[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 145 (Monday, July 29, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45596-45597]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-18069]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice of Initiation of 
the 2013 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).

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 2013 Annual GSP Review, relevant petitions must be 
received by the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee by 
the following deadlines:
    October 4, 2013: 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 5:00 p.m.
    November 22, 2013: Petitions requesting waivers of CNLs must be 
received by no later than 5:00 p.m.
    Petitions submitted after the above listed 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.

    Note: The specified deadlines for petitions will remain valid, 
and USTR will continue to receive submitted petitions, even if 
authorization of the GSP program lapses on July 31, 2013. However, 
no further action will be taken on any petition that is submitted as 
long as the GSP program is not in effect.


ADDRESSES: Public comments should be submitted electronically to 
www.regulations.gov in docket number USTR-2013-0024.

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].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The 2013 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 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. 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

[[Page 45597]]

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)).

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.
    All submissions in response to this notice must be in English and 
must be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, using 
docket number USTR-2013-0024. Hand-delivered submissions will not be 
accepted. 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 via http://www.regulations.gov, enter docket 
number USTR-2013-0024 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'' on the left side of the screen and 
click on the link entitled ``Submit a Comment.'' (For further 
information on using the www.regulations.gov Web site, please consult 
the resources provided on the Web site by clicking on ``How to Use This 
Site'' on the left side of the home page.)
    The http://www.regulations.gov Web site allows users to provide 
comments by filling in a ``Type Comment'' field or by attaching a 
document using the ``Upload file(s)'' field. The GSP 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) ``2013 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 a 
submission at www.regulations.gov, please contact Tameka Cooper at 
(202) 395-6971 to arrange for an alternative method of transmission.

Business Confidential Petitions

    An interested party requesting that information contained in a 
submission 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. For any submission containing business confidential 
information, a non-confidential version must be submitted separately 
(i.e., not as part of the same submission with the confidential 
version), indicating where confidential information has been redacted. 
The non-confidential version will be placed in the docket and open to 
public inspection.

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 http://www.regulations.gov upon completion of processing. Such submissions may 
be viewed by entering the docket number USTR-2013-0024 in the search 
field at http://www.regulations.gov.

William D. Jackson,
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Generalized System 
of Preferences, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2013-18069 Filed 7-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F3-P