It shall be the duty of the commission to investigate the administration and fiscal and industrial effects of the customs laws of this country, the relations between the rates of duty on raw materials and finished or partly finished products, the effects of ad valorem and specific duties and of compound specific and ad valorem duties, all questions relative to the arrangement of schedules and classification of articles in the several schedules of the customs law, and, in general, to investigate the operation of customs laws, including their relation to the Federal revenues, their effect upon the industries and labor of the country, and to submit reports of its investigations as hereafter provided.

The commission shall have power to investigate the tariff relations between the United States and foreign countries, commercial treaties, preferential provisions, economic alliances, the effect of export bounties and preferential transportation rates, the volume of importations compared with domestic production and consumption, and conditions, causes, and effects relating to competition of foreign industries with those of the United States, including dumping and cost of production.

The commission shall have power to investigate the Paris Economy Pact and similar organizations and arrangements in Europe.

In order that the President and the Congress may secure information and assistance, it shall be the duty of the commission to—

(1) Ascertain conversion costs and costs of production in the principal growing, producing, or manufacturing centers of the United States of articles of the United States, whenever in the opinion of the commission it is practicable;

(2) Ascertain conversion costs and costs of production in the principal growing, producing, or manufacturing centers of foreign countries of articles imported into the United States, whenever in the opinion of the commission such conversion costs or costs of production are necessary for comparison with conversion costs or costs of production in the United States and can be reasonably ascertained;

(3) Select and describe articles which are representative of the classes or kinds of articles imported into the United States and which are similar to or comparable with articles of the United States; select and describe articles of the United States similar to or comparable with such imported articles; and obtain and file samples of articles so selected, whenever the commission deems it advisable;

(4) Ascertain import costs of such representative articles so selected;

(5) Ascertain the grower’s, producer’s, or manufacturer’s selling prices in the principal growing, producing, or manufacturing centers of the United States of the articles of the United States so selected; and

(6) Ascertain all other facts which will show the differences in or which affect competition between articles of the United States and imported articles in the principal markets of the United States.

When used in this subdivision and in subdivision (d)—

(1) The term “article” includes any commodity, whether grown, produced, fabricated, manipulated, or manufactured;

(2) The term “import cost” means the transaction value of the imported merchandise determined in accordance with section 1401a(b) of this title plus, when not included in the transaction value, all necessary expenses, exclusive of customs duties, of bringing such merchandise to the United States.

The commission shall put at the disposal of the President of the United States, the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, whenever requested, all information at its command, and shall make such investigations and reports as may be requested by the President or by either of said committees or by either branch of the Congress. However, the Commission may not release information which the Commission considers to be confidential business information unless the party submitting the confidential business information had notice, at the time of submission, that such information would be released by the Commission, or such party subsequently consents to the release of the information. The Commission shall report to Congress on the first Monday of December of each year after June 17, 1930, a statement of the methods adopted and all expenses incurred, a summary of all reports made during the year, and a list of all votes taken by the commission during the year, showing those commissioners voting in the affirmative and the negative on each vote and those commissioners not voting on each vote and the reasons for not voting. Each such annual report shall include a list of all complaints filed under section 1337 of this title during the year for which such report is being made, the date on which each such complaint was filed, and the action taken thereon, and the status of all investigations conducted by the commission under such section during such year and the date on which each such investigation was commenced.

(June 17, 1930, ch. 497, title III, § 332, 46 Stat. 698; Pub. L. 93–618, title I, § 173, title III, § 341(b), Jan. 3, 1975, 88 Stat. 2010, 2056; Pub. L. 96–39, title II, § 202(a)(1), July 26, 1979, 93 Stat. 201; Pub. L. 100–418, title I, § 1613, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1262; Pub. L. 100–647, title IX, § 9001(a)(16), Nov. 10, 1988, 102 Stat. 3808.)