[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 19, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 19CFR210.27]

[Page 146-148]
 
                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
 
                            TRADE COMMISSION
 
PART 210--ADJUDICATION AND ENFORCEMENT--Table of Contents
 
               Subpart E--Discovery and Compulsory Process
 
Sec.  210.27  General provisions governing discovery.


    (a) Discovery methods. The parties to an investigation may obtain 
discovery by one or more of the following methods: depositions upon oral 
examination or written questions; written interrogatories; production of 
documents or things or permission to enter upon land or other property 
for inspection or other purposes; and requests for admissions.
    (b) Scope of discovery. Regarding the scope of discovery for the 
temporary relief phase of an investigation, see Sec.  210.61. For the 
permanent relief phase of an investigation, unless otherwise ordered by 
the administrative law judge, a party may obtain discovery regarding any 
matter, not privileged, that is relevant to the following:
    (1) The claim or defense of the party seeking discovery or to the 
claim or defense of any other party, including the existence, 
description, nature, custody, condition, and location of any books, 
documents, or other tangible things;

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    (2) The identity and location of persons having knowledge of any 
discoverable matter;
    (3) The appropriate remedy for a violation of section 337 of the 
Tariff Act of 1930 (see Sec.  210.42(a)(1)(ii)(A)); or
    (4) The appropriate bond for the respondents, under section 
337(j)(3) of the Tariff Act of 1930, during Presidential review of the 
remedial order (if any) issued by the Commission (see Sec.  
210.42(a)(1)(ii)(B)).

It is not grounds for objection that the information sought will be 
inadmissible at the hearing if the information sought appears reasonably 
calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.
    (c) Supplementation of Responses. (1) A party who has responded to a 
request for discovery with a response is under a duty to supplement or 
correct the response to include information thereafter acquired if 
ordered by the administrative law judge or the Commission or in the 
following circumstances: A party is under a duty seasonably to amend a 
prior response to an interrogatory, request for production, or request 
for admission if the party learns that the response is in some material 
respect incomplete or incorrect and if the additional or corrective 
information has not otherwise been made known to the other parties 
during the discovery process or in writing.
    (2) A duty to supplement responses also may be imposed by agreement 
of the parties, or at any time prior to a hearing through new requests 
for supplementation of prior responses.
    (d) Signing of Discovery Requests, Responses, and Objections. (1) 
The front page of every request for discovery or response or objection 
thereto shall contain a caption setting forth the name of the 
Commission, the title of the investigation or related proceeding, and 
the docket number or investigation number, if any, assigned to the 
investigation or related proceeding.
    (2) Every request for discovery or response or objection thereto 
made by a party represented by an attorney shall be signed by at least 
one attorney of record in the attorney's individual name, whose address 
shall be stated. A party who is not represented by an attorney shall 
sign the request, response, or objection and shall state the party's 
address. The signature of the attorney or party constitutes a 
certification that to the best of the signer's knowledge, information, 
and belief formed after a reasonable inquiry, the request, objection, or 
response is:
    (i) Consistent with Sec.  210.5(a) (if applicable) and other 
relevant provisions of this chapter, and warranted by existing law or a 
good faith argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of 
existing law;
    (ii) Not interposed for any improper purpose, such as to harass or 
to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of 
litigation; and
    (iii) Not unreasonable or unduly burdensome or expensive, given the 
needs of the case, the discovery already had in the case, and the 
importance of the issues at stake in the litigation.


If a request, response, or objection is not signed, it shall be stricken 
unless it is signed promptly after the omission is called to the 
attention of the party making the request, response, or objection, and a 
party shall not be obligated to take any action with respect to it until 
it is signed.
    (3) If without substantial justification a request, response, or 
objection is certified in violation of paragraph (d)(2) of this section, 
the administrative law judge or the Commission, upon motion or sua 
sponte under Sec.  210.25 of this part, may impose an appropriate 
sanction upon the person who made the certification, the party on whose 
behalf the request, response, or objection was made, or both.
    (4) An appropriate sanction may include an order to pay to the other 
parties the amount of reasonable expenses incurred because of the 
violation, including a reasonable attorney's fee, to the extent 
authorized by Rule 26(g) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 
Monetary sanctions shall not be imposed under this section against the 
United States, the Commission, or a Commission investigative attorney.
    (5) Monetary sanctions may be imposed under this section to 
reimburse the Commission for expenses incurred by a Commission 
investigative attorney or the Commission's Office of Unfair Import 
Investigations. Monetary sanctions will not be imposed under

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this section to reimburse the Commission for attorney's fees.