[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 48 (Thursday, March 13, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11941-11942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04060]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Industry and Security
[Docket No. 250310-0030]
X-RIN 0694-XC117
Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 National
Security Investigation of Imports of Timber and Lumber
AGENCY: Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Strategic Industries
and Economic Security, U.S. Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Secretary of Commerce has initiated an investigation to
determine the effects on the national security of imports of wood
products: timber, lumber, and their derivative products. This
investigation has been initiated under section 232 of the Trade
Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. Interested parties are invited to
submit written comments, data, analyses, or other information pertinent
to the investigation to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry
and Security. This notice identifies issues on which the Department is
especially interested in obtaining the public's views.
DATES: Comments may be submitted at any time but must be received by
April 1, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Comments on this notice, may be submitted to the Federal
rulemaking portal at: www.regulations.gov. The regulations.gov ID for
this notice is BIS-2025-0011. Please refer to X-RIN 0694-XC117 in all
comments.
All filers using the portal should use the name of the person or
entity submitting the comments as the name of their files, in
accordance with the instructions below. Anyone submitting business
confidential information should clearly identify the business
confidential portion at the time of submission, file a statement
justifying nondisclosure and referring to the specific legal authority
claimed, and provide a non-confidential version of the submission.
For comments submitted electronically containing business
confidential information, the file name of the business confidential
version should begin with the characters ``BC.'' Any page containing
business confidential information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS
CONFIDENTIAL'' on the top of that page. The corresponding non-
confidential version of those comments must be clearly marked
``PUBLIC.'' The file name of the non-confidential version should begin
with the character ``P.'' Any submissions with file names that do not
begin with either a ``BC'' or a ``P'' will be assumed to be public and
will be made publicly available at: https://www.regulations.gov.
Commenters submitting business confidential information are encouraged
to scan a hard copy of the non-confidential version to create an image
of the file, rather than submitting a digital copy with redactions
applied, to avoid inadvertent redaction errors which could enable the
public to read business confidential information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Astle, Director, Defense
Industrial Base Division, Office of Strategic Industries and Economic
Security, Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of Commerce
(202) 482-2533, [email protected]. For more information about the
Section 232 program, including the regulations and the text of previous
investigations, see www.bis.doc.gov/232.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On March 1, 2025, the President Issued Executive Order 14223,
Addressing the Threat to National Security from Imports of Timber,
Lumber (90 FR 11359), instructing the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary)
to initiate an investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion
Act (19 U.S.C. 1862) to determine the effects on national security of
imports of wood products: timber, lumber, and their derivative
products. On March 10, 2025, the Secretary initiated the 232
investigation.
Written Comments
This investigation is being undertaken in accordance with part 705
of the National Security Industrial Base Regulations (15 CFR parts 700
to 709) (``NSIBR''). Interested parties are invited to submit written
comments, data, analyses, or information pertinent to this
investigation to the Office of Strategic Industries and Economic
Security, U.S. Department of Commerce (``the Department''), no later
than April 1, 2025. The Department is particularly interested in
comments and information directed to the criteria listed in Sec. 705.4
of the regulations as they affect national security, including the
following: (i) the current and projected demand for timber and lumber
in the United States; (ii) the extent to which domestic production of
timber and lumber can meet domestic demand; (iii) the role of foreign
supply chains, particularly of major exporters, in meeting United
States timber and lumber demand; (iv) the impact of foreign government
subsidies and predatory trade practices on United States timber,
lumber, and derivative product industry competitiveness; (v) the
feasibility of increasing domestic timber and lumber capacity to reduce
imports; (vi) the impact of current trade policies on domestic timber,
lumber, and derivative product production, and whether additional
measures, including tariffs or quotas, are necessary to protect
national security; and (vii) any other relevant factors.
Material submitted by members of the public that is business
confidential information will be exempted from public disclosure as
provided for by Sec. 705.6 of the regulations. See the ADDRESSES
section of this notice.
[[Page 11942]]
Communications from agencies of the United States Government will not
be made available for public inspection. The Bureau of Industry and
Security does not maintain a separate public inspection facility.
Requesters should first view the Bureau's web page, which can be found
at https://efoia.bis.doc.gov/ (see ``Electronic FOIA'' heading). If
requesters cannot access the website, they may call 202-482-0795 for
assistance. The records related to this assessment are made accessible
in accordance with the regulations published in part 4 of title 15 of
the Code of Federal Regulations (15 CFR 4.1 et seq.).
Eric Longnecker,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Security.
[FR Doc. 2025-04060 Filed 3-11-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-33-P