Title 15—Commerce and Foreign Trade--Volume 1
PART 2003—REGULATIONS OF TRADE POLICY STAFF COMMITTEE
§ 2003.0   Office, mailing address, telephone number, and hours.
(a) The office of the Committee is at room 729, 1800 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20506.
(b) All communications to the Committee should be addressed to the “Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, room 729, 1800 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20506.”
(c) The telephone number of the office of the Committee is (202) 395-3395.
(d) The regular hours of the office of the Committee are from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on each business day, Monday through Friday.
§ 2003.1   Notice of public hearings.
The Committee shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of a proposed public hearing, the subject matter of the proposed public hearing, the period during which written briefs may be submitted, the period during which requests may be submitted to present oral testimony, and the time and place of the proposed public hearing, in the following instances:
(a) Upon publication of lists of articles by the President under section 131(a), or sections 503(a) and 131(a), of the Trade Act as a result of which public hearings are required to be held by section 133 of the Trade Act with respect to any matter relevant to a proposed trade agreement, or with respect to any matter relevant to the granting of generalized tariff preferences for the listed articles;
(b) Whenever the Special Representative or the Deputy Special Representative determines that public hearings in connection with the review of a request submitted pursuant to Part 2007 of these regulations, pertaining to the duty-free treatment accorded to articles under the GSP, are in the public interest.
(c) Upon instructions of the Special Representative.
§ 2003.2   Testimony and submission of written briefs.
(a) Participation by an interested party in a public hearing announced under § 2003.1 shall require the submission of a written brief before the close of the period announced, in the public notice for its submission. Such brief may be, but need not be, supplemented by the presentation of oral testimony in accordance with § 2003.4.
(b) A written brief by an interested party concerning any aspect of the trade agreements program or any related matter not subject to paragraph (a) of this section, and submitted pursuant to a public notice shall be submitted before the close of the period announced in the public notice for its submission.
(c) A written brief shall state clearly the position taken and shall describe with particularity the evidence supporting such position. It shall be submitted in not less than twenty (20) copies which shall be legibly typed, printed, or duplicated.
(d) In order to assure each party an opportunity to contest the information provided by other interested parties, the Committee will entertain rebuttal briefs filed by any party within a time limit specified by the Committee. Rebuttal briefs shall conform, in form and number, to the provisions of paragraph (c) of this section. Rebuttal briefs should be strictly limited to demonstrating errors of fact or analysis not pointed out in the briefs or hearings and should be as concise as possible.
(e) A written brief by an interested party concerning any aspect of the Trade Agreements Program or any related matter not subject to paragraph (a) or (b) of this section may be submitted at any time.
(f) The requirements in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section may be waived by the Special Representative, the Deputy Special Representative, or the Chairman of the Committee for reasons of equity and the public interest.
§ 2003.3   [Reserved]
§ 2003.4   Presentation of oral testimony at public hearings.
(a) A request by an interested party to present oral testimony at a public hearing shall be submitted in writing before the close of the period announced in the public notice for its submission, and shall state briefly the interest of the applicant and the position to be taken by the applicant. Such request will be granted only if a written brief has been prepared and submitted in accordance with § 2003.2. The requirements of this subpart may be waived by the Special Representative, the Deputy Special Representative or the Chairman of the Committee for reasons of equity and the public interest.
(b) After receipt and consideration of a request to present oral testimony at a public hearing, the Secretary of the Committee shall notify the applicant whether the request conforms to the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, and if so, the time and place for the hearing and for his appearance, and the amount of time allotted for his oral testimony, and if not, will give the reasons why the request does not conform to the requirements.
(c) In presenting testimony, the interested party should supplement the information contained in the written brief, and should be prepared to answer questions relating to such information.
(d) A stenographic record shall be made of every public hearing.
§ 2003.5   Information open to public inspection.
(a) With the exception of information subject to § 2003.6, an interested party may, upon request, inspect at the office of the Committee:
(1) Any written request, brief, or similar submission of information;
(2) Any stenographic record of a public hearing;
(3) Other public written information concerning the trade agreements program and related matters.
(b) [Reserved]
§ 2003.6   Information exempt from public inspection.
(a) The Committee shall exempt from public inspection business information submitted by an interested party if the Committee determines that such information concerns or relates to trade secrets and commercial and financial information the disclosure of which is not authorized by the interested party furnishing such information and is not required by law.
(b) A party requesting that the Committee exempt from public inspection business information submitted in writing shall clearly mark each page “ Business Confidential ” at the top.
(c) The Committee may deny a request that it exempt from public inspection any particular business information if it determines that such information is not entitled to exemption under paragraph (a) of this section. In the event of such denial, the party submitting the particular business information will be notified of the reasons for the denial and will be permitted to withdraw his submission.