[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 102 (Thursday, May 27, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28857-28860]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-13552]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Petitions To Accelerate Tariff Elimination Under
Provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notification of an opportunity to file petitions requesting
accelerated tariff elimination under the North American Free Trade
Agreement.
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SUMMARY: Section 201(b) of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act of 1993 (``the Act'') grants the President, subject
to the consultation and lay-over requirements of section 103(a) of the
Act, the authority to proclaim any accelerated schedule for duty
elimination that may be agreed to by the United States, Mexico, and
Canada under Article 302(3) of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(``the NAFTA''). This notice solicits new petitions requesting
accelerated tariff elimination under the NAFTA, describes the
procedures for filing petitions, and sets forth the procedure for
further consideration of previously filed petitions. Similar notices
are being published by the Governments of Canada and Mexico.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: North American Affairs, Office of the
United States Trade Representative, Room 522, 600 17th Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20508; telephone: (202) 395-3412; fax: (202) 395-9517;
email:[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1989, five tariff acceleration
exercises have been completed in North America. The first three were
conducted under provisions of the United States-Canada Free Trade
Agreement (USCFTA), and the most recent two, with the addition of
Mexico, under the NAFTA. In response to the interest of their private
sectors, the NAFTA governments have been successful in accelerating
tariff elimination on approximately $4 billion in trade.
The NAFTA governments have agreed on the amended process outlined
below for future tariff acceleration activity. These changes expand the
role of interested parties in the initial petitioning stage, streamline
the process for consideration of requests, and allow for further
consideration of petitions filed during the second NAFTA accelerated
tariff elimination exercise.
On January 1, 1998, the United States and Canada eliminated all
remaining tariffs on goods subject to the NAFTA. Tariffs are being
eliminated between the United States and Mexico and Canada and Mexico
as set out in the NAFTA, with 6 annual reductions implemented to date.
Given the tariff reductions and eliminations that have already
occurred, the scope of potential future accelerated tariff reduction
activity is more limited than that of prior exercises, and now involves
only trade between Mexico and the United States and Mexico and Canada.
I. Petition Requirements for New Requests
(See II below for additional requirements for reconsidering
requests included in the second NAFTA Accelerated Tariff Elimination
Exercise).
A. Petitions Must Be Jointly Submitted and Must Be Non-Controversial
Petitions must be submitted by interested parties in at least two
of the NAFTA countries to their governments for accelerated duty
elimination. That is, petitions must cover U.S.-Mexico and/or Canada-
Mexico trade. Governments encourage petitioners to explore submitting
petitions from all three countries. Documentation must be provided
demonstrating producers in each of the relevant countries have reached
a consensus to support mutual accelerated tariff elimination. An
exception to the requirement for joint submissions can be made in cases
where the equivalent subheadings are already provided duty-free
treatment under MFN or NAFTA by one or both of the non-petitioning
countries. In such cases, documentation is required only from the
producer industries in those countries which have remaining duties in
place. The governments will expect the petitioners to have contacted
all
[[Page 28858]]
producers in the relevant countries and to have received no objections
to the petitions as it is being submitted. Where industry associations
exist that represent all producers, petitions or statements of support
from these organizations are acceptable and in fact preferred.
Governments will not consider a petition if they have information
indicating that a consensus view does not exist.
B. Scope and Coverage of Petitions
Governments encourage interested parties to review the broadest
appropriate range of tariff headings and to submit petitions that
reflect a consensus reached after such a broad-based review. A single
petition can thus include requests covering multiple tariff headings.
Petitions should cover entire 8-digit tariff subheadings, and may also
be submitted at the 6 or 4 digit level where the intent is to cover all
subsidiary duties still in place.
C. Timing
All requests for accelerated tariff elimination must be received at
the address below by July 1,1999, for earliest consideration. Requests
received after that date will be considered annually with a closing
date of March 1 until full implementation of the NAFTA tariff
eliminations.
D. Review of Petitions
After petitions are accepted for consideration, each government
will conduct the consultation and review process required under its
domestic procedures. This is done with the expectation that no
opposition will be found based on the joint nature of the petition
submissions. The governments will consider and adopt modifications to
the original petitions throughout this process for technical reasons,
to consolidate duplicate petitions, to ensure parity of product
coverage among the countries, or to accommodate minor objections which
arise during review. However, requests that are controversial will not
be acted on. When the internal review process is completed, governments
will finalize an agreed list of articles to be considered for
accelerated tariff elimination and begin the required domestic
implementation procedures.
