[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 201 (Thursday, October 16, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61444-61445]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-24593]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 
2008 Annual Product Review: Competitive Need Limitations (CNL) Warning 
List and the Filing of Petitions Requesting CNL Waivers

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice is to inform the public of the availability of 
eight-month 2008 import statistics and to announce that the Office of 
the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will not be publishing a 
``warning list'' of products that may exceed statutory competitive need 
limitations (CNLs), pertinent to the 2008 GSP Annual Review. Each 
interested party is responsible for conducting its own review of 2008 
import data with regard to the possible application of GSP CNLs and 
submitting a petition to waive the CNLs if necessary. This information 
can be found on the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) Web 
site (http://dataweb.usitc.gov). The deadline for submission of 
petitions requesting CNL waivers for consideration in the 2008 GSP 
Annual Review is 5 p.m., Thursday, November 13, 2008. The list of 
petitions for CNL waivers accepted for review will be announced in the 
Federal Register at a later date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Regina Teeter, GSP Program, Office of 
the United States Trade Representative, 1724 F Street, NW., Room F-214, 
Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-6971, the fax 
number is (202) 395-9481, and the e-mail address is [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Competitive Need Limitations

    The GSP program provides for the duty-free importation of 
designated articles when imported from designated beneficiary 
developing countries (BDCs). The GSP program is authorized by title V 
of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461, et seq. ), as amended (the 
``1974 Act''), and is implemented in accordance with Executive Order 
11888 of November 24, 1975, as modified by subsequent Executive Orders 
and Presidential Proclamations.
    Section 503(c)(2)(A) of the 1974 Act sets out the two competitive 
need limitations (CNLs). When the President determines that a BDC 
exported to the United States during a calendar year either: (1) A 
quantity of a GSP-eligible article having a value in excess of the 
applicable amount for that year ($135 million for 2008), or (2) a 
quantity of a GSP-eligible article having a value equal to or greater 
than 50 percent of the value of total U.S. imports of the article from 
all countries (the ``50 percent CNL''), the President must terminate 
GSP duty-free treatment for that article from that BDC by no later than 
July 1 of the next calendar year. However, Section 503(d) of the 1974 
Act sets forth the criteria under which the President may grant a 
waiver of the CNL for articles imported from specific BDCs. Product 
petitions requesting CNL waivers for GSP-eligible articles from 
beneficiary developing countries that exceed the CNLs in 2008 must be 
filed in the 2008 Annual Review.
    Under section 503(c)(2)(F) of the 1974 Act, the President may also 
waive the 50 percent CNL with respect to an eligible article imported 
from a BDC if the value of total imports of that article from all 
countries during the calendar year did not exceed the applicable de 
minimis amount for that year. Comments on de minimis waivers will be 
requested after publication of a separate Federal Register notice in 
February 2008.

II. Implementation of Competitive Need Limitations

    Exclusions from GSP duty-free treatment where CNLs have been 
exceeded will be effective July 1, 2009, unless granted a waiver before 
that date by the President. CNL exclusions will be based on full 
calendar-year 2008 import statistics. Full calendar-year 2008 data for 
individual tariff subheadings will be available in February 2009 on the 
Web site of the U.S. International Trade Commission at http://dataweb.usitc.gov/ gov/.

III. 2008 Competitive Need Limitations Petition Procedure

 A. Eight Month Import Data and Announcement That ``Warning List'' Will 
Not Be Published

    For the purposes of the Competitive Need Limitations, the Office of 
the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will not be publishing a 
``warning list'' of products that may exceed statutory competitive need 
limitations (CNLs). Each interested party is responsible for 
conductingits own review of 2008 import data with regard to the 
possible application of GSP CNLs. This information can be found on the 
U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) Web site (http://dataweb.usitc.gov). Interested parties, including foreign governments, 
may submit petitions to waive the ``competitive need limitations'' for 
individual beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific 
GSP-eligible articles (these limits do not apply to either least-
developed beneficiary developing countries or AGOA beneficiary sub-
Saharan African countries). As announced in the May 15, 2008, Federal 
Register notice, petitions requesting CNL waivers must be received by 
the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later than 
5 p.m. on Thursday, November 13, 2008, in order to be considered in the 
2008 Annual Review. Petitions submitted after the deadline will not be 
considered for review. The list of product petitions accepted for 
review will be announced in the Federal Register at a later date.
    As specified in 15 CFR 2007.1, all petitions requesting CNL waivers 
for GSP-eligible articles from beneficiary developing countries must 
include a detailed description of the product and

[[Page 61445]]

the identification of the pertinent item number of the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under which the product is 
classified. The HTSUS number for the relevant product should be 
provided at the 8-digit level. Further, petitions requesting CNL 
waivers for GSP-eligible articles that exceed the CNLs in 2008 must be 
filed in the 2008 Annual Review. In order to allow petitioners an 
opportunity to review additional 2008 U.S. import statistics, these 
petitions may be filed after Wednesday, June 18, 2008, but must be 
received on or before Thursday, November 13, 2008, in order to be 
considered in the 2008 Annual Review. Copies will be made available for 
public inspection after the November 13, 2008, deadline.

B. Requirements for Submissions

    Petitions must be submitted, in English, to the Chairman of the GSP 
Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) by the deadline 
set forth in this notice.
    Any person or party making a submission is strongly advised to 
review the GSP regulations and GSP Guidebook (available at: http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Development/Preference_Programs/GSP/General_GSP_Program_Information/Section_Index.html). Petitions with respect to 
waivers of the ``competitive need limitations'' must meet the relevant 
information requirements listed in sections 2007.1 (a) and (c) of the 
GSP regulations. Furthermore, interested parties submitting petitions 
that request action with respect to specific products should list on 
the first page of the petition the following information after typing 
``2008 Annual GSP Review'': (1) The requested action to waive the 
competitive need limits; (2) the HTSUS 8-digit subheading in which the 
product is classified; and (3) the beneficiary developing country.
    In order to facilitate prompt consideration of submissions, USTR 
requires the petitions to be set out in digital files attached to e-
mails transmitted to the following address: [email protected] (Note: 
The digit before the number ``8'' in the e-mail address is the number 
``zero'' and not a letter.) If you are unable to provide submissions by 
e-mail, please contact Regina Teeter at USTR's GSP Office at (202) 395-
6971 to arrange for an alternative method of transmission. For security 
reasons, hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted. E-mail 
submissions should be single copy transmissions in English with the 
total submission including attachments not to exceed 30 single-spaced 
standard letter sized pages in 12-point type and three megabytes as a 
digital file attached to an e-mail transmission. E-mails should use the 
following subject line: ``2008 Annual GSP Review-CNLW Petition.'' The 
transmittal message or cover letter accompanying a submission must be 
set out exclusively in the digital file attached to the e-mail--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.
    Digital files must be submitted in one of the following formats: 
WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), text (``.TXT''), or Adobe 
(``PDF'') files. Documents cannot be submitted as electronic image 
files or contain embedded images (for example, ``.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.
    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 person 
(government, company, union, association, etc.) making the submission.
    Public versions of all documents in response to this notice will be 
available for review approximately one week after the 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, GSP Program, Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of the 
Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E8-24593 Filed 10-15-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W9-P