Generalized System of Preferences: Initiation of the 2008 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review and Deadlines for Filing Petitions

Federal Register: May 15, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 95)

Notices

Page 28174-28175

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr15my08-94

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the

Initiation of the 2008 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility

Practices Review and Deadlines for Filing Petitions

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and Solicitation for Public Petitions.

SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Office of the United States

Trade Representative (USTR) will receive petitions in 2008 to modify the list of products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP program and to modify the GSP status of certain GSP beneficiary developing countries because of country practices. This notice further determines that the deadline for submission of product petitions, other than those requesting competitive need limitation (CNL) waivers, and country practice petitions for the 2008 Annual GSP Product and Country

Eligibility Practices Review is 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 18, 2008. The deadline for submission of product petitions requesting CNL waivers is 5 p.m., Thursday, November 13, 2008. The list of product petitions and country practice petitions accepted for review will be announced in the

Federal Register at later dates.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact the GSP Subcommittee of the

Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade

Representative, 1724 F Street, NW., Room F-220, Washington, DC 20508.

The telephone number is (202) 395-6971, the facsimile number is (202) 395-9481, and the e-mail address is FR0807@ustr.eop.gov. (Note: the digit before the number in the e-mail address is the number ``zero,'' not a letter.) Public versions of all documents relating to this Review will be available for examination approximately 30 days after the pertinent due date, by appointment, in the USTR public reading room, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC. Availability of documents may be ascertained, and appointments may be made from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, by calling (202) 395-6186. 2008 Annual GSP Review

The GSP regulations (15 CFR part 2007) provide the timetable for conducting an annual review, unless otherwise specified by Federal

Register notice. Notice is hereby given that, in order to be considered in the 2008 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices

Review, all petitions to modify the list of articles eligible for duty- free treatment under GSP or to review the GSP status of any beneficiary developing country, with the exception of petitions requesting CNL waivers, must be received by the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy

Staff Committee no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

Petitions requesting CNL waivers must be received by the GSP

Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, November 13, 2008, in order to be considered in the 2008

Annual Review. Petitions submitted after the respective deadlines will not be considered for review.

Interested parties, including foreign governments, may submit petitions to: (1) Designate additional articles as eligible for GSP benefits, including to designate articles as eligible for GSP benefits only for countries designated as least-developed beneficiary developing countries, or only for countries designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan

African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA);

(2) withdraw, suspend or limit the application of duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP with respect to any article, either for all beneficiary developing countries, least-developed beneficiary developing countries or beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, or for any of these countries individually; (3) waive the ``competitive need limitations'' for individual beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific GSP-eligible articles (these limits do not apply to either least-developed beneficiary developing countries or AGOA beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries); and (4) otherwise modify

GSP coverage.

As specified in 15 CFR 2007.1, all product petitions must include a detailed description of the product and the 8-digit subheading of the

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under which the product is classified.

Further, product petitions requesting CNL waivers for GSP-eligible articles from beneficiary developing countries that exceed the CNLs in 2008 must be filed in the 2008 Annual Review. In order to allow petitioners an opportunity to review additional 2008 U.S. import statistics, these petitions may be filed after Wednesday, June 18, 2008, but must be received on or before the Thursday, November 13, 2008, deadline described above in order to be considered in the 2008

Annual Review. Copies will be made available for public inspection after the November 13, 2008, deadline.

Any person may also submit petitions to review the designation of any beneficiary developing country, including any least-developed beneficiary developing country, with respect to any of the designation criteria listed in sections 502(b) or 502(c) of the Trade Act (19

U.S.C. 2462(b) and (c)) (petitions to review the designation of beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries are considered in the Annual

Review of the AGOA, a separate administrative process not governed by the GSP regulations). Such petitions must comply with the requirements of 15 CFR 2007.0(b).