II. Petition Requirements for Further Consideration of Requests
Submitted During the Second NAFTA Accelerated Tariff Elimination
Exercise
Tariff subheadings that were published by the respective
governments in 1997 for consideration and for which no agreement to
accelerate duty elimination has yet been reached can be further
considered where there is interest in doing so, as indicated by a
petition filed pursuant to this notice. For the United States, the
relevant headings are those that were published in the Federal Register
of October 21, 1997, page 54671, and which were not included in the
list of tariffs eliminated in the Federal Register notice of August 5,
1998, page 41951. The notices for Canadian subheadings appeared in the
Gazette on October 18, 1997, and July 31, 1998, respectively, and for
Mexico, the Diario notices of November 3, 1997, and June 26, 1998.
Petitions requesting further consideration for these subheadings
must be submitted using the form in the annex, and the documentation
showing the requests to be non-controversial in all the relevant NAFTA
countries must be included. Such petitions must specifically address
the opposition that arose that prevented a decision to implement
accelerated duty elimination at that time.
III. Format of Petitions
A model petition format and the information requested is shown in
the annex to this notice. In order to be considered, petitions for
accelerated tariff elimination must conform to the model format and
contain all essential data elements.
If a submission contains business confidential material, the
specific material must be so identified in order to receive
confidential treatment. In such cases, both a non-confidential and a
business confidential version of the petition, each clearly marked as
to its status, must be submitted. None of the information provided in
sections A, B, and C of the petition may be designated business
confidential.
A copy of the petition format and this notice can be obtained from
North American Affairs staff, Office of the United States Trade
Representative (USTR), 600 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20508,
telephone (202) 395-3412. Petitioners are encouraged to submit requests
to USTR via the Internet or on a properly formatted computer disk. The
form and instructions for electronic submissions can be obtained,
beginning June 1, 1999, from the USTR Internet home page: www.ustr.gov
under the ``What's New'' heading.
IV. General Instructions
Numbered paragraphs below refer to fields in the model petition
provided in the annex.
Section A. Scope and Petitioner Identification
1. Note format of submission--hard copy, computer disk, or via
Internet e-mail.
2. Identify the countries that would be accelerating tariff
elimination as a result of this petition. This must include at least
two countries, except in cases where one or two parties have already
eliminated all corresponding duties. All petitions should be fully
reciprocal, that is, each participating country would be expected to
accelerate duty elimination to the same degree.
3.-17. Contact Information. The petitioner contact will be the
single entity notified by the United States government in cases where
information beyond that required by the petition is needed. The contact
need not be a producer organization. The petitioner contact would be
responsible for disseminating information among participating
organizations in that country. A private-sector producer organization
contact should also be provided for each participating country.
Section B. Tariff Heading Information
18.-19. The petition should provide a concordance for the two or
three relevant countries indicating the respective tariff
classifications of all products of interest. Petitions should indicate
those headings which will already be duty free on or before January 1,
2000, and those items which, while necessary to show a full
concordance, are not being requested for accelerated tariff
elimination. Requests for accelerated tariff elimination should be
listed at the 8-digit subheading level or above (i.e., 6- or 4-digit
level). Requests at the 4- or 6-digit level can be considered, as long
as the petitioners have agreed and are in fact proposing that all
remaining tariffs contained within those classifications are being
proposed for accelerated tariff elimination. The NAFTA governments will
consider requests for immediate tariff elimination. Requests for tariff
elimination on another accelerated timetable will only be considered in
extraordinary circumstances and only when the additional administrative
burdens and benefits associated with such action can be justified. To
simplify petitions, if a large majority of tariff subheadings in a
specific product category are proposed for accelerated tariff
elimination with very few exceptions, the exceptions should be listed
under 19.
[[Page 28859]]
Section C. Supporting Producer Organizations in Each Country
20. To be acted on, petitions must represent a consensus agreement
among the producers of the relevant products in all participating
countries. To be considered, petitions submitted by other than producer
organizations must list in this section the individual producing firms
or the industry associations representing such firms. Firms or
associations which do not include producing firms must not be listed in
this section, but can be included in Section D. This information will
be used to verify petition support, as necessary.
