[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 80 (Friday, April 24, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23059-23060]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-08673]
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INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
Petitions for Duty Suspensions and Reductions; Notice That the
Commission Will Accept Additional Comments Through Its Website Relating
to Certain Petitions Included in Its Preliminary Report to the Congress
AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission.
ACTION: Notice that the Commission will accept additional comments from
the public, during the period June 12 to June 22, 2020, on petitions
for duty suspensions and reductions that the Commission places in
Category VI in the preliminary report that it sends to the House
Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance on June
9, 2020.
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SUMMARY: The Commission will provide a limited opportunity for members
of the public to submit additional comments on certain petitions for
duty suspensions and reductions. Under the American Manufacturing
Competitiveness Act of 2016 (the Act), the Commission must submit its
preliminary report on the petitions for duty suspensions and reductions
that have been filed with it to the House Committee on Ways and Means
and the Senate Committee on Finance on June 9, 2020.
In that report, the Commission must categorize each petition as
either (a) a petition that meets the requirements of the Act with or
without modification (Category I, II, III, or IV petitions), (b) a
petition that does not contain the information required by the Act or
that was not filed by a likely beneficiary (Category V petitions), or
(c) a petition that the Commission does not recommend for inclusion in
a miscellaneous tariff bill (Category VI petitions). The Commission has
decided that it will accept additional comments from the public on any
petitions that are listed as Category VI petitions for a ten-day period
beginning on June 12, 2020, at 8:45 a.m. As provided below, all such
comments must be submitted to the Commission electronically through the
Commission website https://mtbps.usitc.gov. The Commission will not
accept comments filed in paper form or in any other form or format.
DATES:
June 12, 2020, 8:45 a.m. EST: Opening date and time for submission
of additional comments on Category VI petitions.
June 22, 2020, 5:15 p.m. EST: Closing date and time for submission
of comments on Category VI petitions.
ADDRESSES: All Commission offices are located in the United States
International Trade Commission Building, 500 E Street SW, Washington,
DC. You may view the public file for this proceeding on the
Commission's Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Petition System (MTBPS) at
https://mtbps.usitc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries, contact
Jennifer Rohrbach at [email protected]. For filing inquiries, contact
the Office of the Secretary, Docket Services, U.S. International Trade
Commission, telephone (202) 205-3238. The media should contact Peg
O'Laughlin, Public Affairs Officer (202-205-1819 or
[email protected]). You may obtain general information
concerning the Commission at https://www.usitc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016
(the Act), 19 U.S.C. 1332 note, established a process for the
submission and consideration of requests for temporary duty suspensions
and reductions. As required by the Act, the Commission initiated the
process by publishing a notice in the Federal Register permitting
members of the public to submit petitions for duty suspensions and
reductions to the Commission during a 60-day period beginning October
11, 2019 (84 FR 54924). After the period for filing petitions closed on
December 10, 2020, the Commission published, as required by the Act, a
notice in the Federal Register announcing publication on its website of
the petitions for duty suspensions and reductions that were submitted
to the Commission and not withdrawn (85 FR 1327). The notice invited
members of the public to submit comments on these petitions during a
45-day period, which ended February 24, 2020.
Pursuant to the Act, the Commission is required to submit
preliminary and final reports on the petitions to the House Committee
on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance (the Committees).
The Commission's preliminary report must be submitted to the Committees
by June 9, 2020. In its preliminary report to the Committees, the
Commission must evaluate each petition to determine whether it meets
the requirements of the Act and should be included in an omnibus
miscellaneous tariff bill.
In preparing its report, the Act requires that the Commission take
into account the report of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of
Commerce (Commerce), issued April 9, 2020. In that report, the
Secretary analyzed, for each petition, whether there was domestic
production of the article that was the subject of a petition, and, if
so, whether a domestic producer of the article objected to the
petition. Based on consultations with U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), the Secretary also recommended in that report whether
any technical changes were necessary to make each petition's article
description administrable.
In its preliminary report, the Commission must place each petition
into one of six categories. Specifically, the Commission must
categorize each petition as: (1) A petition that meets the requirements
of the Act without modification (Category I petition); (2) a petition
that meets the requirements of the Act with certain modifications
(Category II, III, or IV petitions); (3) a petition that does not
contain the information required by the Act or was not filed by a
likely beneficiary (Category V petition); or (4) a petition that the
Commission does not recommend for inclusion in a miscellaneous tariff
bill (Category VI petition).
