Company Officials
This six-minute video provides an orientation for company officials on the TAA eligibility process. If you have difficulty with the video, you may also download the transcript.
After receiving a Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) petition, TAA investigators analyze the facts to determine whether increased imports or shifts in production or services contributed importantly to the workers' actual or threatened layoffs or work reductions, and to determine whether the required minimum proportion of the workforce has either been laid off or is threatened with layoffs. The Program Analyst assigned to the investigation will provide information regarding the specific date ranges and other information being sought for the purposes of the investigation. These forms are provided here for informational purposes.
Business Data Request
Most information is collected from the firm through the Business Data Request form (BDR). This form, which must be completed by the workers' firm (referred to as "the subject firm"), requires the subject firm to provide information on employment levels, sales, production, and activity related to imports of articles or services, and shifts from the United States to a foreign country of the production or acquisition of articles and supply or acquisition of services.
The firm expeditiously completing this form is necessary for the U.S. Department of Labor to determine whether these workers may be eligible for federal benefits. By law, this determination must be made by the Department within 40 days following the filing date of the petition (19 U.S.C. 2273(a)).
The Department is working to collect BDR information through our our Petition Automated Workflow System (PAWS). To access the system, you must be authenticated through Login.Gov. Instructions for creating a login can be viewed here and a video walk through is below.
Customer Surveys
A customer survey is sometimes conducted in order to obtain purchasing data from customers listed on the BDR. Customers of the subject firm use this form to provide data on purchases of the articles produced by the worker group(s) of the subject firm on whose behalf the petition was filed, purchases of the services provided by the worker group(s), or on finished products that incorporate the articles produced or services provided by the worker group(s).
- "First Tier" Customer Survey (ETA-8562a) - Customers purchasing articles or services from the subject company.
- "Second Tier" Customer Survey (ETA-8562a1) - Customers purchasing articles from customers of the subject company who completed "First Tier" customer surveys.
Bid Survey
This form is used to collect data from the subject firm's customers that solicit business through a bid process. This form seeks information from the successful awardee(s) of the project/contract and those that were runner-ups in the competition.
Business Information Request
This form is used to collect data from firms of workers employed as leased/contract workers in conjunction with or in support of their client (the subject firm). This form seeks information on the relationship between the firm employing the leased workers and the client/subject firm to determine whether the client/subject firm has operational control over the leased workers.
Confidentiality
All information submitted under these requests will be used to determine whether the criteria for certification of the workers covered by a petition have been satisfied. The U.S. Department of Labor will protect the confidentiality of the information provided to the full extent of the law, in accordance with section 222(d)(3)(C) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, 19 USC 2272(d)(3)(C); Trade Secrets Act, 18 USC 1905; Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), in 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4); 29 CFR Part 70; and 20 CFR Part 618; Executive Order 12600, dated June 23, 1987 (352 FR 23781, June 25, 1987); Executive Order 13392, dated December 14, 2005 (70 FR 75373, December 19, 2005); Presidential Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Concerning the Freedom of Information Act (74 FR 4683, January 21, 2009) available at https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/oip/legacy/2014/07/23/foia-memorandum.pdf; and Attorney General's Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Concerning the Freedom of Information Act (March 19, 2009), available at https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/ag/legacy/2009/06/24/foia-memo-march2009.pdf.
Commonly Requested Information
The U.S. Department of Labor frequently receives Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the data provided on TAA petitions and investigative forms, including the estimated number of allegedly affected workers and countries impacting workers related to TAA investigations. This information may be provided on the Business Data Request form and/or the Business Customer Survey. Executive Order 12600 requires notice to the submitter prior to disclosure. When an investigation is complete, you will receive a copy of the determination as well as a notice of our intent to disclose only those two pieces of data. Due to the number of requests for this dataset, these two elements have been included in our public Determinations Data. If we receive a FOIA request for the entire Business Data Request form, we will separately notify you pursuant to Executive Order 12600. You may object within 14 calendar days of the letter to public disclosure under the FOIA by providing a detailed statement indicating why you believe that disclosure of the information could cause you competitive harm. If you fail to provide an objection to disclosure within 14 calendar days from the date of that letter, we will consider that you have no objection to the disclosure of the information requested.