Sec. 4(b) of the Steel Trade Liberalization Program Implementation Act, Pub. L. No. 101-221, 103 Stat. 1886 (1989).
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e) The
(f)
(g)
(1) To the extent information is available, the recent levels of capacity utilization for domestic facilities producing the product or product sector;
(2) The quantity of additional imports of the product requested by the petitioner and the ability of domestic producers to supply the product in such quantity;
(3) The willingness of the producers of the product to supply the product at a price that is not an aberration from prevailing domestic market prices;
(4) Reasonable specifications requested by the purchaser or any end user, such as metallurgical, dimensional, quality, service requirements, and supply only by a
(5) Delivery times to the purchaser and to end users of the product.
(h)
(a) The Secretary will authorize a short supply allowance if:
(1) The product is covered by an arrangement that provides for the authorization of a short supply allowance;
(2) An adequate petition is filed with the Secretary requesting a short supply allowance with respect to the product; and
(3) The Secretary determines that short supply exists with respect to the product.
(b) Address and submit petitions and all other documents concerning a short supply review (accompanied by four copies) to the Secretary of Commerce, Attention: Import Administration, Room 7866, U.S. Department of Commerce, Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street NW., Washington, DC 20230. All documents submitted must reference
(c) The Secretary generally will consider petitions for short supply allowances for up to one calendar year. For annual requests for products that are produced domestically, but for which the domestic industry has minimal available production capacity, the Secretary may grant a short supply allowance for less than a full year, if the Secretary believes that the situation may be significantly altered prior to the end of one year.
(d) If the Secretary grants only a portion of the short supply request, or grants a short supply allowance for less than a full year, the petitioner must file a new petition to receive an allowance for any subsequent period in the same year. The petitioner must file a new petition if it subsequently modifies its request to the extent that the modification represents a substantial change in its request.
An interested party may file a petition with the Secretary requesting a short supply allowance.
(a) All short supply petitions shall contain, at a minimum, the following information:
(1) The exact specifications of the product for which the request is made, including dimensions, metallurgical specifications, and unique characteristics;
(2) A detailed explanation of how the product will be used;
(3) An explanation of why the petitioner believes the product is in short supply;
(4) The exact quantity of the short supply allowance requested and justification for the tonnage level. If the request is for more than one type and size of a product, specific quantity information for each type and size. If petitioner's request would represent an increase over previous consumption levels, a full explanation for the increase;
(5) The period of time for which a short supply allowance is requested; and
(6) A certification that the factual information contained in the petition is accurate and complete to the best of the petitioner's knowledge.
(b) If the petitioner is a U.S. company that processes the product in some manner, the petition shall contain, in addition to the information required under paragraph (a), the following information:
(1) A list of all U.S. and foreign producers of the product that have refused to sell the product to the petitioner during the past three years, indicating when they were contacted and the reason for their refusal;
(2) A list of all offers to sell the product to the petitioner by U.S. and foreign producers in the past three years that have been rejected by the petitioner, indicating the reasons for the rejection;
(3) A list of all domestic and foreign suppliers from whom the petitioner has purchased the product during the past three years, including the quantity purchased from each mill during this period;
(4) A list of potential foreign suppliers of the product; and
(5) Documentation indicating that petitioner has made efforts to purchase the product domestically.
(c) If the petitioner is a U.S. importer/distributor, the petition shall contain, in addition to the information required under paragraph (a), the following information:
(1) A list of all U.S. customers which have purchased the product from the petitioner during the past three years, along with documentation from these customers demonstrating that they support the request and have been unable to buy the product domestically;
(2) A list of all of petitioner's sales (by quantity) to U.S. customers of the product in each of the last three years;
(3) A list of all domestic and foreign firms that have supplied the product to the petitioner during the past three years, with the total quantity purchased from each supplier annually.
(4) A list of potential foreign suppliers of the product;
(d) If the petitioner is a foreign producer of the product applying through its government, the petition shall contain, in addition to the information required under paragraph (a), the following information:
(1) A list of all U.S. customers that have purchased the product from the foreign company during the past three years, along with documentation from these customers demonstrating that they support the petition and have been unable to purchase the product domestically;
(2) A list of all the foreign company's sales (by quantity) to U.S. customers of the product in each of the last three years.
(a) Within 24 hours after a petition is filed, excluding weekends and holidays, the Secretary will determine whether the petition is adequate.
(b) If the Secretary determines that the petition is adequate, the Secretary promptly will cause to be published in the
(c) If the Secretary determines that the petition is inadequate, the Secretary immediately will return the petition to the petitioner along with an explanation of why it is inadequate.
