[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 248 (Monday, December 29, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74972-74973]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-31861]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-52,622]


Descartes Systems (USA) LLC, an Affiliate of the Descartes 
Systems Group, Inc., Atlanta, GA; Notice of Negative Determination 
Regarding Application for Reconsideration

    By application of October 9, 2003, a petitioner requested 
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative 
determination regarding eligibility for workers and former workers of 
the subject firm to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The 
denial notice applicable to workers of Descartes Systems (USA) LLC, 
Atlanta, Georgia was signed on September 4, 2003, and published in the 
Federal Register on October 10, 2003 (68 FR 58719).
    Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c) reconsideration may be granted under 
the following circumstances:
    (1) If it appears on the basis of facts not previously considered 
that the determination complained of was erroneous;
    (2) If it appears that the determination complained of was based on 
a mistake in the determination of facts not previously considered; or
    (3) If in the opinion of the Certifying Officer, a mis-
interpretation of facts or of the law justified reconsideration of the 
decision.
    The TAA petition was filed on behalf of workers at Descartes 
Systems (USA) LLC, Atlanta, Georgia engaged in employment related to 
providing electronic data interchange services. The petition was denied 
because the petitioning workers did not produce an article within the 
meaning of Section 222 of the Act.
    The petitioner appears to imply that the petitioning worker group 
should be considered eligible for TAA on the basis that they created an 
article as part of a ``paperless'' process.
    Data exchange services are not tangible commodities, that is, 
marketable products, and they are not listed on the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTS), which describes all products 
imported to or exported from the United States.
    Further, the TAA program was established to help workers who 
produce articles and who lose their jobs as a result of trade 
agreements. Throughout the Trade Act an article is often referenced as 
something that can be subject to a duty. To be subject to a duty on a 
tariff schedule an article will

[[Page 74973]]

have a value that makes it marketable, fungible and interchangeable for 
commercial purposes. But, although a wide variety of tangible products 
are described as articles and characterized as dutiable in the HTS, 
informational products that could historically be sent in letter form 
and that can currently be electronically transmitted, are not listed in 
the HTS. Such products are not the type of products that customs 
officials inspect and that the TAA program was generally designed to 
address.
    Only in very limited instances are service workers certified for 
TAA, namely the worker separations must be caused by a reduced demand 
for their services from a parent or controlling firm or subdivision 
whose workers produce an article and who are currently under 
certification for TAA.

Conclusion

    After review of the application and investigative findings, I 
conclude that there has been no error or misinterpretation of the law 
or of the facts which would justify reconsideration of the Department 
of Labor's prior decision. Accordingly, the application is denied.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 18th day of November, 2003.
Linda G. Poole,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 03-31861 Filed 12-24-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P