[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 147 (Tuesday, August 1, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43543-43545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-12297]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Initiation of a Review 
To Consider the Designation of East Timor as a Least Developed 
Beneficiary Developing Country Under the GSP

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and solicitation of public comment.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the initiation of a review to consider 
the designation of East Timor as a least developed beneficiary 
developing country under the GSP program and solicits public comment 
relating to the designation criteria. Comments are due on August 25, 
2006, in accordance with the requirements for submissions, explained 
below.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to: 
[email protected]. For assistance or if unable to submit comments by 
e-mail, contact the GSP Subcommittee, Office of the United States Trade 
Representative; USTR Annex, Room F-220; 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, 
DC 20508 (Tel. 202-395-6971).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact the GSP Subcommittee, Office 
of the United States Trade Representative; USTR Annex, Room F-220; 1724 
F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508 (Telephone: 202-395-6971, 
Facsimile: 202-395-9481).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy 
Staff Committee (TPSC) has initiated a review in order to make a 
recommendation to the President as to whether East Timor meets the 
eligibility criteria of the GSP statute, as set out below. After 
considering the eligibility criteria, the President is authorized to 
designate East Timor as a least developed beneficiary developing 
country for purposes of the GSP.
    Interested parties are invited to submit comments regarding the 
eligibility of East Timor for designation as a least developed 
beneficiary developing country. Documents should be submitted in 
accordance with the instructions below to be considered in this review.

Eligibility Criteria

    The trade benefits of the GSP program are available to any country 
that the President designates as a GSP ``beneficiary developing 
country.'' Additional trade benefits under the GSP are available to any 
country that the President designates as a GSP ``least-developed 
beneficiary developing country.'' In designating countries as GSP 
beneficiary developing countries, the President must consider the 
criteria in sections 502(b)(2) and 502(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, as 
amended (19 U.S.C. 2462(b)(2), 2462(c)) (``the Act''). Section 
502(b)(2) provides that a country is ineligible for designation if:
    1. Such country is a Communist country, unless--
    (a) The products of such country receive nondiscriminatory 
treatment, (b) Such country is a WTO Member (as such term is defined in 
section 2(10) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act) (19 U.S.C. 3501(10)) 
and a member of the International Monetary Fund, and (c) Such country 
is not dominated or controlled by international communism.
    2. Such country is a party to an arrangement of countries and 
participates in any action pursuant to such arrangement, the effect of 
which is--
    (a) To withhold supplies of vital commodity resources from 
international trade or to raise the price of such commodities to an 
unreasonable level, and (b) To cause serious disruption of the world 
economy.
    3. Such country affords preferential treatment to the products of a 
developed country, other than the United States, which has, or is 
likely to have, a significant adverse effect on United States commerce.
    4. Such country--
    (a) Has nationalized, expropriated, or otherwise seized ownership 
or control of property, including patents, trademarks, or copyrights, 
owned by a

[[Page 43544]]

