[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 184 (Monday, September 22, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54639-54640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-22044]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Request for Public Comments on Annual Review of Country 
Eligibility for Benefits Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: The African Growth and Opportunity Act Implementation 
Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (the ``Subcommittee'') 
is requesting written public comments for the annual review of the 
eligibility of sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of 
the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The Subcommittee will 
consider these comments in developing recommendations on AGOA country 
eligibility for the President. Comments received related to the child 
labor criteria may also be considered by the Secretary of Labor for the 
preparation of the Department of Labor's report on child labor as 
required under section 412(c) of the Trade and Development Act of 2000. 
This notice identifies the eligibility criteria that must be considered 
under AGOA, and lists those sub-Saharan African countries that are 
currently eligible for the benefits of the AGOA, and those that are 
currently ineligible for such benefits.

DATES: Public comments are due at the Office of the U.S. Trade 
Representative (USTR) by noon, Monday, October 20, 2008.

ADDRESSES: USTR prefers submission by electronic mail: 
[email protected]. If you are unable to make a submission by e-mail, 
submissions should be made by facsimile to: Gloria Blue, Executive 
Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, at (202) 395-6143. The public 
is strongly encouraged to submit documents electronically rather than 
by facsimile. See requirements for submissions below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions, please 
contact Gloria Blue, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600 17th 
Street, NW., Room F516, Washington, DC. 20508, at (202) 395-3475. All 
other questions should be directed to Constance Hamilton, Deputy 
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Office of the U.S. 
Trade Representative, at (202) 395-9514.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The AGOA (Title I of the Trade and 
Development Act of 2000, Public Law 106-200) (19 U.S.C. 3721 et seq.), 
as amended, authorizes the President to designate sub-Saharan African 
countries as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries eligible for 
duty-free treatment for certain additional products under the 
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) (Title V of the Trade Act of 
1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) (the ``1974 Act'')), as well as for the 
preferential treatment the AGOA provides for certain textile and 
apparel articles.
    The President may designate a country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country eligible for both the additional GSP benefits and the 
textile and apparel benefits of the AGOA for countries meeting certain 
statutory requirements intended to prevent unlawful transshipment of 
such articles, if he determines that the country meets the eligibility 
criteria set forth in: (1) Section 104 of the AGOA; and (2) section 502 
of the 1974 Act. For 2008, 41 countries have been designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries. These countries, as well as 
the 7 countries currently ineligible, are listed below. Section 506A of 
the 1974

[[Page 54640]]

Act provides that the President shall monitor and review annually the 
progress of each sub-Saharan African country in meeting the foregoing 
eligibility criteria in order to determine whether each beneficiary 
sub-Saharan African country should continue to be eligible, and whether 
each sub-Saharan African country that is currently not a beneficiary 
sub-Saharan African country, should be designated as such a country. 
Section 506A of the 1974 Act requires that, if the President determines 
that a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country is not making continual 
progress in meeting the eligibility requirements, he must terminate the 
designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
country.
    The Subcommittee is seeking public comments in connection with the 
annual review of the eligibility of beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
countries for the AGOA's benefits. The Subcommittee will consider any 
such comments in developing recommendations on country eligibility for 
the President. Comments related to the child labor criteria may also be 
considered by the Secretary of Labor in making the findings required 
under section 504 of the 1974 Act.
    The following sub-Saharan African countries were designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2008:

Angola
Republic of Benin
Republic of Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Republic of Cape Verde
Republic of Cameroon
Republic of Chad
Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros
Republic of Congo
Democratic Republic of Congo
Republic of Djibouti
Ethiopia
Gabonese Republic
The Gambia
Republic of Ghana
Republic of Guinea
Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Republic of Kenya
Kingdom of Lesotho
Republic of Liberia
Republic of Madagascar
Republic of Malawi
Republic of Mali
Republic of Mauritius
Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Republic of Mozambique
Republic of Namibia
Republic of Niger
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Republic of Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe
Republic of Senegal
Republic of Seychelles
Republic of Sierra Leone
Republic of South Africa
Kingdom of Swaziland
Republic of Togo
United Republic of Tanzania
Republic of Uganda
Republic of Zambia

    The following sub-Saharan African countries were not designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2007:

Central African Republic
Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
Republic of Equatorial Guinea
State of Eritrea
Somalia
Republic of Sudan
Republic of Zimbabwe

    Requirements for Submissions: Comments must be submitted in 
English. In order to facilitate the prompt processing of submissions, 
USTR strongly recommends that comments be set out in digital files 
attached to e-mails transmitted to the following address: 
[email protected]. If you are unable to provide comments by e-mail, 
submissions should be made by facsimile as set forth above. Persons 
making submissions by e-mail should use the following subject line: 
``2008 AGOA Annual Country Review.'' Digital files must be submitted in 
one of the following formats: WordPerfect (.WPD), Adobe (.PDF), MSWord 
(.DOC), or text (.TXT) files. Comments may not be submitted as 
electronic image files or contain embedded images, e.g., ``.JPG'', 
``.TIF'', ``.BMP'', or ``.GIF''. Spreadsheet data may be submitted as 
Excel files, formatted for printing on 8\1/2\ x 11 inch paper. To the 
extent possible, any data accompanying the submission should be 
included in the same file as the submission itself, and not in a 
separate file. The transmittal message or cover letter accompanying a 
submission must be set out exclusively in the digital file attached to 
the e-mail transmission--not in the message portion of the e-mail--and 
must include the sender's name, organization name, address, telephone 
and fax numbers, and e-mail address.
    If the submission contains business confidential information that 
the submitter wishes to protect from public disclosure, the 
confidential version must be marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the 
top and bottom of each page. 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 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 digital file name assigned to any business confidential version 
of a submission 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 submitter.
    Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be 
available for review approximately two weeks after the due date by 
appointment in the USTR public reading room, 1724 F Street, NW., 
Washington, DC. Appointments may be made Monday through Friday, from 10 
a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., by calling (202) 395-6186. 
Appointments must be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance.

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E8-22044 Filed 9-19-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P