(b) Comments on initial decision. Within 30 days after issuance of the initial decision, a party may submit written comments to the APO Sanctions Board on the initial decision, which the Board will consider when reviewing the initial decision. The parties have no right to an oral presentation, although the Board may allow oral argument in its discretion.

(c) Final decision by the APO Sanctions Board. Within 60 days but not sooner than 30 days after issuance of an initial decision, the APO Sanctions Board may issue a final decision which adopts the initial decision in its entirety; differs in whole or in part from the initial decision, including the imposition of lesser included sanctions; or remands the matter to the presiding official or Deputy Under Secretary for further consideration. The only sanctions that the Board can impose are those sanctions proposed in the charging letter or lesser included sanctions.

(d) Contents of final decision. If the final decision of the APO Sanctions Board does not remand the matter and differs from the initial decision, it will state findings and conclusions which differ from the initial decision, if any, the basis for those findings and conclusions, and the sanctions which are to be imposed, to the extent they differ from the sanctions in the initial decision.

(e) Public notice of sanctions. If the final decision is that there has been a violation of a protective order and that sanctions are to be imposed, notice of the Department's decision will be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER. Such publication will be no sooner than 30 days after issuance of a final decision or after a motion to reconsider has

been denied, if such a motion was filed. The Deputy Under Secretary will also provide such information to the ethics panel or other disciplinary body of the appropriate bar associations or other professional associations whenever the Deputy Under Secretary subjects a charged or affected party to a sanction under paragraph (a)(1) of § 354.3 and to any Federal agency likely to have an interest in the matter and will cooperate in any disciplinary actions by any association or agency.

§354.16 Reconsideration.

Any party may file a motion for reconsideration with the APO Sanctions Board. The party must state with particularity the grounds for the motion, including any facts or points of law which the party claims the APO Sanctions Board has overlooked or misapplied. The party may file the motion within 30 days of the issuance of the final decision or the adoption of the initial decision as the final decision, except that if the motion is based on the discovery of new and material evidence which was not known, and could not reasonably have been discovered through due diligence prior to the close of the record, the party shall file the motion within 15 days of the discovery of the new and material evidence. The party shall provide a copy of the motion to all other parties. Opposing parties may file a response within 30 days of the date of service of the motion. The response shall be considered as part of the record. The parties have no right to an oral presentation on a motion for reconsideration, but the Board may permit oral argument at its discretion. If the motion to reconsider is granted, the Board will review the record and affirm, modify, or reverse the original decision or remand the matter for further consideration to a presiding official or the Deputy Under Secretary, as warranted.

§ 354.17 Confidentiality.

(a) All proceedings involving allegations of a violation of a protective order shall be kept confidential until such time as the Department makes a final decision under these regulations, no longer subject to reconsideration, imposing a sanction.

ANNEX II-TIME LIMITS FOR SUBMISSIONS SPECIFIED IN THIS PART

AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 301 and 19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.

SOURCE: 53 FR 52344, Dec. 27, 1988, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart A-Scope and Definitions §355.1 Scope.

(a) This part sets forth procedures and rules applicable to proceedings under Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) ("the Act"), relating to the imposition of countervailing duties, as amended by Title I of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, Pub. L. 96-39, 93 Stat. 150, section 221 and Title VI of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, Pub. L. 98-573, 98 Stat. 294, Title I, subtitle C, part II of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-418, 102 Stat. 1184, and Title II of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, Pub. L. 103-465; 108 Stat, 4809 (Dec. 8, 1994) and under section 702 of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (19 U.S.C. 1202 note) (“Trade Agreements Act"), relating to subsidies on quota cheese. In the event of a conflict between the provisions of this part and the provisions of the Act, the Act shall be controlling.

(b) The following sections reflect amendments to the Act made by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act: §§ 355.1, 355.12(b)(2), 355.13(a), 355.15(a)(1), 355.15(a)(2)(ii), 355.15(a)(4),

355.15(b), 355.15(c), 355.20(a)(2)(ii), 355.20(a)(4), 355.20(d), 355.20(e), 355.22(a), 355.22(c), 355.22(d), 355.22(f), 355.22(i)(5)(ii), 355.22(j), 355.31(a)(1), 355.31(c), 355.38(1), 355.40. These sections shall be applicable only to proceedings that have been self-initiated by the Secretary after, or initiated pursuant to petitions or requests filed after, January 1, 1995.

