[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 191 (Wednesday, October 1, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57158-57159]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-23136]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), as Amended: Notice Regarding 
Eligibility of Bolivia

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the President's proposed action to 
suspend Bolivia's designation as a beneficiary country under the Andean 
Trade Preference Act (ATPA), as amended, and the Andean Trade Promotion 
and Drug Eradication Act of 2002 (ATPDEA), based on the Bolivian 
government's failure to meet the programs' counternarcotics cooperation 
criteria. The President has directed the U.S. Trade Representative to 
publish this notice and, in accordance with the statute, the U.S. Trade 
Representative seeks public comment and will hold a public hearing on 
the proposed action. Comments must be submitted in accordance with the 
requirements set forth below.

DATES: The deadline for submission of comments is October 31, 2008. The 
hearing will be held on October 23, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments by electronic mail to [email protected].
    Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade 
Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade 
Representative, (202) 395-6143. The public is strongly encouraged to

[[Page 57159]]

submit documents electronically rather than by facsimile. (See 
requirements for submissions below.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bennett M. Harman, Deputy Assistant 
U.S. Trade Representative for Latin America, at (202) 395-9446.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ATPA (19 U.S.C. 3201 et seq.), as 
renewed and amended by the ATPDEA (Pub. L. 107-210), the Andean Trade 
Preferences Extension Act (Pub. L. 109-432), and the Andean Trade 
Preferences Extension Act (Pub. L. 110-191) provides trade benefits for 
countries that have been designated by the President as beneficiary 
countries. The ATPDEA expanded the tariff benefits available to 
beneficiary countries of ATPA to certain articles, including certain 
textile and apparel products. Bolivia is currently a beneficiary 
country for purposes of the ATPA and ATPDEA. The President may withdraw 
or suspend the designation of a country as a beneficiary country or 
withdraw, suspend, or limit the application of duty-free treatment to 
any eligible article if the President determines that as a result of 
changed circumstances, the country is not satisfying the statutory 
eligibility criteria. At least 30 days before taking one of the 
aforementioned actions, the President must publish a notice in the 
Federal Register of the action the President proposes to take; during 
this 30-day period, the USTR is required to accept public comments and 
hold a public hearing on the proposed action.

1. Eligibility Criteria

    As noted above, Bolivia currently receives preferential tariff 
treatment under ATPA and ATPDEA. Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 3202(d), in 
deciding whether to designate any country as a beneficiary country 
under ATPA, the President is required to take into account inter alia:
    (11) whether such country has met the narcotics cooperation 
certification criteria set forth in section 481(h)(2)(A) of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 for eligibility for United States assistance.
    In addition, among the criteria set forth in 19 U.S.C. 
3203(b)(6)(B) that the President is required to take into account in 
deciding whether to designate a country as eligible for the expanded 
benefits under ATPDEA is:
    (v) The extent to which the country has met the counternarcotics 
certification criteria set forth in section 490 of the Foreign 
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2291j) for eligibility for United 
States assistance.
    On September 15, 2008, pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the Foreign 
Relations Authorization Act, the President designated Bolivia as a 
country that has failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to 
adhere to its obligations under international counternarcotics 
agreements and to take the measures set forth in section 489(a)(1) of 
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.

2. Public Comments and Hearing

    USTR invites written comments and/or oral testimony of interested 
persons on the proposed suspension of Bolivia's designation as a 
beneficiary country under the Andean Trade Preference Act, as amended 
and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act. Written 
comments must be received no later than October 31, 2008. A hearing 
will be held on October 23, 2008, at 10 a.m., in Rooms 1 and 2 at 1724 
F Street, NW., Washington, DC. If necessary, the hearing will continue 
on the next day.
    Persons wishing to testify orally at the hearing must provide 
written notification of the intention by noon, October 16, 2008. The 
notification should include: (1) The name, address and telephone number 
of the person presenting the testimony; and (2) a short (one or two 
paragraph) summary of the presentation. A copy of the testimony must 
accompany the notification. Remarks at the hearing should be limited to 
no more than five minutes to allow for possible questions from the 
Trade Policy Staff Committee.
    All documents should be submitted in accordance with the 
instructions in section 3 below.

3. Requirements for Submissions

    Comments must be submitted, in English, to the Andean Subcommittee 
of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) as soon as possible, but not 
later than 5 p.m., October 31, 2008.
    In order to facilitate 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 may be 
made by facsimile.
    Comments should be provided in a single copy and must not exceed 30 
single-spaced standard letter-size pages in 12-point type or a digital 
file size of three megabytes. E-mails should include the following 
subject line: ``Review of Bolivia's Designation as a Beneficiary 
Country Under the ATPA and ATPDEA.'' 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 e-mail--and must include the sender's name, organization 
name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.
    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 set out in the same file as the 
submission itself, and not in a separate file.
    If a 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 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 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 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 person 
(government, company, union, association, etc.) making the submission.
    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.

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
 [FR Doc. E8-23136 Filed 9-30-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P