[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 13 (Friday, January 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3495-3496]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-905]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 
Initiation of Child Labor Review in the Production of Certain GSP-
Eligible Hand-Loomed or Hand-Hooked Carpets

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The 2004 Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act 
(H.R. 1047) (the ``2004 Act''), as approved by Congress, authorized the 
President to designate seven tariff lines relating to carpets 
(5702.51.20 (now 5702.50.20), 5702.91.30, 5702.92.00 (now 5702.92.10), 
5702.99.10 (now 5702.99.05), 5703.10.00 (now 5703.10.20), 5703.20.10, 
and 5703.30.00 (now 5703.30.20)) as eligible for duty-free treatment 
under the GSP program. These tariff lines cover certain hand-loomed or 
hand-hooked carpets and other textile floor coverings made of wool, 
cotton, fine animal hair, or man-made textile materials. Pursuant to 
the authorization in the 2004 Act, the President designated these seven 
tariff lines as eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP program. 
The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is 
conducting a triennial review of whether each beneficiary country is 
taking steps to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, including the 
use of bonded child labor, in the production of such carpets imported 
under the U.S. GSP program. If sufficient steps are not underway, the 
TPSC will recommend to the President changes in GSP coverage that would 
eliminate from duty-free treatment under the GSP program those carpets 
found to be made with the worst forms of child labor.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC, 
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), 1724 F Street, 
NW., Room F-220, Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 
395-6971.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In connection with the President's 
designation of seven carpet tariff lines as GSP eligible articles, the 
GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC is reviewing whether each beneficiary 
country that supplies the identified hand-loomed or hand-hooked carpets 
under the GSP program is taking sufficient steps to eliminate the worst 
forms of child labor, including the use of bonded child labor, in the 
production of these items. The top suppliers of these carpet tariff 
lines under the GSP program to the United States in 2006 (the most 
recent year for which full-year data are available) were: India, 
Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Pakastan, Egypt, Turkey, South 
Africa, and Nepal.
    Upon a finding during the review that a country is not taking steps 
to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, including the use of 
bonded child labor, in production of certain hand-loomed or hand-hooked 
carpets imported under the U.S. GSP Program, the TPSC will recommend 
changes in the GSP coverage that would eliminate those carpets from 
duty-free treatment under the GSP program. The review will be repeated 
at three-year intervals.
    For purposes of this review, the term ``worst forms of child 
labor'' means (19 U.S.C. 2467(6)) (A) All forms of slavery or practices 
similar to slavery, such as the sale or trafficking of children, debt 
bondage and serfdom, or forced or compulsory labor, including forced or 
compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
    (B) The use, procuring, or offering of a child for prostitution, 
for the production of pornography or for pornographic purposes;
    (C) The use, procuring, or offering of a child for illicit 
activities in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs; 
and
    (D) Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is 
carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of 
children.
    The work referred to in subparagraph (D) shall be determined by the 
laws, regulations, or competent authority of the beneficiary developing 
country involved.
    Opportunities for Public Comment and Inspection of Comments: The 
GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC invites comments for this review. 
Submissions should comply with 15 CFR Part 2007, except as modified 
below. All

[[Page 3496]]

submissions should identify the subject article(s) in terms of the 
country and the eight-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States subheading number. The deadline for submission is February 15, 
2008.
    Requirements for Submissions: In order to facilitate prompt 
processing of submissions, USTR requires electronic e-mail submissions 
in response to this notice. Hand-delivered submissions will not be 
accepted. These submissions should be single-copy transmissions in 
English, and including attachments, with the total submission not to 
exceed 25 single-spaced standard letter-size pages in 12-point type and 
three megabytes as sent as a digital file attached to an e-mail 
transmission. E-mail submissions should use the following subject line: 
``Child Labor Review in the Production of Certain GSP-Eligible Hand-
loomed or Hand-hooked Carpet Lines'' followed by the country and the 
eight-digit HTSUS subheading number. Documents must be submitted in 
English in one of the following formats: WordPerfect (.WPD), Adobe 
(.PDF), MSWord (.DOC), or text (.TXT) files. Documents cannot be 
submitted as electronic image files or contain embedded images, e.g., 
``.JPG'', ``.TIF'', ``.BMP'', or ``.GIF''. Supporting documentation 
submitted as spreadsheets are acceptable as Excel files, 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.
    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'' at the top 
and bottom of each page of the document. The non-confidential version 
must also be clearly marked at the top and bottom of each page (either 
``PUBLIC VERSION'' or ``NON-CONFIDENTIAL''). 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 characters ``P-''. The ``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be 
followed by the name of the party (government, company, union, 
association, etc.) which is making the submission.
    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 name, 
organization name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. The e-
mail address for these submissions is [email protected]. (Note: The 
letters ``FR'' in the e-mail address are followed by the number, zero, 
not a letter. 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 review approximately two weeks after the relevant due 
date by appointment in the USTR public reading room, 1724 F Street, 
NW., Washington, DC. 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 Sandler
Executive Director, Generalized System of Preferences, Office of the 
U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. E8-905 Filed 1-17-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P