Summary of Commission Practice Relating to Administrative Protective Orders

Since February 1991, the U.S. International Trade Commission (``Commission'') has published in the Federal Register reports on the status of its practice with respect to violations of its administrative protective orders (``APOs'') under title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930, in response to a direction contained in the Conference Report to the Customs and Trade Act of 1990. Over time, the Commission has added to its report discussions of APO breaches in Commission proceedings other than under title VII and violations of the Commission's rules including the rule on bracketing business proprietary information (``BPI'') (the ``24-hour rule''). This notice provides a summary of breach investigations (APOB investigations) completed during calendar year 2016. This summary addresses two APOB investigations related to proceedings under title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 and seven APOB investigations related to proceedings under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, two of which were combined and which were related to the same proceedings under section 337. The Commission investigated rules violations as part of two of the APOB investigations. The Commission intends that this report inform representatives of parties to Commission proceedings as to some specific types of APO breaches encountered by the Commission and the corresponding types of actions the Commission has taken.