Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 1 / Tuesday, January 2, 2024 / Notices 91 

accepting such submissions, or unless 

the submission is pursuant to a specific 

request by a Commissioner or 

Commission staff. 

In accordance with sections 201.16(c) 

and 207.3 of the Commission’s rules, 

each document filed by a party to the 

investigations must be served on all 

other parties to the investigations (as 

identified by either the public or BPI 

service list), and a certificate of service 

must be timely filed. The Secretary will 

not accept a document for filing without 

a certificate of service. 

Please note the Secretary’s Office will 

accept only electronic filings during this 

time. Filings must be made through the 

Commission’s Electronic Document 

Information System (EDIS, https://

edis.usitc.gov.) No in-person paperbased filings or paper copies of any 

electronic filings will be accepted until 

further notice. 

Authority: This proceeding is being 

conducted under authority of title VII of 

the Tariff Act of 1930; this notice is 

published pursuant to section 207.21 of 

the Commission’s rules. 

By order of the Commission. 

Issued: December 27, 2023. 

Katherine Hiner, 

Supervisory Attorney. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28856 Filed 12–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7020–02–P 

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

COMMISSION 

[Investigation Nos. 701–TA–598 and 731– 

TA–1408 and 1410 (Review)] 

Rubber Bands From China and 

Thailand; Institution of Five-Year 

Reviews 

AGENCY: International Trade 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Commission hereby gives 

notice that it has instituted reviews 

pursuant to the Tariff Act of 1930 (‘‘the 

Act’’), as amended, to determine 

whether revocation of the 

countervailing duty order on rubber 

bands from China and the antidumping 

duty orders on rubber bands from China 

and Thailand would be likely to lead to 

continuation or recurrence of material 

injury. Pursuant to the Act, interested 

parties are requested to respond to this 

notice by submitting the information 

specified below to the Commission. 

DATES: Instituted January 2, 2024. To be 

assured of consideration, the deadline 

for responses is February 1, 2024. 

Comments on the adequacy of responses 

may be filed with the Commission by 

March 11, 2024. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alec 

Resch (202–708–1448), Office of 

Investigations, U.S. International Trade 

Commission, 500 E Street SW, 

Washington, DC 20436. Hearingimpaired persons can obtain 

information on this matter by contacting 

the Commission’s TDD terminal on 202– 

205–1810. Persons with mobility 

impairments who will need special 

assistance in gaining access to the 

Commission should contact the Office 

of the Secretary at 202–205–2000. 

General information concerning the 

Commission may also be obtained by 

accessing its internet server (https://

www.usitc.gov). The public record for 

this proceeding may be viewed on the 

Commission’s electronic docket (EDIS) 

at https://edis.usitc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background.—On February 19, 2019, 

the Department of Commerce 

(‘‘Commerce’’) issued antidumping and 

countervailing duty orders on imports of 

rubber bands from China (84 FR 4774). 

On April 26, 2019, Commerce issued an 

antidumping duty order on imports of 

rubber bands from Thailand (84 FR 

17779). The Commission is conducting 

reviews pursuant to section 751(c) of the 

Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1675(c)), to 

determine whether revocation of the 

orders would be likely to lead to 

continuation or recurrence of material 

injury to the domestic industry within 

a reasonably foreseeable time. 

Provisions concerning the conduct of 

this proceeding may be found in the 

Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure at 19 CFR part 201, subparts 

A and B, and 19 CFR part 207, subparts 

A and F. The Commission will assess 

the adequacy of interested party 

responses to this notice of institution to 

determine whether to conduct full or 

expedited reviews. The Commission’s 

determinations in any expedited 

reviews will be based on the facts 

available, which may include 

information provided in response to this 

notice. 

Definitions.—The following 

definitions apply to these reviews: 

(1) Subject Merchandise is the class or 

kind of merchandise that is within the 

scope of the five-year reviews, as 

defined by Commerce. 

(2) The Subject Countries in these 

reviews are China and Thailand. 

