An investigation under this part may be commenced on the basis of a petition, request, resolution, or motion as provided for in the statutory provisions listed in §§ 206.1 and 206.31. Each petition or request, as the case maybe, filed by an entity representative of a domestic industry under this part shall state clearly on the first page thereof “This is a [petition or request] under section [citing the statutory provision] and Subpart [B, C, D, E, F, or G] of part 206 of the rules of practice and procedure of the United States International Trade Commission.” A paper original and eight (8) true paper copies of a petition, request, resolution, or motion shall be filed. One copy of any exhibits, appendices, and attachments to the document shall be filed in electronic form on CD-ROM, DVD, or other portable electronic format approved by the Secretary.

(a) Institution of investigation and publication of notice. Except as provided in § 206.15(b), the Commission, after receipt of a petition or request under part 206, properly filed, will promptly institute an appropriate investigation and publish notice thereof in the Federal Register. The Commission also will institute an investigation and publish a notice following receipt of a resolution or on the Commission's own motion under part 206.

(b) Contents of notice. The notice will identify the petitioner or other requestor, the imported article that is the subject of the investigation and its tariff subheading, the nature and timing of the determination to be made, the time and place of any public hearing, dates of deadlines for filing briefs, statements, and other documents, limits on page lengths for posthearing briefs, the place at which the petition or request and any other documents filed in the course of the investigation may be inspected, and the name, address, and telephone number of the office that may be contacted for more information. The Commission will provide the same sort of information in its notice when the investigation was instituted following receipt of a resolution or on the Commission's own motion.

(c) Availability for public inspection. The Commission will promptly make each petition, request, resolution, or Commission motion available for public inspection (with the exception of confidential business information).

For each investigation subject to provisions of part 206, the Commission will transmit copies of the petition, request, resolution, or Commission motion as required by the relevant statute, along with a copy of the notice of investigation.

(a) Investigations under subpart B of this part. A public hearing on the question of injury and a second public hearing on remedy (if necessary) will be held in connection with each investigation instituted under subpart B of this part after reasonable notice thereof has been caused to be published in the Federal Register. A hearing on remedy is not necessary if the Commission has made a negative determination on the question of injury.

(b) Investigations under subpart C, D, E, or G of this part. A public hearing on the subject of injury and remedy will be held in connection with each investigation instituted under subpart C or D of this part or section 406(a) of the Trade Act and subpart E of this part, after reasonable notice thereof has been published in the Federal Register. The Commission also will conduct a public hearing in each investigation instituted under section 421(b) or (o) of the Trade Act and subpart E of this part or section 422(b) of the Act and subpart G. The Federal Register notice announcing the institution of such an investigation will list the date, time, and location of the hearing, the subjects to be addressed, and the procedures to be followed.

(c) Investigations under subpart F of this part. A public hearing on the subject of whether an action taken under section 203 of the Trade Act of 1974 should be extended will be held in connection with each investigation instituted under subpart F of this part after reasonable notice thereof has been published in the Federal Register.

(d) Opportunity to appear and to cross-question. All interested parties and consumers, including any association representing the interests of consumers, will be afforded an opportunity to be present, to present evidence, to comment on the adjustment plan, if any, submitted in the case of an investigation under section 202(b) of the Trade Act of 1974, and to be heard at such hearings. All interested parties and consumers, including any association representing the interests of consumers, will be afforded an opportunity to cross-question interested parties making presentations at the hearing.

(a) In general. The Commission will include in its report to the President the following:

(1) The determination made and an explanation of the basis for the determination;

(2) If the determination is affirmative or if the Commission is equally divided in its determination, such remedy recommendation or proposal as may be appropriate under the statute and an explanation of the basis for each recommendation or proposal.

(3) Any dissenting or separate views by members of the Commission regarding the determination and any recommendations;

(b) Additional findings and information. (1) In the case of a determination made under section 202(b) of the Trade Act, the Commission will also include in its report the following:

(i) The findings with respect to the results of an examination of the factors other than imports which may be a cause of serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry;

(ii) A copy of the adjustment plan, if any, submitted by the petitioner;

(iii) Commitments submitted and information obtained by the Commission regarding steps that firms and workers in the domestic industry are taking, or plan to take, to facilitate positive adjustment to import competition;

(iv) A description of the short- and long-term effects that implementation of the action recommended is likely to have on the petitioning domestic industry, other domestic industries, and consumers; and

(v) A description of the short- and long-term effects of not taking the recommended action on the petitioning domestic industry, its workers and communities where production facilities of such industry are located, and other domestic industries.

