§4583 — Title 19 Customs Duties | U.S. Code

Summary

When an extraordinary challenge committee is set up under paragraph 13 of article 10.12 and the case includes an item in paragraph 13(a)(i), the committee can gather evidence and hear witnesses under Annex 10–B.3. It can get and copy any documents or records related to the case from any person or organization. It can call witnesses, take testimony, and give oaths. It can order people or groups to produce papers or to give written information in the form the committee wants. The committee can require witnesses to attend hearings anywhere in the United States. If someone ignores a subpoena, the committee can ask the Attorney General to go to a federal court to force compliance. The court can order people or groups to appear, give evidence, or hand over documents, and can punish refusal as contempt. The court can also issue writs of mandamus (orders) to make people follow the committee’s orders. The committee can have depositions taken at any time, before a person who can give oaths; those depositions must be written down and signed, and the same rules to compel testimony and documents apply.

Title 19, §4583

Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)If an extraordinary challenge committee (hereafter in this section referred to as the “committee”) is convened under paragraph 13 of article 10.12, and the allegations before the committee include a matter referred to in paragraph 13(a)(i) of article 10.12, for the purposes of carrying out its functions and duties under Annex 10–B.3, the committee—

(1)shall have access to, and the right to copy, any document, paper, or record pertinent to the subject matter under consideration, in the possession of any individual, partnership, corporation, association, organization, or other entity;

(2)may summon witnesses, take testimony, and administer oaths;

(3)may require any individual, partnership, corporation, association, organization, or other entity to produce documents, books, or records relating to the matter in question; and

(4)may require any individual, partnership, corporation, association, organization, or other entity to furnish in writing, in such detail and in such form as the committee may prescribe, information in its possession pertaining to the matter.

(b)The attendance of witnesses who are authorized to be summoned, and the production of documentary evidence authorized to be ordered, under subsection (a) may be required from any place in the United States at any designated place of hearing. In the case of disobedience to a subpoena authorized under subsection (a), the committee may request the Attorney General of the United States to invoke the aid of any district or territorial court of the United States in requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of documentary evidence. Such court, within the jurisdiction of which such inquiry is carried on, may, in case of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpoena issued to any individual, partnership, corporation, association, organization, or other entity, issue an order requiring such individual or entity to appear before the committee, or to produce documentary evidence if so ordered or to give evidence concerning the matter in question. Any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.

(c)Any court referred to in subsection (b) shall have jurisdiction to issue writs of mandamus commanding compliance with the provisions of this section or any order of the committee made in pursuance thereof.

(d)The committee may order testimony to be taken by deposition at any stage of the committee review. Such deposition may be taken before any person designated by the committee and having power to administer oaths. Such testimony shall be reduced to writing by the person taking the deposition, or under the direction of such person, and shall then be subscribed by the deponent. Any individual, partnership, corporation, association, organization, or other entity may be compelled to appear and be deposed and to produce documentary evidence in the same manner as witnesses may be compelled to appear and testify and produce documentary evidence before the committee, as provided in this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was formerly classified to section 3433 of this title prior to renumbering by Pub. L. 116–113.

Amendments

2020—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–113, § 504(d)(3), in introductory provisions, substituted “under paragraph 13 of article 10.12, and the allegations before the committee include a matter referred to in paragraph 13(a)(i) of article 10.12, for the purposes of carrying out its functions and duties under Annex 10–B.3, the committee—” for “under paragraph 13 of article 1904, and the allegations before the committee include a matter referred to in paragraph 13(a)(i) of article 1904, for the purposes of carrying out its functions and duties under Annex 1904.13, the committee—”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 2020 AmendmentTransfer to and amendment of this section by Pub. L. 116–113 effective on the date on which the USMCA enters into force (July 1, 2020), but not applicable to certain determinations under section 1516a of this title or binational panel reviews under NAFTA, see section 504(k) of Pub. L. 116–113, set out as a note under section 4581 of this title.

§4583 Testimony and Production of Papers in Extraordinary Challenges