On Tuesday May 8, 2018, the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC” or “The Commission”) published amended Rules (19 C.F.R. Parts 201 and 210) regarding practice and procedure in an effort to streamline and “improve the provisions of the Commission’s existing Rules of Practice and Procedure.” See 83 Fed. Reg. 21140-64 (May 8, 2018).  The final regulations contain eleven (11) changes from the proposals in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) published by the Commission in the Federal Register at 80 Fed. Reg. 57553-64 (Sept. 24, 2015).

These Rules will go into effect on June 7, 2018, and only apply to investigations instituted after this date.

We have summarized the following amendments in our alert which you can read in full here.

• Rule 201.16(a)(1), (4) and (f) — The Commission may effect service through electronic means and authorizes parties to serve documents by electronic means.
• Rule 210.10(b)(1) — The notice of investigation must specify in plain language the scope of the accused products or category of accused products that will be the subject of the investigation.
• Rule 210.10(b)(3) — The Commission has amended the Rule to note that an initial determination ruling on a potentially dispositive issue in a 100-day proceeding is due within 100 days of institution of an investigation.
• Rule 210.14(h) — The ALJ will have the authority to sever an investigation into two or more investigations at any time prior to or upon thirty (30) days from institution, based upon either a motion by any party or upon the ALJ’s own judgment that severance is necessary to allow efficient adjudication.
• Rule 210.15(a)(2) — The Commission has amended its Rules to indicate that filing motions before the Commission preinstitution is prohibited, with the exception of a Motion for Temporary Relief.
• Rule 210.25(a)(1) and (2) — The Commission has amended its Rules to require that any party may file a motion for sanctions for abuse of process, abuse of discovery, failure to make or cooperate in discovery or violation of a protective order.
• Rule  210.27(e)(5) — The Commission has amended its Rules to be consistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26 concerning the preservation of privilege between counsel and expert witnesses.
• Rule 210.28(h)(3)(v) and (vi) — The Commission has amended its Rules to provide for the admissibility of party and witness depositions.
• Rule 210.32(d) and (f) — The Commission has amended its Rules regarding subpoena practice to closer conform with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure with regard to objections, motions to quash and payment of fees and mileage for appearance in response to a subpoena.

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