§ 207.24 - Hearing.

§ 207.24 Hearing.

(a) In general. The Commission shall hold a hearing concerning an investigation before making a final determination under section 705(b) or section 735(b) of the Act.

(b) Procedures. Any hearing shall be conducted after notice published in the Federal Register. The hearing shall not be subject to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. subchapter II, chapter 5, or to 5 U.S.C. 702. Each party shall limit its presentation at the hearing to a summary of the information and arguments contained in its prehearing brief, an analysis of the information and arguments contained in the prehearing briefs described in § 207.23, and information not available at the time its prehearing brief was filed. Unless a portion of the hearing is closed, presentations at the hearing shall not include business proprietary information. Notwithstanding § 201.13(f) of this chapter, in connection with its presentation, a party may provide written witness testimony at the hearing; if written testimony is provided, eight (8) true paper copies shall be submitted. In the case of testimony to be presented at a closed session held in response to a request under § 207.24(d), confidential and non-confidential versions shall be filed in accordance with § 207.3. Any person not a party may make a brief oral statement of information pertinent to the investigation.

(c) Hearing transcripts -

(1) In general. A verbatim transcript shall be made of all hearings or conferences held in connection with Commission investigations conducted under this part.

(2) Revision of transcripts. Within ten (10) days of the completion of a hearing, but in any event at least one (1) day prior to the date for disclosure of information set pursuant to § 207.30(a), any person who testified at the hearing may submit proposed revisions to the transcript of his or her testimony to the Secretary. No substantive revisions shall be permitted. If in the judgment of the Secretary a proposed revision does not alter the substance of the testimony in question, the Secretary shall incorporate the revision into a revised transcript.

(d) Closed sessions. Upon a request filed by a party to the investigation no later than seven (7) business days prior to the date of the hearing that identifies the subjects to be discussed, specifies the amount of time requested, and justifies the need for a closed session with respect to each subject to be discussed, the Commission may close a portion of a hearing to persons not authorized under § 207.7 to have access to business proprietary information in order to allow such party to address business proprietary information during the course of its presentation. If any party wishes to comment on the request to close a portion of the hearing, such comments must be filed within two (2) business days after the filing of the request. In addition, during each hearing held in an investigation conducted under section 705(b) or section 735(b) of the Act, 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 to persons not authorized under § 207.7 to have access to business proprietary information in order to allow Commissioners to question parties and/ or their representatives concerning matters involving business proprietary information.

[61 FR 37832, July 22, 1996, as amended at 70 FR 8512, Feb. 22, 2005; 76 FR 61943, Oct. 6, 2011]