(a) In general. Public hearings are held by the Commission when required by law or, if not required by law, when in the judgment of the Commission there is good and sufficient reason therefor. Public hearings will be held at the time and place specified in notices issued under §201.10. Public hearings are ordinarily held in the Hearing Room of the International Trade Commission Building, in Washington, DC, but may be held elsewhere at the Commission's discretion.

(b) Presiding officials—(1) Who presides. Public hearings or conferences in nonadjudicative investigations will be conducted by the Commission or by one or more Commissioners. When the Commission deems it necessary, such hearings will be conducted by one or more designated employees. In all cases the transcript of the testimony at a hearing will be presented for the consideration of the Commission.

(2) Powers and duties. The Commission, one or more of the Commissioners, or one or more designated employees shall have all the powers to conduct fair and impartial hearings, to take necessary action to avoid delay in the disposition of proceedings, including the prescription of time allocated to testimony, argument, and questioning, to regulate the course of hearings and the conduct of the parties and their counsel therein, and to maintain order.

(c) Participation in a hearing—(1) Who may participate. A party may participate in the hearing, either in person or by representative. A nonparty who has testimony or arguments that may aid the Commission's deliberations may also participate, under such conditions as may be established by the presiding officials at the hearing.

(2) Notices of participation. Notices of participation in a hearing shall be filed with the Secretary at least three (3) days in advance of the date set for the hearing or two (2) days in advance of the date set in the notice of investigation for a prehearing conference, whichever shall first occur, except that the presiding officials may waive this requirement for good cause. Witnesses on behalf of persons filing notices of participation need not file separate notices.

(d) Witness list. Each person who files a notice of participation pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section shall simultaneously file with the Secretary a list of the witnesses he intends to call at the hearing.

(e) Order of the testimony. Unless otherwise ordered by the presiding officials, witnesses will give testimony in the order designated by the Secretary to the Commission. Each witness, after being duly sworn, will be permitted to proceed with his or her testimony without interruption except by presiding officials.

(f) Supplementary material. A party to the investigation may file with the Secretary supplementary material, other than remarks read into the record, for acceptance into the record. The party shall file any such material with the Secretary at the hearing. Supplementary materials must be marked with the name of the organization submitting it. As used herein, the term supplementary material refers to (1) additional graphic material such as charts and diagrams used to illuminate an argument or clarify a position and (2) information not available to a party at the time its prehearing brief was filed.

(g) Questioning of witnesses. After completing testimony, a witness may be questioned by any member of the Commission or by its staff. Any participant may, with the permission of the presiding officials, direct questions to the witness, but only for the purpose of assisting the Commission in obtaining relevant and material facts with respect to the subject matter of the investigation.

(h) Oral argument. When, in the opinion of the presiding officials, time permits and the nature of the proceedings and the complexity or importance of the questions of fact or law involved warrant, the presiding officials may allow oral argument after conclusion of the testimony in a hearing. The presiding officials will determine in each instance the time to be allowed for argument and the allocation thereof.

(i) Briefs—(1) Parties. Briefs of the information produced at the hearing and arguments thereon may be presented to the Commission by parties to the investigation. Time to be allowed for submission of briefs will be set after conclusion of testimony and oral argument, if any.

(2) Nonparties. Any person who is not a party to an investigation may submit a short statement for the record regarding the subject matter of an investigation.

(j) Verification of testimony. Oral or written information submitted at hearings will, upon order of the Commission, be subject to verification from books, papers, and records of the persons submitting the information and from any other available sources.

(k) Hearing transcripts. A verbatim transcript of all hearings will be taken. The Commission does not distribute transcripts of the records of such hearings. Any person may inspect the transcript of a hearing at the Commission's office in Washington, DC, or purchase it from the official reporter.

(l) To facilitate the conduct of hearings, parties intending to use easels, audio visual, and similar equipment in the course of hearing presentations should advise the Secretary of their intent to use such equipment at least three (3) working days before the hearing.

(m) Closed sessions.

(1) Upon a request filed by a party to the investigation no later than seven (7) days prior to the date of the hearing (or three (3) days prior to the date of a conference conducted under §207.15 of this chapter) that

(i) Identifies the subjects to be discussed;

(ii) Specifies the amount of time requested; and

(iii) Justifies the need for a closed session with respect to each subject to be discussed, the Commission (or the Director, as defined in §207.2(c) of this chapter, for a conference under §207.15 of this chapter) may close a portion of a hearing (or conference under §207.15 of this chapter) held in any investigation in order to allow such party to address confidential business information, as defined in §201.6, during the course of its presentation.

(2) In addition, during each hearing held in an investigation conducted under section 202 of the Trade Act, as amended, or in an investigation under title VII of the Tariff Act as provided in §207.24 of this chapter, following the public presentation of the petitioner(s) and that of each panel of respondents, the Commission will, if it deems it appropriate, close the hearing in order to allow Commissioners to question parties and/or their representatives concerning matters involving confidential business information.

[47 FR 6189, Feb. 10, 1982, as amended at 47 FR 33682, Aug. 4, 1982; 54 FR 13678, Apr. 5, 1989; 59 FR 66722, Dec. 28, 1994; 61 FR 37829, July 22, 1996; 68 FR 32975, June 3, 2003]