[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 101 (Friday, May 25, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29355-29356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10150]


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OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Request for Petitions To Accelerate Tariff Elimination and Modify 
the Rules of Origin Under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of opportunity to file petitions requesting accelerated 
tariff elimination and changes to the rules of origin under the U.S.-
Chile Free Trade Agreement (``the Agreement'' or ``USCFTA'').

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SUMMARY: This notice solicits petitions requesting accelerated tariff 
elimination under the USCFTA and describes the procedures for filing 
petitions. This notice also solicits proposals on appropriate changes 
that USTR should consider for liberalizing the USCFTA's rules of 
origin.

DATES: Public comments are due at USTR by close of business, July 20, 
2007.

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: [email protected]. 
Submissions by facsimile: Kent Shigetomi, Office of the Americas, at 
(202) 395-9675. USTR strongly encourages the public to submit documents 
electronically rather than by facsimile. See requirements for 
submissions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent Shigetomi, Office of the 
Americas, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Room 523, 
600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508; telephone: (202) 395-3412; 
facsimile: (202) 395-9675; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 5, 2005, the U.S-Chile Free 
Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``the Commission''), the bilateral body 
responsible for supervising the implementation of the USCFTA, decided 
to launch negotiations to accelerate the elimination of tariffs under 
the Agreement. Article 3.3(4) of the USCFTA provides that Parties may 
agree to accelerate the elimination of customs duties set out in their 
tariff schedules. Section 201(b) of the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (``the FTA Act'' or ``the Act'') authorizes the 
President to proclaim modifications in the staging of duty treatment 
set out in the Agreement, subject to the Act's consultation and layover 
requirements.
    Further, on January 24, 2007, the Commission agreed to consider 
liberalizing the rules of origin established in the Agreement, 
particularly in light of more recent free trade agreements. The USCFTA 
requires each government to provide preferential tariff treatment to 
goods that meet the Agreement's origin rules. In the United States, 
those rules are implemented through the FTA Act. Under the Act, goods 
imported into the United States qualify for preferential treatment if 
they meet the requirements of the general USCFTA rules of origin set 
out in section 202 of the Act and the USCFTA product-specific rules set 
out in the HTS. The Agreement allows the Parties to amend the 
Agreement's origin rules as they deem appropriate. Section 202(o)(2) of 
the USCFTA Act authorizes the President to proclaim modifications to 
the USCFTA's product-specific origin rules set forth in the HTS, 
subject to the consultation and layover provisions of section 103(a) of 
the Act.

Additional Information

    The United States and Chile have not yet decided whether to 
accelerate the elimination of tariffs or to make further changes to the 
Agreement's rules of origin and, if such changes were made, what the 
scope or extent of such changes should be. The United States and Chile 
expect to take into account several factors in considering whether to 
make such changes, including (1) the extent that any such changes may 
reduce transaction and manufacturing costs or increase trade between 
Chile and the United States; (2) the feasibility of devising, 
implementing, and monitoring new rules of origin; and (3) the level and 
breadth of interest that manufacturers, processors, traders, and 
consumers in the United States and Chile express for making particular 
changes. The United States and Chile expect to make only those changes 
that are broadly supported by stakeholders in both countries.

Requirements for Comments/Proposals

    Submitters should indicate whether they have discussed their 
proposals with representatives of the relevant sector in Chile and, if 
such discussions have taken place, what the result of those discussions 
was. Submissions should indicate if representatives of the relevant 
sector in Chile do not support the proposal. USTR encourages interested 
parties to consider submitting proposals jointly with interested 
parties in Chile.
    Scope and Coverage of Proposals: USTR encourages interested parties 
to review the broadest appropriate range of items and to submit 
proposals that reflect a consensus reached after such a broad-based 
review. A single proposal can thus include requests covering multiple 
tariff headings. Proposals should cover entire 8-digit tariff 
subheadings, and may also be submitted at the 6, 4, or 2 digit level 
where the intent is to cover all subsidiary duties.
    Requirements for Submissions: In order to facilitate prompt 
processing of submissions, USTR strongly urges and prefers electronic 
(e-mail) submissions in response to this notice. In the event that an 
interested party cannot make a submission by e-mail, it should send the 
submission by facsimile. Facsimile submissions should not exceed 20 
pages.
    E-mail submissions should be single copy transmissions in English, 
and use the appropriate subject line, ``Chile FTA Tariff 
Acceleration,'' ``Chile FTA Rules of Origin,'' or both, depending on 
the nature of the submission. Documents should be submitted as 
WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MS Word (``.DOC''), or text (``.TXT'') files. 
Documents should not be submitted as electronic image files or contain 
embedded images (for example, ``.JPG'', ``.TIF'', ``.PDF'', ``.BMP'', 
or ``.GIF'') as these files are often excessively large. Supporting 
documentation submitted as spreadsheets are acceptable in QuattroPro or 
Excel, pre-formatted for printing on 8\1/2\ x 11 inch paper. To the 
extent possible, an interested party should include any data 
attachments to the submission 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 body of the e-mail. 
An interested party should include information that might appear in a 
cover letter directly in the attached file containing the submission 
itself, including the identity of the submitter and the submitter's e-
mail address.
    Petitions 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, the 
submitter must provide a non-confidential version of the

[[Page 29356]]

submission that indicates where confidential information was redacted 
by inserting asterisks where material was deleted. In addition, the 
submitter must mark the confidential submission as ``Business 
Confidential'' in large, bold letters at the top and bottom of every 
page of the document. The submitter must clearly mark the public 
version that does not contain business confidential information as 
either ``Public Version'' or ``Non-Confidential'' in large, bold 
letters at the top and bottom of every page. The file name of any 
documents containing business confidential information attached to an 
e-mail transmission should begin with the characters ``BC-''. 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 
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 submission. The e-mail address for submissions is 
[email protected]. USTR shall make available for review public 
versions of all documents relating to this review shortly 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.

Everett Eissenstat,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Americas.
[FR Doc. E7-10150 Filed 5-24-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W7-P