(a) Formal enforcement proceedings.

(1) The Commission may institute an enforcement proceeding at the Commission level upon the filing by the complainant in the original investigation or his successor in interest, by the Office of Unfair Import Investigations, or by the Commission of a complaint setting forth alleged violations of any exclusion order, cease and desist order, or consent order. If a proceeding is instituted, the complaint shall be served upon the alleged violator and a notice of institution published in the Federal Register. Within 15 days after the date of service of such a complaint, the named respondent shall file a response to it. Responses shall fully advise the Commission as to the nature of any defense and shall admit or deny each allegation of the complaint specifically and in detail unless the respondent is without knowledge, in which case its answer shall so state and the statement shall operate as a denial. Allegations of fact not denied or controverted may be deemed admitted. Matters alleged as affirmative defenses shall be separately stated and numbered. These proceedings are authorized under section 337(b) as investigations on whether there is a violation of section 337 in the same manner as original investigations, and are conducted in accordance with the laws for original investigations as set forth in section 1337 of title 19 and sections 554, 555, 556, 557, and 702 of title 5 of the United States Code and the rules of this part.

(i) The determination of whether to institute shall be made within 30 days after the complaint is filed, unless—

(A) Exceptional circumstances preclude adherence to a 30-day deadline;

(B) The filing party requests that the Commission postpone the determination on whether to institute an investigation; or

(C) The filing party withdraws the complaint.

(ii) If exceptional circumstances preclude Commission adherence to the 30-day deadline for determining whether to institute an investigation on the basis of the complaint, the determination will be made as soon after that deadline as possible.

(iii) If the filing party desires to have the Commission postpone making a determination on whether to institute an investigation in response to the complaint, the filing party must file a written request with the Secretary. If the request is granted, the determination will be rescheduled for whatever date is appropriate in light of the facts.

(iv) The filing party may withdraw the complaint as a matter of right at any time before the Commission votes on whether to institute an enforcement proceeding. To effect such withdrawal, the filing party must file a written notice with the Commission.

(2) Upon the failure of a respondent to file and serve a response within the time and in the manner prescribed herein the Commission, in its discretion, may find the facts alleged in the complaint to be true and take such action as may be appropriate without notice or hearing, or, in its discretion, proceed without notice to take evidence on the allegations set forth in the complaint, provided that the Commission (or administrative law judge, if one is appointed) may permit late filings of an answer for good cause shown.

(3) The Commission, in the course of a formal enforcement proceeding under this section, may hold a public hearing and afford the parties to the enforcement proceeding the opportunity to appear and be heard. The Commission may delegate the hearing to the chief administrative law judge for designation of a presiding administrative law judge, who shall certify an initial determination to the Commission. A presiding administrative law judge shall certify the record and issue the enforcement initial determination to the Commission no later than three months before the target date for completion of a formal enforcement proceeding. Parties may file petitions for review, and responses thereto, in accordance with §210.43 of this part. The enforcement initial determination shall become the determination of the Commission 45 days after the date of service of the enforcement initial determination, unless the Commission, within 45 days after the date of such service, shall have ordered review of the enforcement initial determination on certain issues therein, or by order shall have changed the effective date of the enforcement initial determination.

(4) Upon conclusion of a formal enforcement proceeding under this section, the Commission may:

(i) Modify a cease and desist order, consent order, and/or exclusion order in any manner necessary to prevent the unfair practices that were originally the basis for issuing such order;

(ii) Bring civil actions in a United States district court pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section (and section 337(f)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930) to recover for the United States the civil penalty accruing to the United States under that section for the breach of a cease and desist order or a consent order, and to obtain a mandatory injunction incorporating the relief the Commission deems appropriate for enforcement of the cease and desist order or consent order; or

(iii) Revoke the cease and desist order or consent order and direct that the articles concerned be excluded from entry into the United States.

(iv) Issue a new cease and desist order as necessary to prevent the unfair practices that were the basis for originally issuing the cease and desist order, consent order, and/or exclusion order subject to the enforcement proceeding.

(5) Prior to effecting any issuance, modification, revocation, or exclusion under this section, the Commission shall consider the effect of such action upon the public health and welfare, competitive conditions in the U.S. economy, the production of like or directly competitive articles in the United States, and U.S. consumers.

(6) In lieu of or in addition to taking the action provided for in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, the Commission may issue, pursuant to section 337(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, an order providing that any article imported in violation of the provisions of section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and an outstanding final exclusion order issued pursuant to section 337(d) of the Tariff Act of 1930 be seized and forfeited to the United States, if the following conditions are satisfied:

(i) The owner, importer, or consignee of the article (or the agent of such person) previously attempted to import the article into the United States;

(ii) The article previously was denied entry into the United States by reason of a final exclusion order; and

(iii) Upon such previous denial of entry, the Secretary of the Treasury provided the owner, importer, or consignee of the article (or the agent of such person) with written notice of the aforesaid exclusion order and the fact that seizure and forfeiture would result from any further attempt to import the article into the United States.

(b) Court enforcement. To obtain judicial enforcement of an exclusion order, a cease and desist order, a consent order, or a sanctions order, the Commission may initiate a civil action in the U.S. district court. In a civil action under section 337(f)(2) of the Tariff Act of 1930, the Commission may seek to recover for the United States the civil penalty accruing to the United States under that section for the breach of a cease and desist order or a consent order, and may ask the court to issue a mandatory injunction incorporating the relief the Commission deems appropriate for enforcement of the cease and desist order or consent order. The Commission may initiate a proceeding to obtain judicial enforcement without any other type of proceeding otherwise available under section 337 or this subpart or without prior notice to any person, except as required by the court in which the civil action is initiated.

[59 FR 39039, Aug. 1, 1994, as amended at 73 FR 38327, July 7, 2008; 78 FR 23486, Apr. 19, 2013; 83 FR 21163, May 8, 2018]