[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 97 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28527-28528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-9756]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 
Initiation of the 2007 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility 
Practices Review and Change in Deadlines for Filing Certain Petitions

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 2007 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 submission of product 
petitions, other than those requesting competitive need limitation 
(CNL) waivers, and country practice petitions for the 2007 Annual GSP 
Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review is 5 p.m., June 22, 
2007. The deadline for submission of product petitions requesting CNL 
waivers is 5 p.m., November 16, 2007. The list of product petitions and 
country practice petitions accepted for review will be announced in the 
Federal Register at later dates.

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, the facsimile number is (202) 
395-9481, and the e-mail address is [email protected]. Public 
versions of all documents relating to this Review will be available for 
examination approximately 30 days after the pertinent 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.

2007 Annual GSP Review

    The GSP regulations (15 CFR part 2007) provide the timetable for 
conducting an annual review, unless otherwise specified by Federal 
Register notice. Notice is hereby given that, in order to be considered 
in the 2007 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, with the exception of petitions requesting CNL 
waivers, must be received by the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy 
Staff Committee no later than 5 p.m. on June 22, 2007. Petitions 
requesting CNL waivers must be received by the GSP Subcommittee of the 
Trade Policy Staff Committee no later than 5 p.m. on November 16, 2007 
in order to be considered in the 2007 Annual Review. Petitions 
submitted after the respective deadlines will not be considered for 
review.
    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 AGOA 
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.
    Further, product petitions requesting CNL waivers for GSP-eligible 
articles from beneficiary developing countries that exceed the CNLs in 
2007 must be filed in the 2007 Annual Review. In order to allow 
petitioners an opportunity to review additional 2007 U.S. import 
statistics, these petitions may be filed after June 22, 2007, but must 
be received on or before the November 16, 2007, deadline described 
above in order to be considered in the 2007 Annual Review. Copies will 
be made available for public inspection after the November 16, 2007, 
deadline.
    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 the ``U.S. Generalized System of Preferences Guidebook'' 
(February 2007) (``GSP Guidebook''), available at http://www.ustr.gov/assets/Trade_Development/Preference_Programs/GSP/asset_upload_file412_8359.pdf.
    Any person or party making a submission is strongly advised to 
review the GSP regulations. Submissions that do not provide the 
information required by sections 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 section 2007.1(c) of the 
GSP regulations. A model petition

[[Page 28528]]

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 ``2007 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. 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 
requires 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 30 pages in 12-
point type and 3 megabytes as a digital file attached to an e-mail 
transmission. Submissions should use the following e-mail subject line: 
``2007 Annual GSP Review-Petition.'' Documents must be submitted as 
either WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), text (``.TXT''), or 
Adobe (``PDF'') file. Documents cannot be submitted as electronic image 
files or contain embedded images (for example, ``.JPG'', ``.TIF'', 
``.BMP'', or ``.GIF''). 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, 
organization name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. The 
electronic mail address for these submissions is [email protected].
    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.
    Documents not submitted in accordance with these instructions may 
not be considered in this review.

Marideth Sandler,
Executive Director, GSP Program, Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of the 
Trade Policy Staff Committee.
 [FR Doc. E7-9756 Filed 5-18-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W7-P