The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a report on data it has collected concerning imports of certain peppers.

The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, is required by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Implementation Act to monitor imports of "fresh or chilled tomatoes" and "fresh or chilled peppers, other than chili peppers," until January 1, 2009. The monitoring is intended to enable the ITC to conduct an expedited investigation and, if appropriate, recommend to the President provisional relief under either the global safeguard statute (section 202 of the Trade Act of 1974) or the bilateral safeguard statute (section 302 of the NAFTA Implementation Act) should a petition be filed that alleges that increased imports are causing serious injury to the U.S. tomato or pepper industry. The reports, which cover tomatoes and peppers for fresh-market use and for processing, include current conditions in the U.S. industry in such areas as production, imports, exports, and prices. In accordance with its standard practices, because there is an ongoing investigation involving tomato imports, the ITC did not publish a report on its monitoring of certain tomatoes in 2002.

Copies of Monitoring of U.S. Imports of Peppers (Investigation No. 332-351, USITC Publication 3559, November 2002) will be available on the ITC's Internet site at www.usitc.gov. A printed copy may be requested from the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street, SW, Washington, DC 20436, or by calling 202-205-1809. Requests may be made by fax to 202-205-2104.

ITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs or trade. The investigations are generally conducted at the request of USTR, the Senate Committee on Finance, or the House Committee on Ways and Means; the ITC may also self-initiate investigations. The resulting reports convey the Commission's objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the ITC submits its findings and analyses to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public, unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.