Section D. Supplemental Information
21.-22. This section of the petition should be used to provide
information supplementing that provided in numbers 1 through 20
(specify the relevant number(s) being supplemented), or any other
relevant information that may assist in consideration of the petition.
Petitions for further consideration must note here the opposition that
arose during the prior exercise which prevented a decision to
accelerate duty elimination at that time, and must provide information
showing such opposition no longer exists.
V. Submission of Petitions
1. Electronic submissions: USTR prefers that petitions be submitted
in electronic form, either interactively via the Internet, or by
submission of computer disk. If disks are being submitted, only one
hard copy of each petition should be enclosed, and this copy must
indicate that an electronic version is being submitted. If multiple
requests are being filed, they may be submitted on a single disk, with
a hard copy list of all the covered HTS numbers. The form and
instructions for electronic submissions can be obtained, beginning June
1, 1999, from the USTR Internet home page: www.ustr.gov under the
``What's New'' heading. Technical questions regarding electronic
submission may be made by contacting the USTR computer operations
office at (202) 395-3417 during business hours.
2. Paper submissions: Petitions must be type-written and submitted
in 10 copies, in English, to: North American Affairs, Office of the
United States Trade Representative, Room 522, 600 17th Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20508, Attention: NAFTA Tariff Acceleration desk.
3. Petitions may submit hard copies in order to confirm receipt of
electronic submissions. However, such hard copies must be marked to
indicate an electronic version is also being filed.
VI. Consideration of Petitions
All petitions received by July 1, 1999, and containing complete and
correct information as required in this notice will be reviewed and a
decision made as to which articles will be proposed to the Government
of Mexico for possible accelerated tariff elimination. As noted above,
petitions for articles on which the duty is currently scheduled for
elimination on or before January 1, 2000, in Annex 302.2 of the NAFTA,
as modified, cannot be considered. Requests received after July 1,
1999, will be considered annually each March 1 until full
implementation of the NAFTA tariff eliminations.
Petitions not containing complete and accurate information required
cannot be considered.
Jon Huenemann,
Assistant United States Trade Representative for North American
Affairs.
Annex--1999 Model Petition To Accelerate the Removal of Tariffs
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement
Section A. Scope and Contact Identification
(A contact point should be provided as indicated below for each of
the countries involved)
1. This petition is being submitted via: {time} Internet e-mail
{time} Computer Disk {time} Paper Original
2. Accelerated duty elimination is requested for: {time} United
States {time} Mexico {time} Canada
3. U.S. Petitioner Contact:--------------------------------------------
4. Address:------------------------------------------------------------
5. U.S. Private-Sector Contact:----------------------------------------
6. Telephone: ( )-----------------------------------------------------
7. E-mail address:-----------------------------------------------------
8. Mexico Petitioner Contact:------------------------------------------
9. Address:------------------------------------------------------------
10. Mexican Private-Sector Contact:------------------------------------
11. Telephone: ( )----------------------------------------------------
12. E-mail address:----------------------------------------------------
13. Canada Petitioner Contact:-----------------------------------------
14. Address:-----------------------------------------------------------
15. Canadian Private-Sector Contact:-----------------------------------
16. Telephone: (____)--------------------------------------------------
17. E-mail address:----------------------------------------------------
Section B. Tariff Heading Information
18. The product[s] are classified in the following 1999 tariff headings or subheadings:
United States Mexico Canada
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
[List each tariff subheading and its equivalent in the relevant country or countries on a separate line.
Indicate those already duty free with an asterisk [*] and those not being requested with brackets [].]
19. As an alternative to completing question 18, list in 18 the items produced by the petitioning industry at a
6- or 4-digit level and list in 19 the 8-digit items not being included in this request:
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
Section C. Supporting producer organizations in each country
The following producing firms and/or industry associations have been contacted and agreed to support or not
oppose this request (copy this page as necessary to list additional organizations):
Name Contact Person Phone/Fax & e-mail
[[Page 28860]]
20.a. In the United States:
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
20.b. In Mexico:
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
20.c In Canada:
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
(__________________________) (__________________________) (__________________________)
Section D. Supplemental Information
21. Information regarding further
consideration of requests published
in 1997:
22. Other supplemental information:
Signature of person filing the petition: (__________________________) Date: (__________________________)
Organization: (__________________________) Title or position: (__________________________)
[FR Doc. 99-13552 Filed 5-26-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P