[[Page 23060]]
The Commission has decided to re-open its online portal for the
limited purpose of allowing members of the public to submit comments on
petitions that the Commission has categorized as Category VI petitions
in its preliminary report. The Commission will re-open the portal for
this limited purpose on June 12, 2020, at 8:45 a.m. and close the
portal on June 22, 2020, at 5:15 p.m. As discussed below, the
Commission will accept only information from the public that relates to
the Commission's decision to place a petition into Category VI.
Content of Comments: The public will be able to comment on the
administrability of the article descriptions in a petition, the
existence of domestic producer objections to a petition, and other
issues affecting the placement of a petition in Category VI. In
particular, the Commission seeks input that would clarify the scope of
a proposed article description in a Category VI petition, including the
constituent materials in the intended merchandise or similar
information that would help verify the classification of the goods in
chapters 1-97 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(HTS). Similarly, the Commission seeks information that could clarify
technical criteria, distinguish the intended article in a petition from
other goods in the same rate line, or narrow the scope of an article
description to mitigate domestic producer objections as contemplated by
the Act's description of Category IV. The Commission will not consider
comments that seek to broaden or materially amend the nature of the
goods covered in the original article description.
Procedures for Filing a Comment
Who may file. Any member of the public may file comments, including
the firm or its representative who filed the petition. However, the
Commission will consider only comments that relate to petitions listed
under Category VI in the preliminary report that the Commission submits
to the Committees on June 9, 2020. The Commission will not consider
comments that relate to petitions listed under Categories I, II, III,
IV, and V in the preliminary report.
Method for filing. Comments must be filed electronically via the
Commission's designated secure web portal and in the format designated
by the Commission in that portal. You may access the portal through the
Commission's website at https://mtbps.usitc.gov. The portal contains a
series of prompts and links that will assist persons in providing the
required information. The Commission will not accept or consider
comments submitted in paper or in any other form or format. Comments
must contain all information required in the portal in order to be
considered properly filed. Comments, including any attachments thereto,
must otherwise comply with the Commission's Rules of Practice and
Procedure, as further explained in the Commission's Handbook on MTB
Filing Procedures. Persons seeking to comment on more than one petition
must submit a separate comment for each petition.
Persons filing comments should be aware that they must be prepared
to complete their entire comment when they enter the portal. The portal
will not allow them to edit, amend, or complete the comment at a later
time.
Time for filing. To be considered, comments must be filed no
earlier than June 12, 2020, at 8:45 a.m. and no later than the close of
business (5:15 p.m. EST) on June 22, 2020. The Commission will not
accept comments filed before or after these dates and times.
Amendment and withdrawal of comments. The Commission's secure web
portal will not allow a person who has formally submitted a comment
during this filing period to amend that comment. Instead, that person
must withdraw the original comment and file a new comment that
incorporates the changes. The new comment must be filed before 5:15
p.m. EST on June 22, 2020. Comments may not be withdrawn or amended
after that time.
Comments containing confidential business information. The portal
will permit persons submitting comments to claim that certain
information should be treated either as confidential business
information or as information protected from disclosure under the
Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, (e.g., a home address). However, because of
the portal's design, the portal instructs that such information not be
included in attachments to comments. Persons who include what they
regard as confidential business information, or information protected
under the Privacy Act, in attachments to their comments will be
presumed to have waived any privilege and the information will be
disclosed to the public when the comments and attachments are posted on
the Commission's website. See further information below on possible
disclosure of confidential business information.
Confidential Business Information: The Commission will not release
information which the Commission considers to be confidential business
information within the meaning of Rule 201.6(a) of its Rules of
Practice and Procedure (19 CFR 201.6) unless the party submitting the
confidential business information had notice, at the time of
submission, that such information would be released by the Commission,
or such party subsequently consents to the release of the information.
Confidential business information submitted to the Commission in
comments may be disclosed to or used by (1) the Commission in
calculating the estimated revenue loss required under the Act, which
may be based in whole or in part on the estimated values of imports
submitted in comments, as well as by petitioners in their petitions;
(2) the Commission, its employees, and contract personnel (a) in
processing petitions and comments and preparing reports under the Act
or (b) in internal investigations, audits, reviews, and evaluations
relating to the programs, personnel, and operations of the Commission,
including under 5 U.S.C. Appendix 3; (3) Commerce, for use in preparing
its report to the Commission and the Committees, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and CBP for use in providing information for
that report; or (4) U.S. government employees and contract personnel,
solely for cybersecurity purposes, subject to the requirement that all
contract personnel will sign appropriate nondisclosure agreements.
By order of the Commission.
Issued: April 20, 2020.
William Bishop,
Supervisory Hearings and Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-08673 Filed 4-23-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-P