[60 FR 25136, May 11, 1995]

$355.2 Definitions.

(a) Act. Act means the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.

(b) Agreement. Agreement means the Agreement on Interpretation and Application of Articles VI, XVI, and XXIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, that is, the Subsidies Code, and any amendments accepted by the United States.

(c) Commission. Commission means the United States International Trade Commission.

(d) Country. Country means a foreign country or a political subdivision, dependent territory, or possession of a foreign country, and may include an association of two or more foreign countries, political subdivisions, dependent territories, or possessions of foreign countries in a customs union outside the United States.

(e) Customs Service. Customs Service means the United States Customs Service of the United States Department of the Treasury.

(f) Department. Department means the United States Department of Com

merce.

(g) Factual information. Factual information means:

(1) Initial and supplemental questionnaire responses;

(2) Data or statements of facts in support of allegations;

(3) Other data or statements of facts; and

(4) Documentary evidence.

(h) Industry. "Industry" means the producers in the United States collectively of the like product, except those producers in the United States that the Secretary excludes under section 771(4)(B) of the Act on the grounds that they are also importers (or are related to importers, producers, or exporters) of the merchandise. Under section

771(4)(C) of the Act, an industry may mean producers in the United States, as defined above in this paragraph, in a particular market in the United States if such producers sell all or almost all of their production of the like product in that market and if the demand for the like product in that market is not supplied to any substantial degree by producers of the like product located elsewhere in the United States.

(i) Interested party. "Interested party" means:

(1) A producer, exporter, or United States importer of the merchandise, or a trade or business association a majority of the members of which are importers of the merchandise;

(2) The government of the country in which the merchandise is produced (the affected country);

(3) A producer in the United States of the like product or seller (other than a retailer) in the United States of the like product produced in the United States;

(4) A certified or recognized union or group of workers which is representative of the industry or of sellers (other than retailers) in the United States of the like product produced in the United States;

(5) A trade or business association a majority of the members of which are producers in the United States of the like product or sellers (other than retailers) in the United States of the like product produced in the United States;

or

(6) An association a majority of the members of which are interested parties, as defined in paragraph (i)(3), (i)(4), or (i)(5) of this section.

(j) Investigation. An "investigation" begins on the date of publication of notice of initiation of investigation and ends on the date of publication of the earliest of (1) notice of termination of investigation, (2) notice of rescission of investigation, (3) notice of a negative determination that has the effect of terminating the proceeding, or (4) an order.

(k) The merchandise. "The merchandise" means the class or kind of merchandise imported or sold, or likely to be sold, for importation into the United States, that is the subject of the proceeding.

(1) Party to the proceeding. "Party to the proceeding" means any interested party, within the meaning of paragraph (i) of this section, which actively participates, through written submissions of factual information or written argument, in a particular decision by the Secretary subject to judicial review. Participation in a prior reviewable decision will not confer on any interested party party to the proceeding status in a subsequent decision by the Secretary subject to judicial review.

(m) Person. Person includes any interested party as well as any other individual, enterprise, or entity, as appropriate.

(n) Proceeding. A proceeding begins on the date of the filing of a petition, publication of notice of initiation under §355.11, or publication of notice of initiation under §355.22(i) if the review is of the merchandise subject to an understanding or other kind of agreement accepted $355.17(b), and ends on the date of publication of the earliest of notice of (1) dismissal of petition, (2) rescission of initiation, (3) termination of investigation, (4) a negative determination that has the effect of terminating the proceeding, (5) revocation of an order, or (6) termination of a suspended investigation.

(0) Producer; production. "Producer"

means

a manufacturer or producer. "Production" means manufacture or production.

(p) Sale; likely sale. A "sale" includes a contract to sell and a lease that is equivalent to a sale. A "likely sale" means a person's irrevocable offer to sell.

(q) Secretary. "Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce or a designee. The Secretary has delegated to the Assistant Secretary for Import Administration the authority to make final determinations under §§ 355.18(1), 355.20, and 355.22(i). The Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Import Administration, Investigations, and Compliance have other delegated authority relating to countervailing duties.

§355.3 Record of proceedings.