(3) The Domestic Like Product is the 

domestically produced product or 

products which are like, or in the 

absence of like, most similar in 

characteristics and uses with, the 

Subject Merchandise. In its original 

determinations, the Commission 

defined a single Domestic Like Product 

consisting of rubber bands, coextensive 

with Commerce’s scope. 

(4) The Domestic Industry is the U.S. 

producers as a whole of the Domestic 

Like Product, or those producers whose 

collective output of the Domestic Like 

Product constitutes a major proportion 

of the total domestic production of the 

product. In its original determinations, 

the Commission defined the Domestic 

Industry as all U.S. producers of the 

domestic like product. 

(5) The Order Dates are the dates that 

the antidumping and countervailing 

duty orders under review became 

effective. In these reviews, the Order 

Date with respect to China is February 

19, 2019, and the Order Date with 

respect to Thailand is April 26, 2019. 

(6) An Importer is any person or firm 

engaged, either directly or through a 

parent company or subsidiary, in 

importing the Subject Merchandise into 

the United States from a foreign 

manufacturer or through its selling 

agent. 

Participation in the proceeding and 

public service list.—Persons, including 

industrial users of the Subject 

Merchandise and, if the merchandise is 

sold at the retail level, representative 

consumer organizations, wishing to 

participate in the proceeding as parties 

must file an entry of appearance with 

the Secretary to the Commission, as 

provided in § 201.11(b)(4) of the 

Commission’s rules, no later than 21 

days after publication of this notice in 

the Federal Register. The Secretary will 

maintain a public service list containing 

the names and addresses of all persons, 

or their representatives, who are parties 

to the proceeding. 

Former Commission employees who 

are seeking to appear in Commission 

five-year reviews are advised that they 

may appear in a review even if they 

participated personally and 

substantially in the corresponding 

underlying original investigation or an 

earlier review of the same underlying 

investigation. The Commission’s 

designated agency ethics official has 

advised that a five-year review is not the 

same particular matter as the underlying 

original investigation, and a five-year 

review is not the same particular matter 

as an earlier review of the same 

underlying investigation for purposes of 

18 U.S.C. 207, the post-employment 

statute for Federal employees, and 

Commission rule 201.15(b) (19 CFR 

201.15(b)), 79 FR 3246 (Jan. 17, 2014), 

73 FR 24609 (May 5, 2008). 

Consequently, former employees are not 

required to seek Commission approval 

to appear in a review under Commission 


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92 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 1 / Tuesday, January 2, 2024 / Notices 

rule 19 CFR 201.15, even if the 

corresponding underlying original 

investigation or an earlier review of the 

same underlying investigation was 

pending when they were Commission 

employees. For further ethics advice on 

this matter, contact Charles Smith, 

Office of the General Counsel, at 202– 

205–3408. 

Limited disclosure of business 

proprietary information (BPI) under an 

administrative protective order (APO) 

and APO service list.—Pursuant to 

§ 207.7(a) of the Commission’s rules, the 

Secretary will make BPI submitted in 

this proceeding available to authorized 

applicants under the APO issued in the 

proceeding, provided that the 

application is made no later than 21 

days after publication of this notice in 

the Federal Register. Authorized 

applicants must represent interested 

parties, as defined in 19 U.S.C. 1677(9), 

who are parties to the proceeding. A 

separate service list will be maintained 

by the Secretary for those parties 

authorized to receive BPI under the 

APO. 

Certification.—Pursuant to § 207.3 of 

the Commission’s rules, any person 

submitting information to the 

Commission in connection with this 

proceeding must certify that the 

information is accurate and complete to 

the best of the submitter’s knowledge. In 

making the certification, the submitter 

will acknowledge that information 

submitted in response to this request for 

information and throughout this 

proceeding or other proceeding may be 

disclosed to and used: (i) by the 

Commission, its employees and Offices, 

and contract personnel (a) for 

developing or maintaining the records 

of this or a related proceeding, or (b) in 

internal investigations, audits, reviews, 

and evaluations relating to the 

programs, personnel, and operations of 

the Commission including under 5 

U.S.C. appendix 3; or (ii) by U.S. 

government employees and contract 

personnel, solely for cybersecurity 

purposes. All contract personnel will 

sign appropriate nondisclosure 

agreements. 

