[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 157 (Wednesday, August 15, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45833-45834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16014]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA); Notice Regarding the 2007 
Annual Review

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for petitions.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the 2007 Annual Review of the Andean 
Trade Preference Act (ATPA). Under this process petitions may be filed 
calling for the limitation, withdrawal or suspension of ATPA or ATPDEA 
benefits by presenting evidence that the eligibility criteria of the 
program are not being met. USTR will publish a list of petitions filed 
in response to this announcement in the Federal Register.

DATES: The deadline for the submission of petitions for the 2007 Annual 
ATPA Review is September 17, 2007.

ADDRESSES: Submit petitions by electronic mail (e-mail) to 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bennett M. Harman, Deputy Assistant 
U.S. Trade Representative for Latin America, Office of the Americas, 
Office of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th St., NW., 
Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-9446 and the 
facsimile number is (202) 395-9675.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ATPA (19 U.S.C. 3201-06), as renewed and 
amended by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) 
in the Trade Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) and extended until February 
29, 2008 by H.R. 1830, the Andean Trade Preference Act, (Pub L. 110-
42), provides for trade benefits for eligible Andean countries. 
Consistent with Section 3103(d) of the ATPDEA, USTR promulgated 
regulations (15 CFR part 2016) (68 FR 43922) regarding the review of 
eligibility of articles and countries for the benefits of the ATPA, as 
amended. The 2007 Annual ATPA Review is the fourth such review to be 
conducted pursuant to the ATPA review regulations. To qualify for the 
benefits of the ATPA and ATPDEA, each country must meet several 
eligibility criteria, as set forth in sections 203(c) and (d), and 
section 204(b)(6)(B) of the ATPA, as amended (19 U.S.C. 3202(c), (d); 
19 U.S.C. 3203(b)(6)(B)), and as outlined in the Federal Register 
notice USTR published to request public comments regarding the 
designation of eligible countries as ATPDEA beneficiary countries (67 
FR 53379). Under section 203(e) of the ATPA, as amended (19 U.S.C. 
3202(e)), the President may withdraw or suspend the designation of any 
country as an ATPA or ATPDEA beneficiary country, and may also 
withdraw, suspend, or limit preferential treatment for any product of 
any such beneficiary country, if the President determines that, as a 
result of changed circumstances, the country is not meeting the 
eligibility criteria.
    The ATPA regulations provide the schedule of dates 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 ATPA Review, all petitions to withdraw or suspend the 
designation of a country as an ATPA or ATPDEA beneficiary country, or 
to withdraw, suspend, or limit application of preferential treatment to 
any article of any ATPA beneficiary country under the ATPA, or to any 
article of any ATPDEA beneficiary country under section 204(b)(1), (3), 
or (4) (19 U.S.C. 3202(b)(1), (3), (4)) of the ATPA, must be received 
by the Andean Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later 
than 5 p.m. EDT on September 17, 2007. Petitioners should consult 15 
CFR 2016.0 regarding the content of such petitions.
    E-mail submissions should be single copy transmissions in English, 
and the total submission including attachments should not exceed 50 
pages. Submissions should use the following subject line: ``2007 Annual 
ATPA Review--Petition.'' Documents must be submitted as either 
WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), Adobe (``PDF''), or text 
(``.TXT'') file. 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.

[[Page 45834]]

    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, 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 every page of the document. The 
public version that does not contain business confidential information 
must be clearly marked either ``PUBLIC VERSION'' or ``NON-
CONFIDENTIAL'' in large, bold letters at the top and bottom of every 
page. The file name of any document containing business confidential 
information attached to an e-mail transmission 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 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]. 
Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be 
available for 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.

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
 [FR Doc. E7-16014 Filed 8-14-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W7-P