(2) In the case of a determination made under section 301(b) of the USMCA Implementation Act, the Commission will include in its report the findings with respect to the results of an examination of the factors other than imports which may be a cause of serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry.

(3) In the case of a determination made under section 421(b) or 422(b) of the Trade Act, the Commission will also include in its report a description of—

(i) The short- and long-term effects that implementation of the action recommended is likely to have on the petitioning domestic industry, on other domestic industries, and on consumers; and

(ii) The short- and long-term effects of not taking the recommended action on the petitioning domestic industry, its workers, and the communities where production facilities of such industry are located, and on other domestic industries.

(a) Nonrelease of information. Except as provided for in § 206.17, in the case of an investigation under subpart B, C, D, F, or G of this part or an investigation under section 422 of the Trade Act and subpart E of this part, the Commission will not release information which the Commission considers to be confidential business information within the meaning of § 201.6 of this chapter 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. When appropriate, the Commission will include confidential business information in reports transmitted to the President and the Trade Representative; such reports will be marked as containing confidential business information, and a nonconfidential version of such report will be made available to the public.

(b) Nonconfidential summaries. Except as the Commission may otherwise provide, a party submitting confidential business information shall also submit to the Commission, at the time it submits such information, a nonconfidential summary of the information. If a party indicates that the confidential business information cannot be summarized, it shall state in writing the reasons why a summary cannot be provided. If the Commission finds that a request for confidentiality is not warranted and if the party concerned is either unwilling to make the information public or to authorize its disclosure in generalized or summarized form, the Commission may disregard the submission.

(a) Certification. Any person submitting factual information on behalf of the petitioner or any other interested party for the consideration of the Commission in the course of an investigation to which this part pertains, and any person submitting a response to a Commission questionnaire issued in connection with an investigation to which this part pertains, must certify that such information is accurate and complete to the best of the submitter's knowledge.

(b) Service. Any party submitting a document for the consideration of the Commission in the course of an investigation to which this part pertains shall, in addition to complying with § 201.8 of this chapter, serve a copy of the public version of such document on all other parties to the investigation in the manner prescribed in § 201.16 of this chapter, and, when appropriate, serve a copy of the confidential version of such document in the manner provided for in § 206.17(f). The Secretary shall promptly notify a petitioner when, before the establishment of a service list under § 206.17(a)(4), an application under § 206.17(a) is approved. When practicable, this notification shall be made by facsimile transmission. A copy of the petition including all confidential business information shall then be served by petitioner on those approved applicants in accordance with this section within two (2) calendar days of the time notification is made by the Secretary. If a document is filed before the Secretary's issuance of the service list provided for in § 201.11 of this chapter or the administrative protective order list provided for in § 206.17, the document need not be accompanied by a certificate of service, but the document shall be served on all appropriate parties within two (2) days of the issuance of the service list or the administrative protective order list and a certificate of service shall then be filed. Notwithstanding § 201.16 of this chapter, petitions, briefs, and testimony filed by parties shall be served by hand or, if served by mail, by overnight mail or its equivalent. Failure to comply with the requirements of this rule may result in removal from status as a party to the investigation. The Commission shall make available, upon request, to all parties to the investigation a copy of each document, except transcripts of hearings, confidential business information, privileged information, and information required to be served under this section, placed in the docket file of the investigation by the Commission.

(c) Filing. Documents to be filed with the Commission must comply with applicable rules, including § 201.8 of this chapter. If the Commission establishes a deadline for the filing of a document, and the submitter includes confidential business information in the document, the submitter is to file and, if the submitter is a party, serve the confidential version of the document on the deadline and may file and serve the nonconfidential version of the document no later than one business day after the deadline for filing the document. The confidential version shall enclose all confidential business information in brackets and have the following warning marked on every page: “Bracketing of CBI not final for one business day after date of filing.” The bracketing becomes final one business day after the date of filing of the document, i.e., at the same time as the nonconfidential version of the document is due to be filed. Until the bracketing becomes final, recipients of the document may not divulge any part of the contents of the document to anyone not subject to the administrative protective order issued in the investigation. If the submitter discovers it has failed to bracket correctly, the submitter may file a corrected version or portion of the confidential document at the same time as the nonconfidential version is filed. No changes to the document other than bracketing and deletion of confidential business information are permitted after the deadline. Failure to comply with this paragraph may result in the striking of all or a portion of a submitter's document.

(d) Briefs. All briefs filed in proceedings subject to this part shall be filed electronically, and eight (8) true paper copies shall be filed on the same business day.