210.75—Proceedings to enforce exclusion orders, cease and desist orders, consent orders, and other Commission orders.

(a) Informal enforcement proceedings. Informal enforcement proceedings may be conducted by the Commission, through the Office of Unfair Import Investigations, with respect to any act or omission by any person in possible violation of any provision of an exclusion order, cease and desist order, or consent order. Such matters may be handled by the Commission through correspondence or conference or in any other way that the Commission deems appropriate. The Commission may issue such orders as it deems appropriate to implement and insure compliance with the terms of an exclusion order, cease and desist order, or consent order, or any part thereof. Any matter not disposed of informally may be made the subject of a formal proceeding pursuant to this subpart.

(b) 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.

(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 hearing will not be subject to sections 554, 555, 556, 557, and 702 of title 5 of the United States Code. 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. That initial determination shall become the determination of the Commission 90 days after the date of service of the initial determination, unless the Commission, within 90 days after the date of such service shall have ordered review of the initial determination on certain issues therein, or by order shall have changed the effective date of the 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.

(5) Prior to effecting any 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.

(c) 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.

Code of Federal Regulations

[59 FR 39039, Aug. 1, 1994, as amended at 73 FR 38327, July 7, 2008]

CFR

210.75—Proceedings to enforce exclusion orders, cease and desist orders, consent orders, and other Commission orders.

Code of Federal Regulations