[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 187 (Friday, September 25, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60420-60421]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-21243]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Industry and Security


Reopening of Comment Period for Section 232 National Security 
Investigation of Imports of Vanadium

AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Technology 
Evaluation, U.S. Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice on reopening of comment period for previously published 
notice of request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: On June 3, 2020, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) 
published the Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 
National Security Investigation of Imports of Vanadium. The June 3 
notice specified that the Secretary of Commerce initiated an 
investigation to determine the effects on the national security of 
imports of vanadium. This investigation was initiated under section 232 
of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. The June 3 notice 
invited interested parties to submit written comments, data, analyses, 
or other information pertinent to the investigation to the Department 
of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. The deadline for written 
comments was July 20, 2020, and the rebuttal comment deadline was 
August 17, 2020. Today's notice reopens the public comment period with 
a deadline of October 9, 2020. BIS has posted the initial application 
for a section 232 investigation into imports of vanadium, titled 
``Petition for Relief Under Section 232,'' (dated November 19, 2019) 
and supplemental information (dated April 2, 2020), as submitted by the 
applicant, on http://www.regulations.gov in the interests of 
transparency and to allow additional public comment. Public versions of 
the exhibits are available online (see the ADDRESSES section).

DATES: The due date for filing comments is October 9, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submissions: All written comments on the notice must be 
addressed to Section 232 Vanadium Investigation and filed through the 
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. To submit 
comments via http://www.regulations.gov, enter docket number BIS-2020-
0002 on the home page and click ``search.'' The site will provide a 
search results page listing all documents associated with this docket. 
Find a reference to this notice and click on the link entitled 
``Comment Now!'' (For further information on using http://www.regulations.gov, please consult the resources provided on the 
website by clicking on ``How to Use This Site.'')
    Application for investigation: The public versions of the 
application for a section 232 investigation, the later-submitted 
supplemental information, and the exhibits, are available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov under the docket number BIS-2020-0002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Industrial Studies Division, Bureau of 
Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-5481, 
[email protected]. Unless otherwise protected by law, any 
information received from the public during the course of this 
investigation may be made publicly available. For more information 
about the section 232 program, including the regulations and the text 
of previous investigations, please see www.bis.doc.gov/232.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 3, 2020, (85 FR 34179), the Bureau of Industry and Security 
(BIS) published the Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 
232 National Security Investigation of Imports of Vanadium. The June 3 
notice specified that on May 28, 2020, the Secretary of Commerce had 
initiated an investigation to determine the effects on the national 
security of imports of vanadium. This investigation was initiated under 
section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 
1862). (See the June 3 notice for additional details on the 
investigation and the request for public comments.)

Reopening of Public Comment Period

    The June 3 notice included a comment period deadline of July 20, 
2020 and a rebuttal comment period deadline of August 17, 2020. The 
Department of Commerce has determined that it is warranted to reopen 
the comment period for fourteen days. While comments may be submitted 
at any time, today's notice specifies that comments must be received by 
October 9, 2020 to be considered in the drafting of the final report. 
Today's notice reopens the comment period for fourteen days to allow 
for additional time for the public to submit comments on the 
investigation of imports of vanadium pursuant to BIS posting the 
November 19, 2019 application for an investigation by U.S. Vanadium LLC 
and AMG Vanadium LLC and the April 2, 2020 supplemental information on 
http://www.regulations.gov.

[[Page 60421]]

Posting of Application for Section 232 Investigation

    BIS has posted the application for an investigation into imports of 
vanadium under section 232, titled ``Petition for Relief Under Section 
232'', which was submitted by U.S. Vanadium LLC and AMG Vanadium LLC on 
November 19, 2019, on http://www.regulations.gov. BIS has also posted 
the supplemental information to the application, titled ``Supplement to 
Section 232 Petition'', which was submitted by U.S. Vanadium LLC and 
AMG Vanadium LLC on April 2, 2020, on http://www.regulations.gov. BIS 
has posted this application for an investigation and supplemental 
information in the interests of transparency and is allowing for 
additional public comments related to the application and supplemental 
information. The public versions of the exhibits are available online, 
except for those exhibits, which are noted with the bracketed text 
[CBI] (see the ADDRESSES section), containing confidential business 
information, which were not susceptible to public summarization.
    BIS has confirmed with U.S. Vanadium LLC and AMG Vanadium LLC that 
all confidential information, including business proprietary 
information, has been properly redacted (as indicated by the presence 
of bracketing) from the public versions of the application and 
supplemental information posted on http://www.regulations.gov. Where 
text has been omitted from what has been posted the presence of 
confidential information is indicated by bracketing, with the 
confidential text omitted.

Matthew S. Borman,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Administration.
[FR Doc. 2020-21243 Filed 9-24-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-33-P