ITC IMPROVES ELECTRONIC INTERFACE WITH INDUSTRY

ITC IMPROVES ELECTRONIC INTERFACE WITH INDUSTRY    The U.S. International Trade Commission will provide the industry with improved electronic access to public documents, and for the first time, offer electronic document filing capabilities in official agency investigations.
   The upgrade to the ITC’s Electronic Document Information System will be released on Jan. 23.
   “The new system marks the ITC’s first major foray into electronic commerce with the public, and it offers a greatly improved, more user-friendly system for ITC practitioners and researchers,” said ITC Chairman Deanna Tanner Okun.
   Key features of the upgraded EDIS are:
   *Daily updates of all documents electronically filed or scanned into the system the previous day.
   *Electronic filing capabilities for public versions of documents in all official ITC investigations.
   *An improved print function, which allows users to print full documents on their local printers.
   *An enhanced search feature, which allows registered users to save frequently used queries in the system for future use and reference.
   In the future, the ITC plans to accept confidential filings electronically once security tests of its system are complete.
   “While the new EDIS system is still a work in progress, we are proud to launch the first phase of the upgraded system,” Okun said. “We look forward to user feedback and welcome suggestions on ways to continue improving the system.”
   The ITC is an independent, nonpartisan federal agency that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government. The agency also publishes the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.