[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 14, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54433-54435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-18278]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


African Growth and Opportunity Act Implementation Subcommittee of 
the Trade Policy Staff Committee; Public Comments on Annual Review of 
Country Eligibility for Benefits Under the African Growth and 
Opportunity Act

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The African Growth and Opportunity Act Implementation 
Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (the ``Subcommittee'') 
is requesting written public comments for the annual review of the 
eligibility of sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of 
the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The Subcommittee will 
consider these comments in developing recommendations on AGOA country 
eligibility for the President. Comments received related to the child 
labor criteria may also be considered by the Secretary of Labor for the 
preparation of the Department of Labor's report on child labor as 
required under section 412(c) of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. 
This notice identifies the eligibility criteria that must be considered 
under AGOA, and lists those sub-Saharan African countries that are 
currently eligible for the benefits of the AGOA, and those that are 
currently ineligible for such benefits.

DATES: Public comments are due at the Office of the U.S. Trade 
Representative

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(USTR) by noon, Friday, October 14, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submission by electronic mail: [email protected]. 
Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade 
Policy Staff Committee, at (202) 395-6143. The public is strongly 
encouraged to submit documents electronically rather than by facsimile. 
See requirements for submissions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions, please 
contact Gloria Blue, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600 17th 
Street, NW., Room F516, Washington, DC, 20508, at (202) 395-3475. All 
other questions should be directed to Constance Hamilton, Deputy 
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Office of the U.S. 
Trade Representative, at (202) 395-9514.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The AGOA (Title I of the Trade and 
Development Act of 2000, Public Law 106-200) (19 U.S.C. 3721 et seq.), 
as amended, authorizes the President to designate sub-Saharan African 
countries as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries eligible for 
duty-free treatment for certain additional products under the 
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) (Title V of the Trade Act of 
1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) (the ``1974 Act'')), as well as for the 
preferential treatment the AGOA provides for certain textile and 
apparel articles.
    The President may designate a country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country eligible for both the additional GSP benefits and the 
textile and apparel benefits of the AGOA (if the country also meets 
certain statutory requirements intended to prevent unlawful 
transshipment of such articles) if he determines that the country meets 
the eligibility criteria set forth in: (1) Section 104 of the AGOA; and 
(2) section 502 of the 1974 Act. For 2005, 37 countries have been 
designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries. These 
countries, as well as the 11 countries currently ineligible, are listed 
below. Section 506A of the 1974 Act provides that the President shall 
monitor, review, and report to Congress annually on the progress of 
each sub-Saharan African country in meeting the foregoing eligibility 
criteria in order to determine whether each beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country should continue to be eligible, and whether each sub-
Saharan African country that is currently not a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country, should be designated as such a country. The 
President's determinations will be included in the annual report 
submitted to Congress as required by Section 106 of the AGOA. Section 
506A of the 1974 Act requires that, if the President determines that a 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African country is not making continual 
progress in meeting the eligibility requirements, he must terminate the 
designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
country.
    The Subcommittee is seeking public comments in connection with the 
annual review of the eligibility of beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
countries for the AGOA's benefits. The Subcommittee will consider any 
such comments in developing recommendations on country eligibility for 
the President. Comments related to the child labor criteria may also be 
considered by the Secretary of Labor in making the findings required 
under section 504 of the 1974 Act.
    The following sub-Saharan African countries were designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2005:

Angola
Republic of Benin
Republic of Botswana
Burkina Faso
Republic of Cameroon
Republic of Cape Verde
Republic of Chad
Republic of Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo
Republic of Djibouti
Ethiopia
Gabonese Republic
The Gambia
Republic of Ghana
Republic of Guinea
Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Republic of Kenya
Kingdom of Lesotho
Republic of Madagascar
Republic of Malawi
Republic of Mali
Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Republic of Mauritius
Republic of Mozambique
Republic of Namibia
Republic of Niger
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Republic of Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe
Republic of Senegal
Republic of Seychelles
Republic of Sierra Leone
Republic of South Africa
Kingdom of Swaziland
United Republic of Tanzania
Republic of Uganda
Republic of Zambia

    The following sub-Saharan African countries were not designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2005:

Republic of Burundi
Central African Republic
Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros
Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
Republic of Equatorial Guinea
State of Eritrea
Republic of Liberia
Somalia
Republic of Togo
Republic of Sudan
Republic of Zimbabwe

    Requirements for Submissions: In order to facilitate the prompt 
processing of submissions, USTR strongly urges and prefers electronic 
(e-mail) submissions to [email protected] in response to this notice. 
In the event that an e-mail submission is impossible, submissions 
should be made by facsimile. Persons making submissions by e-mail 
should use the following subject line: ``2005 AGOA Annual Country 
Review.'' Documents should be submitted as WordPerfect, MSWord, or text 
(.TXT) files. Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets are 
acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel. For any document containing 
business confidential information submitted electronically, 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 submitter. Persons who make submissions by e-mail 
should not provide separate cover letters; information that might 
appear in a cover letter should be included in the submission itself. 
Similarly, to the extent possible, any attachments to the submission 
should be included in the same file as the submission itself, and not 
as separate files.
    Written comments will be placed in a file open to public inspection 
pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.5, except confidential business information 
exempt from public inspection in accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6. 
Confidential business information submitted in accordance with 15 CFR 
2003.6 must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top of 
each page, including any cover letter or cover page, and must be 
accompanied by a nonconfidential summary of the confidential 
information. All public documents and nonconfidential summaries shall 
be available for public inspection in the USTR Reading Room. The USTR 
Reading Room is open to the public, by appointment only, Monday through 
Friday, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. An appointment to 
review the file may be made by calling

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(202) 395-6186. Appointments must be scheduled at least 48 hours in 
advance.

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 05-18278 Filed 9-13-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W5-P