[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 146 (Monday, July 30, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44704-44706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-18426]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice of Initiation of 
the 2012 Annual GSP Product and Country Practices Review; Deadlines for 
Filing Petitions

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of procedures for submission of petitions from the 
public.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces that the Office of the United States 
Trade Representative (USTR) is prepared to receive petitions to modify 
the list of products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under 
the GSP program and to modify the GSP status of certain GSP beneficiary 
developing countries because of country practices. USTR is also 
prepared to receive petitions requesting waivers of competitive need 
limitations (CNLs).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tameka Cooper, GSP Program, Office of 
the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-6971; the fax 
number is (202) 395-9674, and the email address is [email protected].

DATES: The GSP regulations (15 CFR part 2007) provide the timetable for 
conducting an annual review, unless otherwise specified by notice in 
the Federal Register. Notice is hereby given that, in order to be 
considered in the

[[Page 44705]]

2012 Annual GSP Review, all petitions to modify the list of articles 
eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP or to review the GSP status 
of any beneficiary developing country must be received by the GSP 
Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later than 5:00 
p.m. on October 5, 2012. Petitions requesting waivers of CNLs must be 
received by the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no 
later than 5:00 p.m. on November 21, 2012. Petitions submitted after 
the respective deadlines will not be considered for review. Decisions 
on which petitions are accepted for review, along with a schedule for 
any related public hearings and the opportunity for the public to 
provide comments will be announced at a later date.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The 2012 Annual GSP Review

    GSP Product Review Petitions. Interested parties, including foreign 
governments, may submit petitions to: (1) Designate additional articles 
as eligible for GSP benefits, including to designate articles as 
eligible for GSP benefits only if imported from countries designated as 
least-developed beneficiary developing countries, or only from 
countries designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under 
the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA); (2) withdraw, suspend or 
limit the application of duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP 
with respect to any article; (3) waive the CNL for individual 
beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific GSP-eligible 
articles (these limits do not apply to least-developed beneficiary 
developing countries or AGOA beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
countries); and (4) otherwise modify GSP coverage.
    As specified in 15 CFR 2007.1, all product petitions must include, 
inter alia, a detailed description of the product and the eight-digit 
subheading of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(HTSUS) under which the product is classified.
    As noted above, product petitions requesting CNL waivers for GSP-
eligible articles imported from beneficiary developing countries that 
exceed the CNLs in 2012 must be received on or before the November 21, 
2012, deadline described above. Before submitting petitions for CNL 
waivers, prospective petitioners may wish to review the year-to-date 
import trade data for products of interest. This data is available via 
the U.S. International Trade Commission's ``Dataweb'' database at 
http://dataweb.usitc.gov/.
    Country Practices Review Petitions Any interested party may submit 
a petition to review the GSP eligibility of any beneficiary developing 
country with respect to any of the designation criteria listed in 
sections 502(b) or 502(c) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2462(b) and (c)). 
As noted above, such petitions are due no later than 5:00 p.m. on 
Friday, October 5, 2012.

Requirements for Submissions

    All submissions for the GSP Annual Review must conform to the GSP 
regulations set forth at 15 CFR part 2007, except as modified below. 
These regulations are available on the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/trade-topics/trade-development/preference-programs/generalized-system-preference-gsp/gsp-program-inf. The GSP Guidebook 
also contains general instructions on how to submit a GSP petition. Any 
person or party making a submission is strongly advised to review the 
GSP regulations and the GSP Guidebook, available at the same link.
    All submissions in response to this notice must be submitted 
electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, using docket number 
USTR-2012-0013. Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted. 
Submissions must be submitted in English to the Chairman of the GSP 
Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee by the applicable 
deadlines set forth in this notice. Submissions that do not provide the 
information required by sections 2007.0 and 2007.1 of the GSP 
regulations will not be accepted for review, except upon a detailed 
showing in the submission that the petitioner made a good faith effort 
to obtain the information required.
    To make a submission using http://www.regulations.gov, enter docket 
number USTR-2012-0013 in the ``Search for'' field on the home page and 
click ``Search.'' The site will provide a search-results page listing 
all documents associated with this docket. Find a reference to this 
notice by selecting ``Notice'' under ``Document Type'' in the ``Filter 
Results by'' section on the left side of the screen and click on the 
link entitled ``Comment Now.'' The ``http://www.regulations.gov'' Web 
site offers the option of providing comments by filling in a ``Type 
Comment'' field or by attaching a document using the ``Upload file(s)'' 
field. Given the detailed nature of the information sought by the GSP 
Subcommittee, the Subcommittee prefers that submissions be provided in 
an attached document. Submissions must include at the beginning of the 
submission, or on the first page (if an attachment), the following text 
(in bold and underlined): (1) ``2012 GSP Annual Review''; and (2) the 
eight-digit HTSUS subheading number in which the product is classified 
(for product petitions) or the name of the country (for country 
practice petitions). Furthermore, interested parties submitting 
petitions that request action with respect to specific products should 
also list at the beginning of the submission, or on the first page (if 
an attachment) the following information: (1) The requested action; and 
(2) if applicable, the beneficiary developing country. Submissions 
should not exceed 30 single-spaced, standard letter-size pages in 12-
point type, including attachments. Any data attachments to the 
submission should be included in the same file as the submission 
itself, and not as separate files.
    Each submitter will receive a submission tracking number upon 
completion of the submissions procedure at http://www.regulations.gov. 
The tracking number will be the submitter's confirmation that the 
submission was received into http://www.regulations.gov. The 
confirmation should be kept for the submitter's records. USTR is not 
able to provide technical assistance for the Web site. Documents not 
submitted in accordance with these instructions may not be considered 
in this review. If an interested party is unable to provide submissions 
as requested, please contact the GSP Program at USTR to arrange for an 
alternative method of transmission.

Business Confidential Petitions

    An interested party requesting that information contained in a 
petition be treated as business confidential information must certify 
that such information is business confidential and would not 
customarily be released to the public by the submitter. Confidential 
business information must be clearly designated as such. The submission 
must be marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and bottom of the 
cover page and each succeeding page, and the submission should 
indicate, via brackets, the specific information that is confidential. 
Additionally, ``Business Confidential'' must be included in the ``Type 
Comment'' field. Any submission containing business confidential 
information must be accompanied by a separate, non-confidential version 
of the confidential submission, indicating where confidential 
information has been redacted. The non-confidential version will be 
placed in the docket and open to public inspection.

[[Page 44706]]

Public Viewing of Review Submissions

    Submissions in response to this notice, except for information 
granted ``business confidential'' status under 15 CFR 2003.6, will be 
available for public viewing pursuant to 15 CFR 2007.6 at 
www.regulations.gov upon completion of processing and no later than 
approximately two weeks after the relevant due date. Such submissions 
may be viewed by entering the docket number USTR-2012-0013 in the 
search field at: www.regulations.gov.

James Sanford,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Small Business, Market Access & 
Industrial Competitiveness,Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2012-18426 Filed 7-27-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F2-P