certain information about production or likely 
production of an identical, like, or directly competitive article 
within the United States; (4) information relating to commercial 
availability; (5) addresses for the locations of U.S. production 
facilities; and (6) evidence demonstrating the existence of domestic 
production and citing possible examples. Subsection (d) states that the 
Commission may provide additional opportunity for public comment and, 
if it does so, will publish notice of that opportunity in the Federal 
Register.
    The Commission proposes to re-designate current section 220.11 as 
section 220.12. The section describes the contents of the Commission's 
preliminary report to the Committees. The Commission proposes only one 
change: It would delete the parenthetical in subsection (b)(2) that 
relates to corrections of article descriptions.
    The Commission proposes to re-designate current section 220.12 as 
section 220.13. The section describes the timing and content of 
Commission final reports. The Commission is not proposing any other 
changes to this section.
    The Commission proposes to re-designate current section 220.13 as 
section 220.14. The section describes the treatment of confidential 
business information. The Commission is not proposing any other changes 
to this section.
    The Commission proposes to re-designate current section 220.14 as 
section 220.15. The section identifies certain rules in subpart B of 
part 201 of subchapter A of chapter II that would not apply to 
Commission proceedings under part 220 of subchapter D of chapter II. 
The Commission is not proposing any other changes to this section.

List of Subjects in 19 CFR Part 220

    Administrative practice and procedure, miscellaneous tariff bills.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the United States 
International Trade Commission proposes to amend 19 CFR part 220 to 
read as follows:

PART 220--PROCESS FOR CONSIDERATION OF PETITIONS FOR DUTY 
SUSPENSIONS AND REDUCTIONS

0
1. The authority citation for part 220 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 19 U.S.C. 1335; Pub. L. 114-159, 130 Stat. 396 (19 
U.S.C. 1332 note).
0
2. Amend Sec.  220.5 by revising paragraphs (e), (h), (j), re-
designating paragraph (n) as paragraph (o), and adding a new paragraph 
(n) to read as follows:


Sec.  220.5  Contents of petition.

* * * * *
    (e) To the extent available--
    (1) A classification ruling of U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) that indicates CBP's classification of the article; and
    (2) A copy of other CBP documentation indicating where the article 
is classified in the HTS.
* * * * *
    (h) For each HTS number included in the article description,
    (1) An estimate of the total and dutiable value (in United States 
dollars) of imports of the article covered by the petition for the 
calendar year preceding the year in which the petition is filed, for 
the calendar year in which the petition is filed, and for each of the 5 
calendar years after the calendar year in which the petition is filed, 
including an estimate of the value of such imports by the person who 
submits the petition and by any other importers, if available, and
    (2) An estimate of the share of total imports represented by the 
petitioner's imports of the article that is the subject of the 
petition.
* * * * *
    (j) The names of any domestic producers of the article, if 
available.
* * * * *
    (n) A certification from the petitioner that the information 
supplied is complete and correct to the best of the petitioner's 
knowledge and belief, and an acknowledgement from the petitioner that 
the information submitted is subject to audit and verification by the 
Commission.
0
3. Amend Sec.  220.6 by revising paragraph (a)(4) to read as follows:


Sec.  220.6  Article description.

    (a) * * *
    (4) describes all of the merchandise covered by the article's 
permanent subheading in chapter 1 through 97 by setting forth that 
subheading's article description, or describes a clearly delineated 
subset of that coverage, which may comprise the description of one or 
more statistical reporting numbers of the applicable subheading, and
* * * * *
0
4. Amend Sec.  220.7 by revising the section heading and paragraph 
(b)(2) to read as follows:


Sec.  220.7  Properly filed petition; identical and overlapping 
petitions from same petitioner.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) Should the Commission find that a petitioner has filed one or 
more identical or overlapping petitions and that such earlier filed 
petitions have not been withdrawn, the Commission will consider the 
earliest filed pending petition to be the petition of the petitioner.
0
5. Amend Sec.  220.9 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:

[[Page 9276]]

Sec.  220.9  Withdrawal of petitions, amendments to petitions.

