[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 3 (Thursday, January 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 882-883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-28591]


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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 comment.

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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, 2023. 
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 below.

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 Katherine Hiner, Acting Secretary 
to the Commission, ([email protected]). Please note the 
Secretary's Office will accept only electronic filings at this time. No 
in-person paper-based filings or paper copies of any electronic filings 
will be accepted until further notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You may obtain copies of the proposed 
information collection and supporting documentation from Stamen 
Borisson, Office of Investigations, [email protected], (202) 
205-3125. 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. You may also obtain general information 
concerning the Commission by accessing its website (http://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; (2) the accuracy of the Commission's estimate 
of the burden of the proposed information collection; (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 
automation, electronic filing, or other forms of information 
technology). 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, or may utilize, the information requested 
in questionnaires and five-year review institution notices issued under 
the generic survey clearance in the following statutory investigation 
types: antidumping duty, countervailing duty, safeguards, other import 
competition, market disruption, interference with programs of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture, and cross-border long-haul trucking. This 
clearance also covers questionnaires needed for new types of trade-
remedy investigations when directed in new legislation, such as rules 
of origin investigations or other matters in which the Commission is 
directed to make a determination or findings. The vast majority of 
information requests issued by the Commission under the existing 
generic clearance authority relate to antidumping and countervailing 
duty investigations, or reviews of orders previously issued in such 
investigations. The Commission's generic survey clearance to issue 
questionnaires does not apply to fact-finding investigations or 
technical assistance conducted under section 332 of the Trade Act of 
1974.
    The information provided by firms in response to the questionnaires 
under this authority 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 data tables, figures, and analysis within a written 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 Commission reports under that same 
administrative protective order. Included in the proposed generic 
clearance is the administrative protective order

[[Page 883]]

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 
evaluates 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 of the product(s) in question subject 
to the Commission proceeding. 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, that align the data being gathered to the specific points of 
analysis that the statutes direct the Commission to analyze. 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 
additional parts depending on the facts of the case and the arguments 
raised by interested parties, the most frequent of which relate to 
information to assess proposed alternative definitions of the domestic 
like product.
    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 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 
409,050 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 reasonable estimates are acceptable 
for certain items. The questionnaires 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 submit the information provided in 
response to the Commission's notices of institution for the five-year 
reviews electronically 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: December 29, 2022.
Jessica Mullan,
Acting Supervisory Attorney.
[FR Doc. 2022-28591 Filed 1-4-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-P