Written submissions.—Pursuant to 

§ 207.61 of the Commission’s rules, each 

interested party response to this notice 

must provide the information specified 

below. The deadline for filing such 

responses is on or before 5:15 p.m. on 

February 1, 2024. Pursuant to 

§ 207.62(b) of the Commission’s rules, 

eligible parties (as specified in 

Commission rule 207.62(b)(1)) may also 

file comments concerning the adequacy 

of responses to the notice of institution 

and whether the Commission should 

conduct expedited or full reviews. The 

deadline for filing such comments is on 

or before 5:15 p.m. on March 11, 2024. 

All written submissions must conform 

with the provisions of § 201.8 of the 

Commission’s rules; any submissions 

that contain BPI must also conform with 

the requirements of §§ 201.6, 207.3, and 

207.7 of the Commission’s rules. The 

Commission’s Handbook on Filing 

Procedures, available on the 

Commission’s website at https://

www.usitc.gov/documents/handbook_

on_filing_procedures.pdf, elaborates 

upon the Commission’s procedures with 

respect to filings. Also, in accordance 

with §§ 201.16(c) and 207.3 of the 

Commission’s rules, each document 

filed by a party to the proceeding must 

be served on all other parties to the 

proceeding (as identified by either the 

public or APO service list as 

appropriate), and a certificate of service 

must accompany the document (if you 

are not a party to the proceeding you do 

not need to serve your response). 

Please note the Secretary’s Office will 

accept only electronic filings at this 

time. Filings must be made through the 

Commission’s Electronic Document 

Information System (EDIS, https://

edis.usitc.gov). No in-person paperbased filings or paper copies of any 

electronic filings will be accepted until 

further notice. 

No response to this request for 

information is required if a currently 

valid Office of Management and Budget 

(‘‘OMB’’) number is not displayed; the 

OMB number is 3117 0016/USITC No. 

23–5–586, expiration date June 30, 

2026. Public reporting burden for the 

request is estimated to average 15 hours 

per response. Please send comments 

regarding the accuracy of this burden 

estimate to the Office of Investigations, 

U.S. International Trade Commission, 

500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 

20436. 

Inability to provide requested 

information.—Pursuant to § 207.61(c) of 

the Commission’s rules, any interested 

party that cannot furnish the 

information requested by this notice in 

the requested form and manner shall 

notify the Commission at the earliest 

possible time, provide a full explanation 

of why it cannot provide the requested 

information, and indicate alternative 

forms in which it can provide 

equivalent information. If an interested 

party does not provide this notification 

(or the Commission finds the 

explanation provided in the notification 

inadequate) and fails to provide a 

complete response to this notice, the 

Commission may take an adverse 

inference against the party pursuant to 

§ 776(b) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 1677e(b)) 

in making its determinations in the 

reviews. 

INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED IN 

RESPONSE TO THIS NOTICE OF 

INSTITUTION: If you are a domestic 

producer, union/worker group, or trade/ 

business association; import/export 

Subject Merchandise from more than 

one Subject Country; or produce Subject 

Merchandise in more than one Subject 

Country, you may file a single response. 

If you do so, please ensure that your 

response to each question includes the 

information requested for each pertinent 

Subject Country. As used below, the 

term ‘‘firm’’ includes any related firms. 

Those responding to this notice of 

institution are encouraged, but not 

required, to visit the USITC’s website at 

https://usitc.gov/reports/response_noi_

worksheet, where one can download 

and complete the ‘‘NOI worksheet’’ 

Excel form for the subject proceeding, to 

be included as attachment/exhibit 1 of 

your overall response. 

