Commission Adopts New Rules Pertaining To Public Interest
On October 19, the International Trade Commission announced that it had adopted new rules to permit it to gather additional information relating to public interest issues at the beginning of the investigation.
The Commission has added a new Rule, 19 C.F.R. 210.8(b), requiring complainants to file a separate statement of public interest concurrently with the filing of a new complaint. This statement of public interest should "(1) explain how the articles potentially subject to the requested remedial orders are used in the United States; (2) identify any public health, safety, or welfare concerns relating to the requested remedial orders; (3) identify like or directly competitive articles that complainant, its licensees, or third parties make which could replace the subject articles if they were to be excluded; (4) indicate whether the complainant, its licensees, and/or third parties have the capacity to replace the volume of articles subject to the requested remedial orders in a commercially reasonable time in the United States; and (5) state how the requested remedial orders would impact consumers." New Rule 210.8(c) allows any proposed respondents and members of the public to file responses of up to five pages to the complainant's statement of public interest, within eight calendar days after publication of the filing of a notice of complaint in the Federal Register. Reply submissions may be submitted by the complainant three days following the submission of any responses. Where the Commission has delegated the matter of public interest to the ALJ, new Rule 210.14(f) requires respondents to submit a statement of public interest with their response to the complaint. Finally, The Commission has also amended Rule 210.50(a)(4) to clarify that, within 30 days after the ALJ's recommend determination on remedy, bonding and, where ordered, the public interest, parties have the option of filing comments on the public interest.