(a) Official record. The Secretary will maintain in the Import Administration Central Records Unit, at the location stated in §355.31(d), an official record of

each proceeding. The Secretary will include in the record all factual information, written argument, or other material developed by, presented to, or obtained by the Secretary during the course of the proceeding which pertains to the proceeding. The record will include government memoranda pertaining to the proceeding, memoranda of ex parte meetings, determinations, notices published in the FEDERAL REGISTER, and transcripts of hearings. The record will not include any factual information, written argument, or other material which is not timely filed or which the Secretary returns to the submitter under §§ 355.31(b)(2), 355.32(d), 355.32(g), or 355.34(c). The record will contain material that is public, proprietary, privileged, and classified. For purposes of section 516A(b)(2) of the Act, the record is the official record of each judicially reviewable segment of the proceeding.

(b) Public record. The Secretary will maintain in the Central Records Unit a public record of each proceeding. The record will consist of all material described in paragraph (a) of this section that the Secretary decides is public information within the meaning of $355.4(a), governmental memoranda or portions of memoranda that the Secretary decides may be disclosed to the general public, plus public versions of all determinations, notices, and transcripts. The public record will be available to the public for inspection and copying in the Central Records Unit (see $355.31(d)). The Secretary will charge an appropriate fee for providing copies of documents.

(c) Protection of records. Unless ordered by the Secretary or required by law, no record or portion of a record will be removed from the Department.

$355.4 Public, proprietary, privileged, and classified information.

(a) Public information. The Secretary normally will consider the following to be public information:

(1) Factual information of a type that has been published or otherwise made available to the public by the person submitting it;

(2) Factual information that is not designated proprietary by the person submitting it;

(3) Factual information which, although designated proprietary by the person submitting it, is in a form which cannot be associated with or otherwise used to identify activities of a particular person;

(4) Publicly available laws, regulations, decrees, orders, and other official documents of a country, including English translations; and

(5) Written argument relating to the proceeding that is not designated proprietary.

(b) Proprietary information. The Secretary normally will consider the following factual information to be proprietary information, if so designated by the submitter:

(1) Business or trade secrets concerning the nature of a product or production process;

(2) Production costs (but not the identity of the production components unless a particular component is a trade secret);

(3) Distribution costs (but not channels of distribution);

(4) Terms of sale (but not terms of sale offered to the public);

(5) Prices of individual sales, likely sales, or other offers (but not (i) components of prices, such as transportation, if based on published schedules, (ii) dates of sale, (iii) product descriptions except as described in paragraph (b)(1), or (iv) order numbers);

(6) The names of particular customers, distributors, or suppliers (but not destination of sale or designation of type of customer, distributor, or supplier, unless the destination or designation would reveal the name);

(7) The exact amounts of the gross or net subsidies received and used by a person (but not descriptions of the operations of the subsidies, or the amount if included in official public statements or published documents);

(8) The names of particular persons from whom proprietary information was obtained; and

(9) Any other specific business information the release of which to the public would cause substantial harm to the competitive position of the submitter.

(c) Privileged information. The Secretary will consider information privileged if, based on principles of law concerning privileged information, the

Secretary decides that the information should not be released to the public or to parties to the proceeding.

(d) Classified information. Classified information is information that is classified under Executive Order No. 12356 of April 2, 1982 (43 FR 28949) or successor executive order, if applicable.

$355.5 Library of foreign subsidy practices and countervailing measures.

The Secretary will maintain in the Central Records Unit a library of public information relating to all foreign subsidy practices and countervailing measures that are known to the Secretary, whether or not the subject of a proceeding. The Secretary will make documents in the library available to the public and will charge an appropriate fee for providing copies of documents. For further information, contact the Central Records Unit at the location stated in §355.31(d).

§355.6 Trade and Tariff Act of 1984effective date.

In accordance with section 626 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 (Pub. L. No. 98-573) (for purposes of this subpart, referred to as "the 1984 Act"), the amendments to the Act made by Title VI of the 1984 Act are deemed effective as follows:

(a) Except as provided in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section, all amendments made by Title VI of the 1984 Act which affect authorities administered by the Secretary are effective on October 30, 1984.

(b) Amendments made by sections 602, 611, 612, and 620 of the 1984 Act which affect authorities administered by the Secretary take effect immediately with respect to all investigations and administrative reviews begun on or after October 30, 1984.

(c) Amendments made by section 623 of the 1984 Act, regarding judicial review, apply with respect to civil actions pending on, or filed on or after, October 30, 1984.

(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section, the Secretary may implement the amendments of the 1984 Act at a date later than October 30, 1984, if the Secretary determines that implementation in accordance with paragraphs (a)