(1) The name and address of your firm 

or entity (including World Wide Web 

address) and name, telephone number, 

fax number, and Email address of the 

certifying official. 

(2) A statement indicating whether 

your firm/entity is an interested party 

under 19 U.S.C. 1677(9) and if so, how, 

including whether your firm/entity is a 

U.S. producer of the Domestic Like 

Product, a U.S. union or worker group, 

a U.S. importer of the Subject 

Merchandise, a foreign producer or 

exporter of the Subject Merchandise, a 

U.S. or foreign trade or business 

association (a majority of whose 

members are interested parties under 

the statute), or another interested party 

(including an explanation). If you are a 

union/worker group or trade/business 

association, identify the firms in which 

your workers are employed or which are 

members of your association. 

(3) A statement indicating whether 

your firm/entity is willing to participate 

in this proceeding by providing 

information requested by the 

Commission. 

(4) A statement of the likely effects of 

the revocation of the antidumping and 

countervailing duty orders on the 

Domestic Industry in general and/or 

your firm/entity specifically. In your 

response, please discuss the various 

factors specified in § 752(a) of the Act 

(19 U.S.C. 1675a(a)) including the likely 

volume of subject imports, likely price 

effects of subject imports, and likely 

impact of imports of Subject 

Merchandise on the Domestic Industry. 

(5) A list of all known and currently 

operating U.S. producers of the 

Domestic Like Product. Identify any 

known related parties and the nature of 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 1 / Tuesday, January 2, 2024 / Notices 93 

the relationship as defined in 

§ 771(4)(B) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 

1677(4)(B)). 

(6) A list of all known and currently 

operating U.S. importers of the Subject 

Merchandise and producers of the 

Subject Merchandise in each Subject 

Country that currently export or have 

exported Subject Merchandise to the 

United States or other countries since 

the Order Dates. 

(7) A list of 3–5 leading purchasers in 

the U.S. market for the Domestic Like 

Product and the Subject Merchandise 

(including street address, World Wide 

Web address, and the name, telephone 

number, fax number, and Email address 

of a responsible official at each firm). 

(8) A list of known sources of 

information on national or regional 

prices for the Domestic Like Product or 

the Subject Merchandise in the U.S. or 

other markets. 

(9) If you are a U.S. producer of the 

Domestic Like Product, provide the 

following information on your firm’s 

operations on that product during 

calendar year 2023, except as noted 

(report quantity data in pounds and 

value data in U.S. dollars, f.o.b. plant). 

If you are a union/worker group or 

trade/business association, provide the 

information, on an aggregate basis, for 

the firms in which your workers are 

employed/which are members of your 

association. 

(a) Production (quantity) and, if 

known, an estimate of the percentage of 

total U.S. production of the Domestic 

Like Product accounted for by your 

firm’s(s’) production; 

(b) Capacity (quantity) of your firm to 

produce the Domestic Like Product (that 

is, the level of production that your 

establishment(s) could reasonably have 

expected to attain during the year, 

assuming normal operating conditions 

(using equipment and machinery in 

place and ready to operate), normal 

operating levels (hours per week/weeks 

per year), time for downtime, 

maintenance, repair, and cleanup, and a 

typical or representative product mix); 

(c) the quantity and value of U.S. 

commercial shipments of the Domestic 

Like Product produced in your U.S. 

plant(s); 

(d) the quantity and value of U.S. 

internal consumption/company 

transfers of the Domestic Like Product 

produced in your U.S. plant(s); and 

(e) the value of (i) net sales, (ii) cost 

of goods sold (COGS), (iii) gross profit, 

(iv) selling, general and administrative 

(SG&A) expenses, and (v) operating 

income of the Domestic Like Product 

produced in your U.S. plant(s) (include 

both U.S. and export commercial sales, 

internal consumption, and company 

transfers) for your most recently 

completed fiscal year (identify the date 

on which your fiscal year ends). 

