[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 41 (Friday, February 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11163-11164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-3925]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding 
Extension of Deadline To Receive Comments on the Child Labor Review in 
the Production of Certain GSP-Eligible Hand-Loomed Carpets

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On January 18, 2008, a public notice was published in the 
Federal Register on pages 3495-3496 requesting public comments by 
February 15, 2008, on whether each beneficiary country exporting 
certain hand-loomed carpets is taking steps to eliminate the worst 
forms of child labor, including the use of bonded child labor, in the 
production of certain carpets imported under the U.S. GSP program. The 
GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee has decided to 
extend the deadline to March 14, 2008, for receipt of public comments 
for this review.

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: The 2004 Miscellaneous Trade and Technical 
Corrections Act (HR 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 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

[[Page 11164]]

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, please refer to the USTR FR Doc. E8-905, 
page 3495-3496, Federal Register Notice, dated January 18, 2008, Vol. 
73 FR 3485: Notice Regarding the Initiation of Child Labor Review in 
the Production of Certain GSP-Eligible Hand-Loomed or Hand-Hooked 
Carpets., No. 13/Friday, January 18, 2008.
    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 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 of 
comments is extended until March 14, 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 J. Sandler,
Executive Director, Generalized System of Preferences, Office of the 
U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. E8-3925 Filed 2-28-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P