[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 158 (Thursday, August 14, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47633-47634]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18861]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA); Notice Regarding the 2008 
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 2008 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 2008 Annual 
ATPA Review is September 15, 2008.

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 December 
31, 2008 by 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 
2008 Annual ATPA Review is the fifth 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 
2008 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 15, 2008. 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: ``2008 Annual 
ATPA Review--Petition.'' Documents must be submitted as either 
WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), Adobe (``PDF''), or text 
(``.TXT'') files. Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets 
are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel, pre-formatted for printing on 8 
\1/2\ x 11-inch paper. Submissions by e-mail should not include 
separate

[[Page 47634]]

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. 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.
    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 that the 
submitter wishes to protect from public disclosure, the confidential 
submission must be marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and 
bottom of every page of the document. In addition, the submission must 
be accompanied by a non-confidential version that indicates, with 
asterisks, where confidential information was redacted or deleted. The 
top and bottom of each page of the non-confidential version must be 
marked either ``PUBLIC VERSION'' or ``NON-CONFIDENTIAL''. Business 
confidential comments that are submitted without the required markings 
or that are not accompanied by a properly marked non-confidential 
version as set forth above may not be accepted or may be treated as 
public documents.
    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. 
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. E8-18861 Filed 8-13-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P