(10) If you are a U.S. importer or a 

trade/business association of U.S. 

importers of the Subject Merchandise 

from any Subject Country, provide the 

following information on your firm’s(s’) 

operations on that product during 

calendar year 2023 (report quantity data 

in pounds and value data in U.S. 

dollars). If you are a trade/business 

association, provide the information, on 

an aggregate basis, for the firms which 

are members of your association. 

(a) The quantity and value (landed, 

duty-paid but not including 

antidumping or countervailing duties) 

of U.S. imports and, if known, an 

estimate of the percentage of total U.S. 

imports of Subject Merchandise from 

each Subject Country accounted for by 

your firm’s(s’) imports; 

(b) the quantity and value (f.o.b. U.S. 

port, including antidumping and/or 

countervailing duties) of U.S. 

commercial shipments of Subject 

Merchandise imported from each 

Subject Country; and 

(c) the quantity and value (f.o.b. U.S. 

port, including antidumping and/or 

countervailing duties) of U.S. internal 

consumption/company transfers of 

Subject Merchandise imported from 

each Subject Country. 

(11) If you are a producer, an exporter, 

or a trade/business association of 

producers or exporters of the Subject 

Merchandise in any Subject Country, 

provide the following information on 

your firm’s(s’) operations on that 

product during calendar year 2023 

(report quantity data in pounds and 

value data in U.S. dollars, landed and 

duty-paid at the U.S. port but not 

including antidumping or 

countervailing duties). If you are a 

trade/business association, provide the 

information, on an aggregate basis, for 

the firms which are members of your 

association. 

(a) Production (quantity) and, if 

known, an estimate of the percentage of 

total production of Subject Merchandise 

in each Subject Country accounted for 

by your firm’s(s’) production; 

(b) Capacity (quantity) of your firm(s) 

to produce the Subject Merchandise in 

each Subject Country (that is, the level 

of production that your establishment(s) 

could reasonably have expected to 

attain during the year, assuming normal 

operating conditions (using equipment 

and machinery in place and ready to 

operate), normal operating levels (hours 

per week/weeks per year), time for 

downtime, maintenance, repair, and 

cleanup, and a typical or representative 

product mix); and 

(c) the quantity and value of your 

firm’s(s’) exports to the United States of 

Subject Merchandise and, if known, an 

estimate of the percentage of total 

exports to the United States of Subject 

Merchandise from each Subject Country 

accounted for by your firm’s(s’) exports. 

(12) Identify significant changes, if 

any, in the supply and demand 

conditions or business cycle for the 

Domestic Like Product that have 

occurred in the United States or in the 

market for the Subject Merchandise in 

each Subject Country since the Order 

Dates, and significant changes, if any, 

that are likely to occur within a 

reasonably foreseeable time. Supply 

conditions to consider include 

technology; production methods; 

development efforts; ability to increase 

production (including the shift of 

production facilities used for other 

products and the use, cost, or 

availability of major inputs into 

production); and factors related to the 

ability to shift supply among different 

national markets (including barriers to 

importation in foreign markets or 

changes in market demand abroad). 

Demand conditions to consider include 

end uses and applications; the existence 

and availability of substitute products; 

and the level of competition among the 

Domestic Like Product produced in the 

United States, Subject Merchandise 

produced in each Subject Country, and 

such merchandise from other countries. 

(13) (OPTIONAL) A statement of 

whether you agree with the above 

definitions of the Domestic Like Product 

and Domestic Industry; if you disagree 

with either or both of these definitions, 

please explain why and provide 

alternative definitions. 

Authority: This proceeding is being 

conducted under authority of Title VII 

of the Tariff Act of 1930; this notice is 

published pursuant to § 207.61 of the 

Commission’s rules. 

By order of the Commission. 

Issued: December 21, 2023. 

Lisa Barton, 

Secretary to the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28552 Filed 12–29–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7020–02–P 

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

COMMISSION 

[Investigation Nos. 701–TA–556 and 731– 

TA–1311 (Review)] 

Truck and Bus Tires From China; 

Institution of Five-Year Reviews 

AGENCY: International Trade 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 


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