A-570-956
Section 129 Det. DS449
Public Document
APO: Evangeline Keenan

In the Matter of the Section 129 Determination on the Final Determination of Seamless Carbon And Alloy Steel Standard, Line, And Pressure Pipe from the People's Republic Of China (A-570-956) Pursuant to the WTO Panel and Appellate Body Reports WT/DS449/R (2014) and WT/DS449/AB/R (2014), respectively, and Section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act

ADMINISTRATIVE PROTECTIVE ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

All business proprietary information submitted in the above-referenced segment of the proceeding, including new information submitted in a remand during litigation on this segment of the proceeding, which the submitting party agrees to release or the Department of Commerce (“the Department”) determines to release, will be released to the authorized applicants on the administrative protective order (“APO”) service list for this segment of the proceeding, except the following:

• customer names in an investigation; and

• specific information of a type for which the Department determines there is a clear and compelling need to withhold from disclosure.

USE OF BUSINESS PROPRIETARY INFORMATION UNDER THIS APO

An authorized applicant may use business proprietary information submitted in this segment of the proceeding in this segment. At the conclusion of this determination, the authorized applicant must certify to the destruction of business proprietary information within 30 days from the date of signature of the final Section 129 Determination in accordance with item 6 of this APO.


REQUIREMENTS FOR AUTHORIZED APPLICANTS

All applicants authorized to have access to business proprietary information under this APO are subject to the following terms:

1. The authorized applicant must establish and follow procedures to ensure that no employee of the authorized applicant’s firm releases business proprietary information to any person other than the submitting party, an authorized applicant, or the appropriate Department official identified in section 351.306(a) of the regulations. No person in the authorized applicant’s firm may release business proprietary information received under this APO to any person other than those described in this paragraph.

2. The authorized applicant may allow APO access to one or more paralegals, law clerks, secretaries, or other support staff employed by or on behalf of the applicant’s firm and operating within the confines of the firm. The authorized applicant also may use the services of subcontracted individuals to transport business proprietary information released by the Department and to deliver APO information to other parties. All support staff must sign and date an acknowledgment that they will abide by the terms and conditions of the APO at the time they are first permitted access to any information subject to APO.

3. The authorized applicant must ensure that business proprietary information in an electronic format will not be accessible to parties not authorized to receive business proprietary information.



A-570-956

4. The authorized applicant must pay all reasonable costs incurred by the submitter of the electronic business proprietary information for the copying of its electronic information released to the authorized applicant, if payment is requested. Reasonable costs include the cost of the electronic medium and the cost of copying the complete proprietary version of the electronic information/medium submitted to the Department in APO
releasable form, but not costs borne by the submitter of the electronic data in the creation of the electronic data/medium submitted to the Department.

NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

5. If changed circumstances affect the authorized applicant’s representation of an interested party at any time authorized under this APO (i.e., reassignment, departure from firm), the authorized applicant must notify the Department in accordance with section 351.305(a)(2) of the regulations.

6. At the expiration of the time specified in this APO, the authorized applicant must destroy all business proprietary information and notify the Department of the destruction in accordance with section 351.305(a)(3) of the regulations, or provide to the Department official responsible for the administration of the APO in this segment of the proceeding a protective order issued by a court or in a binational panel proceeding.


SANCTIONS FOR BREACH OF THIS APO

7. The authorized applicant will be subject to any or all of the sanctions described in 19 C.F.R. Part 354 if there is a violation of this APO by the authorized applicant or any of the persons identified in item 8 of this APO.

8. The authorized applicant will accept full responsibility, individually and on behalf of the authorized applicant’s firm or corporate office, for violation of this APO by any employee of the firm or corporate office, support staff retained by the firm or corporate office, or any other consultant, expert, or other outside staff retained for the subject proceeding, who is permitted access to APO information.

9. The authorized applicant will promptly report and confirm in writing any possible violation of this APO to the Department.

A-570-956
DEFINITIONS

For purposes of this APO , the following definitions apply:

“Representative” is an individual, enterprise, or entity acting on behalf of an interested party.

“Applicant” is an individual representative of an interested party who has applied for access to business proprietary information under this APO.

“Authorized Applicant”is an applicant that the Secretary has authorized to receive business proprietary information under this APO.

“Lead firm” is the firm that will be the primary contact with the Department and that will accept service of all documents for the party it represents where two firms independently have access under APO.

“Support staff” includes paralegals, law clerks, secretaries and other support staff that are employed by or on behalf of the applicant’s firm, are operating within the premises of the firm, and work under the supervision of an authorized applicant, as well as subcontractors of the firm providing similar support staff functions.

“Electronic data” includes (1) data submitted by a party, generated by the Department, or entered by the recipient on computer tape, disk, diskette, or any other electronic computer medium; and (2) all electronic work products resulting from manipulation of this data, as transferred in any form onto any other electronic computer medium, such as tape, disk, diskette, Bernoulli cartridge, removable disk pack, etc.

original on file

Evangeline D. Keenan
Director, APO/Dockets Unit
Enforcement and Compliance

01/26/2015

(date)

A-570-956