United States citizen or by a corporation, partnership, or association 
which is 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United States 
citizens, (b) Has taken steps to repudiate or nullify an existing 
contract or agreement with a United States citizen or a corporation, 
partnership, or association which is 50 percent or more beneficially 
owned by United States citizens, the effect of which is to nationalize, 
expropriate, or otherwise seize ownership or control of property, 
including patents, trademarks, or copyrights, so owned, or (c) Has 
imposed or enforced taxes or other exactions, restrictive maintenance 
or operational conditions, or other measures with respect to property, 
including patents, trademarks, or copyrights, so owned, the effect of 
which is to nationalize, expropriate, or otherwise seize ownership or 
control of such property, unless the President determines that--
    (i) Prompt, adequate, and effective compensation has been or is 
being made to the citizen, corporation, partnership, or association 
referred to above, (ii) Good faith negotiations to provide prompt, 
adequate, and effective compensation under the applicable provisions of 
international law are in progress, or the country is otherwise taking 
steps to discharge its obligations under international law with respect 
to such citizen, corporation, partnership, or association, or (iii) A 
dispute involving such citizen, corporation, partnership, or 
association over compensation for such a seizure has been submitted to 
arbitration under the provisions of the Convention for the Settlement 
of Investment Disputes, or in another mutually agreed upon forum, and 
the President promptly furnishes a copy of such determination to the 
Senate and House of Representatives.
    5. Such country fails to act in good faith in recognizing as 
binding or in enforcing arbitral awards in favor of United States 
citizens or a corporation, partnership, or association which is 50 
percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens, which 
have been made by arbitrators appointed for each case or by permanent 
arbitral bodies to which the parties involved have submitted their 
dispute.
    6. Such country aids or abets, by granting sanctuary from 
prosecution to, any individual or group which has committed an act of 
international terrorism or the Secretary of State makes a determination 
with respect to such country under section 6(j)(1)(A) of the Export 
Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. Appx. section 2405(j)(1)(A)) or 
such country has not taken steps to support the efforts of the United 
States to combat terrorism.
    7. Such country has not taken or is not taking steps to afford 
internationally recognized worker rights to workers in the country 
(including any designated zone in that country).
    8. Such country has not implemented its commitments to eliminate 
the worst forms of child labor.
    Section 502(c) provides that, in determining whether to designate 
any country as a GSP beneficiary developing country, the President 
shall take into account:
    1. An expression by such country of its desire to be so designated;
    2. The level of economic development of such country, including its 
per capita gross national product, the living standards of its 
inhabitants, and any other economic factors which the President deems 
appropriate;
    3. Whether or not other major developed countries are extending 
generalized preferential tariff treatment to such country;
    4. The extent to which such country has assured the United States 
that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets and 
basic commodity resources of such country and the extent to which such 
country has assured the United States that it will refrain from 
engaging in unreasonable export practices;
    5. The extent to which such country is providing adequate and 
effective protection of intellectual property rights;
    6. The extent to which such country has taken action to--
    (a) Reduce trade distorting investment practices and policies 
(including export performance requirements); and (b) Reduce or 
eliminate barriers to trade in services; and
    7. Whether or not such country has taken or is taking steps to 
afford to workers in that country (including any designated zone in 
that country) internationally recognized worker rights. Note that the 
Trade Act of 2002 amended paragraph (D) of the definition of the term 
``internationally recognized worker rights,'' which now includes: (A) 
The right of association; (B) the right to organize and bargain 
collectively; (C) a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or 
compulsory labor; (D) a minimum age for the employment of children and 
a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor as defined in paragraph 
(6) of section 507(4) of the Act; and (E) acceptable conditions of work 
with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety 
and health.
    To designate a country as a least-developed beneficiary developing 
country, the President must consider the criteria in section 502(c), as 
well as the criteria in section 501 of the Act. Section 501 provides 
that, in extending preferences under the GSP, the President shall have 
due regard for:
    1. The effect such action will have on furthering the economic 
development of developing countries through the expansion of their 
exports.
    2. The extent to which other major developed countries are 
undertaking a comparable effort to assist developing countries by 
granting generalized preferences with respect to imports of products of 
such countries.
    3. The anticipated impact of such action on United States producers 
of like or directly competitive products.
    4. The extent of the beneficiary developing country's 
competitiveness with respect to eligible articles.

Requirements for Submissions

    All submissions must conform to the GSP regulations set forth at 15 
CFR Part 2007, except as modified below. Comments must be submitted, in 
English, to the Chairman of the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy 
Staff Committee (TPSC) as soon as possible, but not later than 5 p.m., 
August 25, 2006.
    In order to facilitate prompt consideration of submissions, USTR 
strongly prefers electronic 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 30 single-spaced 
standard letter-size pages using 12-point type. The e-mail transmission 
should use the following subject line: ``East Timor GSP Eligibility 
Review''. Documents must be submitted as either MSWord (``.doc''), 
WordPerfect (``.wpd''), or text (``.txt'') files. Documents submitted 
as electronic image files or containing imbedded images (for example, 
``.jpg'', ``.pdf'', ``.bmp'', ``.tif'', or ``.gif'') will not be 
accepted. Spreadsheets submitted as supporting documentation are 
acceptable as Excel files, pre-formatted for printing only 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.
    Submissions in response to this notice will be subject to public 
inspection by appointment with the staff of the USTR Public Reading 
Room except for information granted ``business

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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 
version must be clearly marked ``Business Confidential'' at the top and 
bottom of each page of the document. The non-confidential version must 
be clearly marked ``Public'' or ``Non-Confidential'' at the top and 
bottom of each page. Documents that are submitted without any marking 
might not be accepted or will be considered public documents.
    For any document containing business confidential information 
submitted as an electronic attached file to an e-mail transmission, 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 character ``P-''. The ``BC-'' or ``P-'' should be 
followed by the name of the party (government, company, union, 
association, etc.) which is submitting the comments.
    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 the sender's 
identifying information with telephone number, fax number, and e-mail 
address. The e-mail address for these submissions is 
[email protected]. Documents not submitted in accordance with these 
instructions might not be considered in this review. If unable to 
provide submissions by e-mail, please contact the GSP Subcommittee to 
arrange for an alternative method of transmission.
    Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be 
available for public review approximately three weeks 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. to 4 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, by calling 202-395-6186.

Marideth J. Sandler,
Executive Director for the GSP Program, Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of 
the Trade Policy Staff Committee.
 [FR Doc. E6-12297 Filed 7-31-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W6-P