[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 29, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5237-5239]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-01481]


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INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION


Notice of Request for Extension of a Previously Approved 
Information Collection

AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission.

ACTION: 60-Day notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the intention of the U.S. International 
Trade Commission (Commission) to request a three-year extension, under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (the Act), of the current generic 
survey clearance that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
previously approved. The Commission uses this clearance to issue 
information collections for investigations that it is required to 
conduct under the Tariff Act of 1930, the Trade Act of 1974, and other 
trade-remedy statutes that require or authorize the Commission to make 
findings or determinations. The current generic survey clearance is 
assigned OMB Control No. 3117-0016; it will expire on June 30, 2020. 
The Commission requests comments concerning the proposed information 
collections under section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Act; this notice 
describes such comments in greater detail in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section.

DATES: To assure that the Commission will consider your comments, it 
must receive them no later than 60 days after publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Submit signed comments to Lisa R. Barton, Secretary to the 
Commission, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E St. SW, 
Washington, DC 20436.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may obtain copies of the proposed 
information collection and supporting documentation from Nathanael 
Comly, Supervisory Investigator, [email protected], (202) 205-
3174. Hearing-impaired persons can obtain information on this matter by 
contacting the Commission's TDD terminal, (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, (202) 
205-2000. You may also obtain general information concerning the 
Commission by accessing its website (https://www.usitc.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    The Commission solicits comments as to: (1) Whether the proposed 
information collection is necessary for the proper performance of the 
Commission's functions, including whether the information will have 
practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the Commission'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 that 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 Commission utilizes the information requested in questionnaires 
and five-year review institution notices issued under the generic 
survey clearance in the following statutory investigations: Antidumping 
duty, countervailing duty, escape clause, North American Free Trade 
Agreement safeguard, market disruption, and interference with programs 
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This clearance also includes 
questionnaires needed for new types of trade-remedy investigations, as 
directed in new legislation, such as rules of origin investigations or 
other import injury investigations. The Commission's generic survey 
clearance to issue questionnaires does not apply to fact-finding 
investigations conducted under section 332 of the Trade Act of 1974.
    The information provided by firms in response to the questionnaires 
provides information that the Commission uses in making its findings 
and determinations. Commission staff consolidates submitted information 
and provides it to the Commission primarily 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 
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, on their review of 
the information collected. Included in the proposed generic clearance 
is the administrative protective order application form and the forms 
associated with submitting new petitions to the Commission. 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. The Commission will evaluate responses to 
the institution notices, which will form much of the record supporting 
the Commission's determinations to conduct either expedited or full 
five-year reviews of existing antidumping and countervailing duty 
orders.

(2) Information Collection Plan

    The Commission sends questionnaires for specific investigations to 
all identified domestic producers that manufacture the product(s) in 
question. The Commission also sends importer and purchaser 
questionnaires to all substantial U.S. importers and purchasers of the 
product(s). Further, the Commission sends questionnaires to all foreign 
manufacturers of the product(s) in question that are represented by 
counsel, and, in addition, it 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 other for-profit institutions; responses by domestic firms 
are mandatory. The Commission publishes institution notices for the 
five-year reviews in the Federal Register and solicits comments from 
interested parties (e.g., 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

    As it relates to import injury questionnaires, 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 domestic 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. The Commission may send an 
abbreviated purchaser questionnaire: (1) 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; or (2) 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

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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 
409,250 hours on 12,935 respondents (i.e., recipients that provide a 
response to the Commission's questionnaires, notices of institution of 
five-year reviews, and other investigations and forms).

(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 is reduced by limiting data to a 
terminal year when a time series is not required. Moreover, 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 and, when pertinent, there are fewer requested data 
points. The Commission will not accept requests by parties to expand 
the data collection or add items to the questionnaire for specific 
investigations if it believes that such requests will increase the 
response burden without substantially adding to the investigative 
record. Respondents typically submit the information provided in 
response to the Commission's notices of institution for the five-year 
reviews in hard copy directly to the Office of the Secretary, although 
respondents may submit them 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 for which data is 
collected in certain five-year reviews. In addition, the Commission 
ceased collecting nonsubject pricing data in preliminary proceedings.
    No record keeping burden is known to result from the proposed 
collection of information.

    By order of the Commission.

    Issued: January 23, 2020.
Lisa Barton,
Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2020-01481 Filed 1-28-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-P