[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 162 (Monday, August 25, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41380-41381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16191]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of Industry and Security
[Docket No. 250818-0143]
XRIN 0694-XC133
Notice of Request for Public Comments on Section 232 National
Security Investigation of Imports of Wind Turbines and Their Parts and
Components
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: On August 13, 2025, the Secretary of Commerce initiated an
investigation to determine the effects on the national security of
imports of wind turbines and their parts and components. This
investigation has been initiated under section 232 of the Trade
Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (Section 232). Interested parties are
invited to submit written comments, data, analyses, or other
information pertinent to the investigation to the Department of
Commerce's (Department) Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), Office
of Strategic Industries and Economic 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
September 9, 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-2025-0191. Please refer to XRIN 0694-XC133 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) 482-4506, [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 August 13, 2025, the Secretary of Commerce initiated an
investigation under Section 232 (19 U.S.C. 1862) to determine the
effects on national security of imports of wind turbines and their
parts and components.
Request for Public 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 BIS's Office of Strategic Industries and Economic
Security no later than September 9, 2025. The Department is
particularly interested in comments and information directed at 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 wind turbines and their
parts and components in the United States;
(ii) the extent to which domestic production of wind turbines and
their parts and components can meet domestic demand;
(iii) the role of foreign supply chains, particularly of major
exporters, in meeting United States demand for wind
[[Page 41381]]
turbines and their parts and components;
(iv) the concentration of U.S. imports of wind turbines and their
parts and components from a small number of suppliers or foreign
nations and the associated risks;
(v) the impact of foreign government subsidies and predatory trade
practices on the competitiveness of the wind turbines and their parts
and components industry, in the United States;
(vi) the economic impact of artificially suppressed prices of wind
turbines and their parts and components due to foreign unfair trade
practices and state-sponsored overproduction;
(vii) the potential for export restrictions by foreign nations,
including the ability of foreign nations to weaponize their control
over supplies of wind turbines and their parts and components;
(viii) the feasibility of increasing domestic capacity for wind
turbines and their parts and components to reduce import reliance;
(ix) the impact of current trade policies on domestic production of
wind turbines and their parts and components, and whether additional
measures, including tariffs or quotas, are necessary to protect
national security;
(x) the potential for foreign control or exploitation of the wind
turbine supply chain;
(xi) the ability of foreign persons to weaponize the capabilities
or attributes of foreign-built wind turbines and their parts or
components; and
(xii) 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). Communications from agencies of the United
States Government will not be made available for public inspection. BIS
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 at 15 CFR 4.1, et seq.
Robby S. Saunders,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technology Security.
[FR Doc. 2025-16191 Filed 8-21-25; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-33-P