[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 193 (Thursday, October 6, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58474-58475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-5481]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-57,065]


Galileo International Division of Cendant Corporation, 
Centennial, CO; Notice of Negative Determination on Reconsideration

    On August 9, 2005, the Department issued an Affirmative 
Determination Regarding Application for Reconsideration for the workers 
and former workers of the subject firm. The notice was published in the 
Federal Register on August 18, 2005 (70 FR 48604-48605).
    The petition for the workers of Galileo International, Division of 
Cendant Corporation, Centennial, Colorado engaged in software 
development was denied because the petitioning workers did not produce 
an article within the meaning of section 222 of the Act.
    The petitioner contends that the Department erred in its 
interpretation of work performed at the subject facility as a service 
and further conveys that software developed by the subject firm was 
sold to travel agents, travel suppliers and corporation travel offices. 
The petitioner included the brochures with the description of the 
software as well as the company Web site which advertises the 
``articles'', in order to

[[Page 58475]]

support the allegation that workers of the subject firm produce an 
article.
    A company official was contacted for clarification in regard to the 
nature of the work performed at the subject facility. The official 
stated the petitioning group of workers at the subject firm was 
responsible for software development, in particular design, 
programming, testing and maintenance/support. The official further 
clarified that customers can either access and download software via 
the Internet or purchase CD-ROMs with the desktop software. The 
official stated that the desktop client software developed at the 
subject firm is mass produced in a CD form for further distribution to 
customers.
    The sophistication of the work involved is not an issue in 
ascertaining whether the petitioning workers are eligible for trade 
adjustment assistance, but rather only whether they produced an article 
within the meaning of section 222 of the Trade Act of 1974.
    Technical writing design, programming and testing of the software 
is not considered production of an article within the meaning of 
Section 222 of the Trade Act. Petitioning workers do not produce an 
``article'' within the meaning of the Trade Act of 1974. Information 
electronic databases, technical documentation and codes, are not 
tangible commodities, and they are not listed on the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTS), as classified by the United States 
International Trade Commission (USITC), Office of Tariff Affairs and 
Trade Agreements, which describes articles imported to the United 
States.
    To be listed in the HTS, an article would be subject to a duty on 
the tariff schedule and have a value that makes it marketable, fungible 
and interchangeable for commercial purposes. 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.
    The investigation on reconsideration supported the findings of the 
primary investigation that the petitioning group of workers does not 
produce an article. However, it was revealed that electronic desktop 
software created by the subject company is recorded on media devices 
(CD-ROMs) for further mass-production and distribution. Thus, it was 
determined that the petitioning group of service workers support 
production of CD-ROMs containing software.
    The Department conducted an additional investigation to determine 
whether workers can be considered eligible for TAA as directly-impacted 
workers in support of production of CD-ROMs containing desktop 
software.
    The group eligibility requirements for directly-impacted (primary) 
workers under section 222(a) the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, can be 
satisfied in either of two ways:
    I. Section (a)(2)(A) all of the following must be satisfied:
    A. A significant number or proportion of the workers in such 
workers' firm, or an appropriate subdivision of the firm, have become 
totally or partially separated, or are threatened to become totally or 
partially separated;
    B. The sales or production, or both, of such firm or subdivision 
have decreased absolutely; and
    C. Increased imports of articles like or directly competitive with 
articles produced by such firm or subdivision have contributed 
importantly to such workers' separation or threat of separation and to 
the decline in sales or production of such firm or subdivision; or
    II. Section (a)(2)(B) both of the following must be satisfied:
    A. A significant number or proportion of the workers in such 
workers' firm, or an appropriate subdivision of the firm, have become 
totally or partially separated, or are threatened to become totally or 
partially separated;
    B There has been a shift in production by such workers' firm or 
subdivision to a foreign country of articles like or directly 
competitive with articles which are produced by such firm or 
subdivision; and
    C. One of the following must be satisfied:
    1. The country to which the workers' firm has shifted production of 
the articles is a party to a free trade agreement with the United 
States;
    2. The country to which the workers' firm has shifted production of 
the articles is a beneficiary country under the Andean Trade Preference 
Act, African Growth and Opportunity Act, or the Caribbean Basin 
Economic Recovery Act; or
    3. There has been or is likely to be an increase in imports of 
articles that are like or directly competitive with articles which are 
or were produced by such firm or subdivision.
    The investigation of Galileo International, Travel Distribution 
Services, Centennial, Colorado, revealed that criteria (I.B) and (II.B) 
were not met. According to the information provided by the company 
official, sales and production of CD-ROMs containing desktop software 
did not decline during the relevant time period. Moreover, the subject 
firm did not shift production abroad, nor did it increase company 
imports of CD-ROMs containing desktop software, during the relevant 
period.
    The petitioner further alleges that because workers lost their jobs 
due to a transfer of job functions to India, petitioning workers should 
be considered import impacted.
    The company official stated that coding and programming job 
functions were outsourced to a third party joint venture in India. The 
official also stated that all design documents and other documentation 
written in India is returned to the United States through electronic 
mail or Internet.
    Technical writing of informational documentation that is 
electronically transmitted is not considered production within the 
context of TAA eligibility requirements, so there are no imports of 
products in this instance. Further, as the PDF files and technical 
documentation do not become products until they are recorded on media 
device, there was no shift in production of an ``article'' abroad 
within the meaning of the Trade Act of 1974.

Conclusion

    After reconsideration, I affirm the original notice of negative 
determination of eligibility to apply for worker adjustment assistance 
for workers and former workers of Galileo International, Travel 
Distribution Services, Centennial, Colorado.

    Signed at Washington, DC this 20th day of September, 2005.
Elliott S. Kushner,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
 [FR Doc. E5-5481 Filed 10-5-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-P