[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 88 (Monday, May 9, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24460-24462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-9237]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 
Initiation of the 2005 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility 
Practices Review

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and solicitation for public petition.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Office of the United States 
Trade Representative (USTR) will receive petitions in 2005 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 submissions of 
petitions for the 2005 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility 
Practices Review is 5 PM, June 15, 2005. The list of product petitions 
and country practice petitions accepted for review will be announced in 
the Federal Register at a later date.

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 and the facsimile number is 
(202) 395-9481.

2005 Annual GSP Review

    The GSP regulations (15 CFR part 2007) provide the schedule of 
dates for conducting an annual review, unless otherwise specified by 
Federal Register notice. Notice is hereby given that, in order to be 
considered in the 2005 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 must be received by the GSP Subcommittee 
of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later than 5 p.m. on June 15, 
2005. Petitions submitted after the deadline will not be considered for 
review.

[[Page 24461]]

    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 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 subheading of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under which the 
product is classified.
    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 ``A Guide to the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences 
(GSP)'' (August 1991) (``GSP Guidebook''), available at http://www.ustr.gov.
    Any person or party making a submission is strongly advised to 
review the GSP regulations. Submissions that do not provide the 
information required by Sec. Sec.  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 Sec.  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 ``2005 Annual GSP Review'': (1) The requested 
action; (2) the HTSUS subheading in which the product is 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, and must be received no 
later than June 15, 2005. 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 
strongly urges and prefers 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 
50 pages in 12-point type and 3 megabytes as a digital file attached to 
an e-mail transmission. E-mail submissions should use the following 
subject line: ``2005 Annual GSP Review-Petition.'' Documents must be 
submitted as either WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), or text 
(``.TXT'') file. Documents cannot be submitted as electronic image 
files or contain imbedded images (for example, ``.JPG'', ``.TIF'', 
``.PDF'', ``.BMP'', or ``.GIF'') as these type files are generally 
excessively large. E-mail submissions containing such files will not be 
accepted. 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, including 
sender's e-mail address.
    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. Submissions by e-mail 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. The electronic mail 
address for these submissions is [email protected].
    Documents not submitted in accordance with the GSP regulations as 
modified by these instructions might not be considered in this review.
    Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be 
available for 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 p.m.

[[Page 24462]]

to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, by calling (202) 395-6186.

H.J. Rosenbaum,
Acting Executive Director GSP; Acting Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of the 
Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 05-9237 Filed 5-6-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W5-P