Rebuttal Comments to Response with Offier to Supply

Reporting Requirements for Submitting a Rebuttal Comment

Submissions for Participating in a US-KOREA FTA Commercial Availability Proceeding

(a) Filing a Submission. All submissions for a commercial availability proceeding pursuant to these procedures (e.g., Commercial Availability Request, Response, Rebuttal, and Request to Remove) must be in English. If any attachments are in a language other than English, a complete translation must be provided. Each submission must be submitted to the Chairman of CITA, in care of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (“OTEXA”) in two forms: email and an original signed submission.

(1) An email version of the submission must be either in PDF or Word format, must contain an adequate public summary of any business confidential information and the due diligence certification, and should be sent to [email protected]. The email version of the submission will be posted for public review on KOREA FTA Commercial Availability website. No business confidential information should be submitted in the email version of any document.

(2) The original signed submission must be sent via express courier to -- Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, Room 3100, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20230. Any business confidential information upon which an interested entity wishes CITA to rely must be included in the original signed submission. Except for the inclusion of business confidential information and corresponding public summary, the two versions of a submission should be identical.

(3) Brackets must be placed around all business confidential information contained in submissions. Documents containing business confidential information must have a bolded heading stating “Confidential Version.” Attachments considered business confidential information must have a heading stating “Business Confidential Information.” Documents, including those submitted via email, provided for public release must have a bolded heading stating “Public Version” and all the business confidential information must be deleted from public versions, and substituted with an adequate public summary.

(4) Generally, details such as quantities and lead times for providing the subject product can be treated as business confidential information. However, the names of suppliers who were contacted, general information about the capability to manufacture the subject product, and the responses thereto should be included in public versions.

(b) Due Diligence Certification. Each submission containing factual information for CITA’s consideration must be accompanied by the appropriate certification regarding the accuracy of the factual information. An interested entity must file a certification of due diligence as described below in subsection (b)(1) with each electronic and original signed submissions that contains factual information. If the interested entity has legal counsel or other representative, the legal counsel or other representative must also file a certification of due diligence as described in subsection (b)(2) with each electronic and original signed submissions that contains factual information. Accurate representations of material facts submitted to CITA for the Commercial Availability Proceeding are vital to the integrity of this process and are necessary for CITA’s effective administration of the statutory scheme. Each submission containing factual information for CITA’s consideration must be accompanied by the appropriate certification regarding the accuracy of the factual information. Any submission that lacks the applicable certifications will be considered an incomplete submission that CITA will reject and return to the submitter. CITA may verify any factual information submitted by interested entities in a Commercial Availability Proceeding.

(1) For the person responsible for presentation of the factual information: I, (name and title), currently employed by (interested entity), certify that (1) I have read the attached submission, and (2) the information contained in this submission is, to the best of my knowledge, complete and accurate.

(2) For the person’s legal counsel or other representative: I, (name), of (law or other firm), counsel or representative to (interested entity), certify that (1) I have read the attached submission, and (2) based on the information made available to me by (person), I have no reason to believe that this submission contains any material misrepresentation or omission of fact.

(c) Official Receipt. A submission will be considered officially submitted to CITA only when both the email version and the original signed submission have been received by CITA. For Commercial Availability Requests, CITA will provide email confirmation to the requestor that both versions were received. CITA’s email confirmation shall be considered the “official receipt” of the Request, which will begin the statutory 30 U.S. business day process for CITA’s consideration. CITA will confirm official receipt of any Response and Rebuttal by posting the submissions on the KOREA FTA Commercial Availability website.

Submitting a Rebuttal Comment

A Rebuttal Comment must meet the requirements outlined in Section 3 of these procedures. General comments in support of or opposition to a Commercial Availability Request or a Response do not meet the requirements of a Rebuttal Comment. A Due Diligence Certification must accompany a Rebuttal Comment.

(a)  Rebuttal Comment. Any interested entity may submit a Rebuttal Comment. An interested entity must submit its Rebuttal Comment not later than 4 U.S. business days after the deadline for a Response. If good cause is shown, CITA may extend the time limit, but CITA will still meet the statutory deadlines.

(b) Contents of a Rebuttal. The Rebuttal Comment may respond only to evidence or arguments raised in a Response and must identify the Response, and evidence and/or arguments to which it is responding. The Rebuttal Comment must reference the CITA File Number assigned to the particular Commercial Availability Request being addressed.