    (a) Withdrawal of petitions. A petitioner may withdraw a petition 
for duty suspension or reduction filed under this part no later than 30 
days after the Commission submits its preliminary report, as described 
in Sec.  220.12. It shall do so by notifying the Commission through the 
Commission's designated secure web portal of its withdrawal and the 
notification shall include the name of the petitioner, the Commission 
identification number for the petition, and the HTS number for the 
article concerned.
* * * * *
0
6. Revise Sec.  220.10 to read as follows:


Sec.  220.10  Commission publication and public availability of 
petitions.

    Not later than 30 days after expiration of the 60-day period for 
filing petitions for duty suspensions and reductions, the Commission 
will publish on its website the petitions for duty suspensions and 
reductions submitted under Sec.  220.3 that were timely filed and 
contain the information required under Sec.  220.5. When circumstances 
allow, the Commission may post such petitions on its website earlier 
than 30 days after expiration of the 60-day period for filing 
petitions.
0
7. Re-designate Sec. Sec.  220.11 through 220.14 as Sec. Sec.  220.12 
through 220.15 and add a new Sec.  220.11 to read as follows:


Sec.  220.11  Public comment period

    (a) Time for filing. Not later than 30 days after expiration of the 
60-day period for filing petitions, the Commission will also publish in 
the Federal Register and on its website a notice requesting members of 
the public to submit comments on the petitions for duty suspensions and 
reductions. To be considered, such comments must be filed through the 
Commission's secure web portal during the 45-day period following 
publication of the Commission's notice requesting comments from members 
of the public. For purposes of this section, all petitions posted by 
the Commission on its website, whether or not posted early, shall be 
deemed to be officially published by the Commission on its website on 
the date of publication of the notice seeking written comments from 
members of the public on the petitions.
    (b) In general. The comment shall include the following 
information:
    (1) The name, telephone number, and postal and email address of the 
commenter, and if appropriate, its representative in the matter,
    (2) A statement as to whether the commenter is a U.S. producer, 
importer, government entity, trade association or group, or other,
    (3) A statement as to whether the comment supports the petition; 
objects to the petition; or takes no position with respect to the 
petitions/provides other comment,
    (4) If the commenter is an importer, a list of the leading source 
countries of the product,
    (5) A certification from the commenter that the information 
supplied is complete and correct to the best of the commenter's 
knowledge and belief, and an acknowledgement from the commenter that 
the information submitted is subject to audit and verification by the 
Commission,
    (6) Comments, including any attachments thereto, must comply with 
the Commission's Handbook on MTB Filing Procedures as posted on the 
Commission's website.
    (c) Comments from domestic producers. Comments from a firm claiming 
to be a domestic producer, as defined in Sec.  220.2(g), shall also 
include:
    (1) A description of the product alleged to be identical, like, or 
directly competitive with the product that is the subject of the 
petition,
    (2) The Chemical Abstracts Service registry number for the product 
(if applicable),
    (3) A statement as to whether an identical, like, or directly 
competitive product was produced in the current calendar year and, if 
not, the year in which the product was last produced or in which 
production is expected to begin within the United States,
    (4) A statement as to whether such product is commercially 
available and, if not commercially available, an explanation of its 
lack of availability,
    (5) The physical address(es) for the location(s) of the production 
facility(ies) producing the product within the United States, and
    (6) Evidence demonstrating the existence of domestic production 
(e.g., catalogs, press releases, marketing materials, specification 
sheets, copies of orders for the product).
    (d) The Commission may provide additional opportunity for public 
comment and, if so, will announce that comment period in the Federal 
Register.
0
8. Amend newly re-designated Sec.  220.12 by revising paragraph (b)(2) 
to read as follows:


Sec.  220.12  Commission preliminary report.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (2) A list of petitions for duty suspensions and reductions for 
which the Commission recommends technical corrections in order to meet 
the requirements of the Act, with the correction specified.
* * * * *
0
9. Amend newly re-designated Sec.  220.13 by revising the section 
heading to read as follows:


Sec.  220.13  Commission final report.

0
10. Amend newly re-designated Sec.  220.14 by revising the section 
heading to read as follows:


Sec.  220.14  Confidential business information.

0
11. Amend newly re-designated Sec.  220.15 by revising the section 
heading to read as follows:


Sec.  220.15  Application of other Commission rules.

    By order of the Commission.

    Issued: March 1, 2019.
Katherine Hiner,
Acting Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2019-04095 Filed 3-13-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-P