PUBLIC LAW 106-286—OCT. 10, 2000 114 STAT. 883 under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause market disruption to the domestic producers of Uke or directly competitive products. "(2) The limitations on investigations set forth in section 202(h)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(h)(1)) shall apply to investigations conducted under this section. "(3) The provisions of subsections (a)(8) and (i) of section 202 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(a)(8) and (i)), relating to treatment of confidential business information, shall apply to investigations conducted under this section. "(4) Whenever a petition is filed, or a request or resolution is received, under this subsection, the Commission shall transmit a copy thereof to the President, the Trade Representative, the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, except that in the case of confidential business information, the copy may include only nonconfidential summaries of such information. "(5) The Commission shall publish notice of the commencement Federal Register, of any proceeding under this subsection in the Federal Register publication. 2m.d shall, within a reasonable time thereafl;er, hold public hearings at which the Commission shall afford interested parties an opportunity to be present, to present evidence, to respond to the presentations of other parties, and otherwise to be heard. "(c) MARKET DISRUPTION.— (1) For purposes of this section, market disruption exists whenever imports of an article Uke or directly competitive with an article produced by a domestic industry are increasing rapidly, either absolutely or relatively, so as to be a significant cause of material injury, or threat of material injury, to the domestic industry. "(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term 'significant cause' refers to a cause which contributes significantly to the material injury of the domestic industry, but need not be equal to or greater than any other cause. "(d) FACTORS IN DETERMINATION. —In determining whether market disruption exists, the Commission shall consider objective factors, including— "(1) the volume of imports of the product which is the subject of the investigation; "(2) the effect of imports of such product on prices in the United States for like or directly competitive articles; and "(3) the effect of imports of such product on the domestic industry producing like or directly competitive articles. The presence or absence of any factor under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) is not necessarily dispositive of whether market disruption exists. "(e) TIME FOR COMMISSION DETERMINATIONS.— The Commission Deadline, shall make and transmit to the President and the Trade Representative its determination under subsection (b)(1) at the earliest practicable time, but in no case later than 60 days (or 90 days in the case of a petition requesting relief under subsection (i)) after the date on which the petition is filed, the request or resolution is received, or the motion is adopted, under subsection (b). If the Commissioners voting are equally divided with respect to its determination, then the determination agreed upon by either group of Commissioners may be considered by the President and the Trade Representative as the determination of the Commission.
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