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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 234 / Thursday, December 9, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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determination through other means, including through mailing or electronic means. Section 516Ag10 of the Act, as amended by the USMCA
Implementation Act, provides that Commerce, upon request, shall inform any interested person of the date on which the Government of the relevant FTA country received notice of the determination. However, the statute is silent as to the method of notice to the government of a FTA country, and, therefore, it is left to the discretion of Commerce.9
Accordingly, Commerce is revising 356.6 to state that notice shall be deemed received either on the date on which the class or kind determination is published in the Federal Register, or, if the determination is not published, on the date on which Commerce conveys a copy of the determination by electronic notification to the government. Further, in instances in which Commerce does not publish the determination, these changes will require that Commerce: 1
Confirm the appropriate Embassy electronic mail address, and 2 directly convey to the Embassy an electronic copy of the determination during the Embassys normal business hours.
Commerce is also adopting changes to reflect that class or kind determination is a more accurate term than scope determination for these types of determinations. Similar edits are reflected in 356.7. In addition, for ease of reference the definition for scope determination in 356.2ee has been expanded to include reference to class or kind of merchandise determination.
Commerce is also amending 356.10
and 356.11 regarding the procedures for access to proprietary and privileged information during a USMCA binational panel dispute. Current 356.10 requires a party seeking access to proprietary information to do so by submitting an application for a protective order. Such applications are to be filed with the U.S.
section of the USMCA Secretariat, which in turn provides the applications 9 Similarly, the relevant language in USMCA
Article 10.12.4 does not specify the method by which the importing Party must notify the other involved Party of determinations not published in the official journal: In the case of final determinations that are not published in the official journal of the importing Party, the importing Party shall immediately notify the other involved Party of such final determination where it involves goods from the other involved Party, and the other involved Party may request a panel within 30 days of receipt of such notice. Nor do the Article 10.12
Binational Panel Rules, which state at Article 392c that a Request for Panel Review must contain the date on which the notice of the final determination was received by the other Party if the final determination was not published in an official publication. There are no specific requirements on the method of notification.

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to Commerce. Upon approving the application, Commerce will then issue the protective order to the Secretariat, which in turn will issue the protective order to the original applicant along with other participating parties to the dispute. The procedures in 356.10b3 have been updated to remove the requirement for manual filing.
Additionally, current 356.10b4ii provides the method of service by which a protective order may be served.
Because this provision does not currently account for service by electronic means, which is now permitted by the U.S. section of the Secretariat under the Article 10.12
Binational Panel Rules, Commerce is adding language to 356.10b4iiB
to allow for electronic means as a method of service for protective orders.
Further, Commerce is adding an additional provision 356.10b4iiD to reflect that the U.S. section of the Secretariat allows for the filing of documents using an electronic filing platform to satisfy service requirements under the Article 10.12 Binational Panel Rules. Commerce is also adding corresponding language to 356.10b4iii regarding the date of service if a document is served by electronic means or filed using the electronic filing platform.
Commerce is also revising 356.7b;
356.8d1; 356.10b3 through 5, 356.10c1i, 356.10c2i, 356.10c2v, 356.10c3, 356.10c4i, 356.10d2, 356.11a2
and 3, 356.11a5iii, 356.11c1i, 356.11c2 and 3, and 356.11d2 to remove language requiring originals and multiple copies, as such a requirement has been made obsolete. Moreover, Commerce is also revising 356.10b1iiC, 356.11b2iii, 356.12a5, 356.14d2, 356.14d4, and 356.18c4 to remove language requiring parties to return documents released under protective order and to log the use of proprietary documents, as such requirements have become obsolete, and to instead require parties to destroy and certify to the destruction of documents released under protective order.
4. Other Minor Corrections and Updates Commerce is also adopting minor corrections and updates to part 356 in 356.10b1i and 356.11b1
updating the address and the room number of the Central Records Unit;
356.7b and 356.8d1 updating the address and the room number of the APO/Dockets Unit; 356.2ee and 356.27d correcting punctuation;

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356.2kk correcting the address of the Commerce Department; 356.2bb2
updating the name of Mexicos Secretaria de Comercio y Fomento Industrial to the Secretariat of Economy; and 356.11c3 adding a missing word in the title of the paragraph. Lastly, Commerce is updating the definition of the term director as specified in 356.2n to correspond with the current definition in 19 CFR part 354, revised by Commerce in 1998.10
Classifications Administrative Procedure Act Under section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act APA 5
U.S.C. 553, agencies generally are required to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register that solicits public comment on the proposed regulatory amendments, consider public comments in deciding on the content of the final amendments, and publish the final amendments at least 30 days prior to their effective date. The APA 5 U.S.C. 553b provides a statutory exemption to notice-and-comment rulemaking for rules of agency organization, procedure, or practice and when the agency finds for good cause that such procedures are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. Commerces amendments to the regulation, 19 CFR
356, fall within this exemption.
Specifically, providing notice of and an opportunity for comment on the amended regulation in advance of its effective date is unnecessary pursuant to the good cause exemption 5 U.S.C.
553bB. As described above, the first set of amendments reflect revisions already made to U.S. law following the enactment of the USMCA; are already known to parties; or are otherwise necessary to replace outdated references to NAFTA with the USMCA.11 The second set of amendments address obsolete regulatory cross-references to other parts of Commerces regulations;
are non-substantive and technical in nature; and reflect procedures that are already known to parties.12 The third set of amendments streamline or remove outdated paper notice, filing, service, 10 See Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings: Administrative Protective Order Procedures; Procedures for Imposing Sanctions for Violation of a Protective Order, 85 FR 24391, 24400, 24403 May 4, 1998 final rule revising the definition of the term director in 19 CFR 354.2
to include Senior APO Specialist and to conform with changes in office director positions following an internal reorganization.
11 See changes described above under Updates to Reflect the Enactment of the USMCA.
12 See changes described above under Updates to Address Obsolete Regulatory Cross-references.

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