Requirements for Submissions

All such submissions must conform to the GSP regulations set forth at 15 CFR part 2007, except as modified below. These regulations are reprinted in the ``U.S. Generalized System of Preferences Guidebook''

(``GSP Guidebook''), available at http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Trade_

Development/Preference_Programs/GSP/asset_upload_file666_8359.pdf.

Any person or party making a submission is strongly advised to review the GSP regulations. Submissions that do not provide the information required by sections 2007.0 and 2007.1 of the GSP regulations will not be accepted for review, except upon a detailed showing in the submission that the petitioner made a good faith effort to obtain the information required. Petitions with respect to waivers of the ``competitive need limitations'' must meet the information requirements for product addition requests in section 2007.1(c) of the

GSP regulations. A model petition format is available from the GSP

Subcommittee and is included in the GSP Guidebook. Petitioners are requested to use this model petition format so as to ensure that all information requirements are met. Furthermore, interested parties submitting petitions that request action with respect to specific products should list on the first page of the petition the following information after typing ``2008 Annual GSP Review'': (1) The requested action; (2) the HTSUS 8-digit subheading in which the product is

Page 28175

classified; and (3) if applicable, the beneficiary developing country.

Petitions and requests must be submitted, in English, to the Chairman of the GSP Subcommittee, Trade Policy Staff Committee. Submissions in response to this notice will be available for public inspection by appointment with the staff of the USTR Public Reading Room, except for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.6. If the submission contains business confidential information, a non-confidential version of the submission must also be submitted that indicates where confidential information was redacted by inserting asterisks where material was deleted. In addition, the confidential submission must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' in large, bold letters at the top and bottom of each and every page of the document. The public version that does not contain business confidential information must also be clearly marked in large, bold letters at the top and bottom of each and every page (either ``PUBLIC

VERSION'' or ``NON-CONFIDENTIAL''). Documents that are submitted without any marking might not be accepted or will be considered public documents.

In order to facilitate prompt consideration of submissions, USTR requires electronic mail (e-mail) submissions in response to this notice. Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted. E-mail submissions should be single copy transmissions in English with the total submission including attachments not to exceed 30 pages in 12- point type and 3 megabytes as a digital file attached to an e-mail transmission. Submissions should use the following e-mail subject line:

``2008 Annual GSP Review-Petition.'' Documents must be submitted as either WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), text (``.TXT''), or

Adobe (``PDF'') files. Documents cannot be submitted as electronic image files or contain embedded images (for example, ``.JPG'',

``.TIF'', ``.BMP'', or ``.GIF''). Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel, pre-formatted for printing on 8\1/2\ x 11 inch paper. To the extent possible, any data attachments to the submission should be included in the same file as the submission itself, and not as separate files. E-mail submissions should not include separate cover letters or messages in the message area of the e-mail; information that might appear in any cover letter should be included directly in the attached file containing the submission itself, including identifying information on the sender, organization name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. The electronic mail address for these submissions is FR0807@ustr.eop.gov

(Note: The digit before the number in the e-mail address is the number

``zero,'' not a letter.) Documents not submitted in accordance with these instructions may not be considered in this review. If unable to provide submissions by e-mail, please contact the GSP Subcommittee to arrange for an alternative method of transmission.

For any document containing business confidential information submitted as an electronic attached file to an e-mail transmission, in addition to the proper marking at the top and bottom of each page as previously specified, the file name of the business confidential version should begin with the characters ``BC-'', and the file name of the public version should begin with the characters ``P-''. The ``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be followed by the name of the person or party

(government, company, union, association, etc.) submitting the petition.

Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be available for public review approximately 30 days after the due date by appointment in the USTR Public Reading Room, 1724 F Street, NW.,

Washington, DC. Availability of documents may be ascertained, and appointments may be made from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, by calling 202-395-6186.

Marideth Sandler,

Executive Director, GSP Program Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of the Trade

Policy Staff Committee.

FR Doc. E8-10917 Filed 5-14-08; 8:45 am

BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P