[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 29, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77998-77999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E4-3869]


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COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS


Solicitation of Public Comments on Request for Textile and 
Apparel Safeguard Action on Imports from China

December 21, 2004.
AGENCY: The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (the 
Committee)

ACTION: Solicitation of public comments concerning a request for 
safeguard action on imports from China of brassieres and other body 
supporting garments (Category 349/649).

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SUMMARY: The Committee has received a request from the National Council 
of Textile Organizations, the National Textile Association, the 
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, SEAMS, and UNITE HERE! 
(Requestors) asking the Committee to reapply the limit on imports from 
China of brassieres and other body supporting garments in accordance 
with the textile and apparel safeguard provision of the Working Party 
on the Accession of China to the World Trade Organization (the 
Accession Agreement). On December 24, 2003 the Committee established an 
Accession Agreement limit on imports from China of brassieres and other 
body supporting garments, which will expire on December 23, 2004. The 
Committee hereby solicits public comments on this request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jay Dowling, Office of Textiles and 
Apparel,

[[Page 77999]]

U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-4058.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Authority: Section 204 of the Agriculture Act of 1956, as 
amended; Executive Order 11651, as amended.

BACKGROUND:

    The textile and apparel safeguard provision of the Accession 
Agreement provides for the United States and other members of the World 
Trade Organization that believe imports of Chinese origin textile and 
apparel products are, due to market disruption, threatening to impede 
the orderly development of trade in these products to request 
consultations with China with a view to easing or avoiding the 
disruption. Pursuant to this provision, if the United States requests 
consultations with China, it must, at the time of the request, provide 
China with a detailed factual statement showing ``(1) the existence or 
threat of market disruption; and (2) the role of products of Chinese 
origin in that disruption.'' Beginning on the date that it receives 
such a request, China must restrict its shipments to the United States 
to a level no greater than 7.5 percent (6 percent for wool product 
categories) above the amount entered during the first 12 months of the 
most recent 14 months preceding the request. If exports from China 
exceed that amount, the United States may enforce the restriction.
    The Committee has published procedures (the Procedures) it follows 
in considering requests for Accession Agreement textile and apparel 
safeguard actions (68 FR 27787, May 21, 2003; 68 FR 49440, August 18, 
2003), including the information that must be included in such requests 
in order for the Committee to consider them.
    On December 1, 2004, the Requestors asked the Committee to reapply 
an Accession Agreement textile and apparel safeguard action on imports 
from China of brassieres and other body supporting garments (Category 
349/649) on the ground that an anticipated increase in imports of 
brassieres and other body supporting garments after December 23, 2004, 
threatens to disrupt the U.S. market for brassieres and other body 
supporting garments. The request is available at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/Safeguard_intro.htm. In light of the considerations 
set forth in the Procedures, the Committee has determined that the 
Requestors have provided the information necessary for the Committee to 
consider the request.
    The Committee is soliciting public comments on the request, in 
particular with regard to whether there is a threat of disruption to 
the U.S. market for brassieres and other body supporting garments and, 
if so, the role of Chinese-origin brassieres and other body supporting 
garments in that disruption. To this end, the Committee seeks relevant 
information addressing factors such as the following, which may be 
relevant in the particular circumstances of this case, involving a 
product under a quota that will expire on December 23, 2004: (1) 
Whether imports of brassieres and other body supporting garments from 
China are entering, or are expected to enter, the United States at 
prices that are substantially below prices of the like or directly 
competitive U.S. product, and whether those imports are likely to have 
a significant depressing or suppressing effect on domestic prices of 
the like or directly competitive U.S. product or are likely to increase 
demand for further imports from China; (2) Whether exports of Chinese-
origin brassieres and other body supporting garments to the United 
States are likely to increase substantially and imminently (due to 
existing unused production capacity, to capacity that can easily be 
shifted from the production of other products to the production of 
brassieres and other body supporting garments, or to an imminent and 
substantial increase in production capacity or investment in production 
capacity), taking into account the availability of other markets to 
absorb any additional exports; (3) Whether Chinese-origin brassieres 
and other body supporting garments that are presently sold in the 
Chinese market or in third-country markets will be diverted to the U.S. 
market in the imminent future (for example, due to more favorable 
pricing in the U.S. market or to existing or imminent import restraints 
into third country markets); (4) The level and the extent of any recent 
change in inventories of brassieres and other body supporting garments 
in China or in U.S. bonded warehouses; (5) Whether conditions of the 
domestic industry of the like or directly competitive product 
demonstrate that market disruption is likely (as may be evident from 
any anticipated factory closures or decline in investment in the 
production of brassieres and other body supporting garments, and 
whether actual or anticipated imports of Chinese-origin brassieres and 
other body supporting garments are likely to affect the development and 
production efforts of the U.S. brassieres and other body supporting 
garments industry; and (6) Whether U.S. managers, retailers, 
purchasers, importers, or other market participants have recognized 
Chinese producers of brassieres and other body supporting garments as 
potential suppliers (for example, through pre-qualification procedures 
or framework agreements).
    Comments may be submitted by any interested person. Comments must 
be received no later than January 28, 2005. Interested persons are 
invited to submit ten copies of such comments to the Chairman, 
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, Room 3001A, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue N.W., 
Washington, DC 20230.
    The Committee will protect any business confidential information 
that is marked ``business confidential'' from disclosure to the full 
extent permitted by law. To the extent that business confidential 
information is provided, two copies of a non-confidential version must 
also be provided in which business confidential information is 
summarized or, if necessary, deleted. Comments received, with the 
exception of information marked ``business confidential'', will be 
available for inspection between Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m and 5:30 p.m 
in the Trade Reference and Assistance Center Help Desk, Suite 800M, USA 
Trade Information Center, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania 
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, (202) 482-3433.
    The Committee will make a determination within 60 calendar days of 
the close of the comment period as to whether the United States will 
request consultations with China. If the Committee is unable to make a 
determination within 60 calendar days, it will cause to be published a 
notice in the Federal Register, including the date by which it will 
make a determination. If the Committee makes a negative determination, 
it will cause this determination and the reasons therefore to be 
published in the Federal Register. If the Committee makes an 
affirmative determination that imports of Chinese-origin brassieres and 
other body supporting garments threaten to disrupt the U.S. market, the 
United States will request consultations with China with a view to 
easing or avoiding the disruption.

D. Michael Hutchinson,
Acting Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile 
Agreements.
[FR Doc. E4-3869 Filed 12-28-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-S