On May 26, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a Federal Register notice seeking public comment, data analyses, and other relevant information concerning the Department of Commerce’s May 6 initiation of a national security investigation into the impact of imports of mobile cranes pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. (See Trump and Trade Updated of May 8, 2020). Public comments must be filed no later than July 10, 2020, and rebuttal comments will be due by August 10, 2020.

BIS is particularly interested in comments and information on the following issues:

(i) Quantity of, or other circumstances related to, the importation of mobile cranes;

(ii) Domestic production and productive capacity needed for mobile cranes to meet projected national defense requirements;

(iii) Existing and anticipated availability of human resources, products, raw materials, production equipment, and facilities to produce mobile cranes;

(iv) Growth requirements of the mobile crane industry to meet national defense requirements and/or requirements for supplies and services necessary to assure such growth including investment, exploration, and development;

(v) The impact of foreign competition on the economic welfare of the mobile crane industry;

(vi) The displacement of any domestic mobile crane production causing substantial unemployment, decrease in the revenues of government, loss of investment or specialized skills and productive capacity, or other serious effects;

(vii) Relevant factors that are causing or will cause a weakening of our national economy; and

(viii) Any other relevant factors, including the use and importance of mobile cranes in critical infrastructure sectors identified in Presidential Policy Directive 21 (Feb. 12, 2013) (for a listing of those sectors see https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/critical-infrastructure-sectors).

Written Submissions and Public Hearing

All comments must be addressed as “Section 232 Mobile Crane Investigation” and filed via the eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov on Docket No. BIS–2020–0009. While the docket will allow users to provide comments by filling in the “Comment” field, submitters are encouraged to provide comments in an attached document, including any exhibits, annexes, or other attachments, which can be uploaded and filed as part of the submission.

Submitted comments will be made available for public inspection, except information determined to be confidential. Anyone submitting business confidential information should clearly identify the business confidential portion at the time of submission, file a statement justifying nondisclosure, and file a public version.

As noted, comments must be filed by July 10, 2020, with rebuttal comments due no later than August 10, 2020. Rebuttal comments can only address issues raised in comments filed on or before the original July 10 deadline.

Commerce has not yet announced whether a public hearing will be held for this investigation. If such a hearing is held, a separate Federal Register notice will be issued.