For reviews conducted under section 106(b)(2), the Secretary normally will send questionnaires to potential producers/suppliers of the product to determine whether it is in short supply. Questionnaires shall be completed and delivered to the Secretary within 8 days after being sent by the Secretary. Questionnaire responses not received within this period will be deemed favorable to the petition.
(a) The Secretary will determine, no later than the day specified in paragraph (b) of this section—
(1) Whether short supply exists with respect to the product; and
(2) If short supply is determined to exist, the quantity of the short supply allowance.
(b) The Secretary will make a short supply determination not later than—
(1) The 15th day after the day on which an adequate petition is received if—
(i) A twelve week moving average of raw steel making capacity utilization in the United States, as published by the American Iron and Steel Institute, equals or exceeds 90 percent, or
(ii) The Secretary has granted short supply allowances for the product during each of the two immediately preceding years. This requirement will be satisfied by a full or partial grant of a short supply allowance for the product for a one-year period during each of the two immediately preceding years, or for a six-month period during each of the two immediately preceding years, provided that there was not within the two immediately preceding years a formal negative determination by the Secretary as to the existence of short supply for the product; or
(iii) The Secretary, on the basis of available information (and whether or not in the context of a determination under section 102 of this part), finds that the product is not produced in the United States.
In making a determination with respect to which section 106(b)(1) of this part applies, the Secretary will apply a rebuttable presumption that the product is in short supply. The burden of proof will lie on a domestic steel producer to prove that it can and will produce and supply the product within the requested period of time provided it represents a normal order to delivery period. Unless such proof is provided, the Secretary will issue a short supply allowance within 15 days of receipt of an adequate petition.
(2) In all other circumstances, the Secretary will make a determination
The Secretary will publish in the
Promptly after making a short supply determination, the Secretary will disclose to each interested party which requests such disclosure the rationale for the determination, along with all non-proprietary information forming the basis of the determination.
Interested parties may file a request for reconsideration with the Secretary. The interested party must state with particularity the grounds for the request, including any alleged inaccurate information upon which the short supply determination was based, or facts or points of law which the interested party claims the Secretary has overlooked or misapplied. The interested party shall file the request for reconsideration within 5 days after the publication of the short supply determination in the
(a) The Secretary will maintain in the Import Administration Central Records Unit an official record of each short supply review. The Secretary will include in the record all relevant factual information, written argument, or other material developed or obtained by the Secretary during the course of the proceeding. The record will include governmental memoranda pertaining to the proceeding, memoranda of
(b)
(c)
(a) Any person who submits information in connection with a short supply review may designate that information, or any part thereof, as proprietary, thereby requesting that the Secretary treat that information as proprietary. The Secretary normally will not treat as proprietary any information not designated as proprietary by the submitter. The submitter must file four copies of a public version of the proprietary information, including any public summaries as substitutes for the portions for which the person has requested proprietary treatment. The submitter must conspicuously mark in the upper right corner of both versions, the words “proprietary document” or “public version of proprietary document”, as appropriate. Each separate designation of information as proprietary shall be accompanied by:
(1) A full statement of the reason or reasons why the submitter believes that the information is entitled to proprietary treatment; and
(2) Either (i) A full public summary or approximated presentation of all proprietary information, incorporated in the public version of the document (generally data in numerical form relating to prices and costs, operating rates, and deliveries of individual firms shall be presented in figures ranged within 10 percent of the actual figure); or,
(ii) A statement that the information is not susceptible to such a summary or presentation, accompanied by a full statement of the reasons supporting this conclusion.
(b)
(1) Business or trade secrets concerning the nature of a product or production process, if unique or not known to the industry;
(2) Price information;
(3) Operating rates;
(4) The names or identifiers of particular customers, distributors, or suppliers;
(5) Normal and current order-to-delivery periods; and
(6) Any other specific business information which the submitter can reasonably demonstrate would be likely to cause substantial harm to the submitter's competitive position if released.
(c)
(d)
(1) Factual information and written argument that is not designated business proprietary by the submitter;
(2) Exact tonnages sought or offered for each product included in a request, if applicable;
(3) Physical and mechanical properties of products offered as substitutes;
(4) Product specifications;
(5) End use(s) to which the product(s) will be put;
(6) Suppliers contacted, when they were contacted, and the reasons they cannot supply the product, and
(7) Offers by U.S. and foreign producers for the product that have been rejected.
(e)