Justification for change in Mode

6/3/19

Control number 0694-0141: Rebuttals and Surrebuttals for Exclusions and Objections

Modification for change in mode of collection and minimal changes to an existing collection

The U.S. Department of Commerce will soon publish the interim final rule, Implementation of New Commerce Section 232 Exclusions Portal. This interim final rule will change the process for requesting exclusions from the duties and quantitative limitations on imports of aluminum and steel discussed in two Commerce interim rules implementing the exclusion process authorized by the President as part of the action he took to adjust imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (“232”). The U.S. Department of Commerce has developed a “232 Exclusions Portal” for persons submitting exclusion requests, objections to exclusion requests, rebuttals, and surrebuttals to replace the use of the Federal rulemaking portal (http://www.regulations.gov) and streamline the exclusions process while enhancing data integrity and quality controls.

The changes that will be made with this interim final rule will result in a change in the mode of collection for three collections currently approved by OMB, including the following control number Procedures for Submitting Rebuttals and Surrebuttals Requests for Exclusions from and Objections to the Section 232 Adjustments for Steel and Aluminum (OMB control number 0694-0141). On the effective date of the interim final rule, which will be 7 days after date of display on the public inspection list at the Office of the Federal Register, there will be a change in the mode of collection whereby all objections to exclusion requests submitted in the new 232 Exclusions Portal will also need to be submitted in the “232 Exclusions Portal” and no longer submitted using the website www.regulations.gov.

This rule is not expected to increase the burden hours for any of the collections associated with this rule as minimal changes are anticipated. There will be three changes to the existing collection: two of the changes related to no longer having to manually submit the regulations.gov ID # for the related exclusion request or objection and a third change related to identifying the rebuttal or surrebuttal ID # when sending confidential business information (CBI) by email in support of a rebuttal or surrebuttal to a submitted objection or exclusion request.

• For the first two changes the rebuttal and surrebuttal forms there will be a difference between the regulations.gov form and the 232 Exclusions Portal under Questions 1.a and 1.b. In regulations.gov the submitter has to locate and submit this information on the rebuttal or surrebuttal form being submitted, but the 232 Exclusions Portal will auto generate the distinct ID # and associate it automatically with the related 232 submission, so this will lessen the burden on the public. 

• For the third change under the email process for submitting confidential business information (CBI) under paragraph (b)(5)(iii)(B) in Supplements Nos. 1 and 2 to Part 705, the regulations.gov ID # previously was required to be provided in the subject line of the email, but will no longer be required for rebuttals and surrebuttals to submitted objections and exclusion requests submitted in the 232 Exclusions Portal and instead the ID # received from the 232 Exclusions Portal for the rebuttal or surrebuttal will be submitted in the email subject line by the person submitting the CBI to the U.S. Department of Commerce in support of the rebuttal or surrebuttal. 

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