[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 6 (Monday, January 11, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1275-1276]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00088]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 
2015/2016 GSP Annual Product Review

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of hearing and receipt of public comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces petitions submitted in connection with 
the 2015/2016 GSP Annual Product Review that have been accepted for 
further review. This notice also sets forth the schedule for submitting 
comments and for a public hearing associated with the review of these 
petitions and products.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Aimee Larsen, Director for GSP, Office 
of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street NW., 
Washington DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-2974 and the 
email address is [email protected].

DATES: The GSP regulations (15 CFR part 2007) provide the schedule of 
dates for conducting an annual review unless otherwise specified in a 
notice published in the Federal Register. The schedule for the 2015/
2016 GSP Annual Product Review is set forth below. Notification of any 
other changes will be published in the Federal Register.
    February 19, 2016--Due date for submission of comments, pre-hearing 
briefs and requests to appear at the GSP Subcommittee Public Hearing on 
the 2015/2016 GSP Annual Product Review.
    March 3-4, 2016--The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff 
Committee (TPSC) will convene a public hearing on all petitioned 
product additions, product removals, and competitive needs limitation 
(CNL) waiver petitions that were accepted for the 2015/2016 GSP Annual 
Product Review. The hearing will be held in Rooms 1 and 2, 1724 F 
Street NW., Washington DC 20508, beginning at 9:30 a.m. each day.
    March 25, 2016--Due date for submission of post-hearing comments or 
briefs in connection with the GSP Subcommittee Public Hearing.
    April 2016--The U.S. International Trade Commission is expected to 
publish a public version of its report providing advice on the probable 
economic effect of the prospective addition and removal of products and 
granting of CNL waiver petitions considered as part of 2015/2016 GSP 
Annual Product Review. Comments from interested parties on the USITC 
report on these products should be posted on www.regulations.gov in 
Docket Number USTR-2015-0013 following the instructions provided below 
and will be due 10 calendar days after the date of the USITC's 
publication of the public version of the report.
    July 1, 2016--Effective date for any modifications that the 
President proclaims to the list of articles eligible for duty-free 
treatment under the GSP resulting from the 2015/2016 Annual Product 
Review and for determinations related to CNL waivers.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GSP program provides for the duty-free 
importation of designated articles when imported from designated 
beneficiary developing countries. The GSP program is authorized by 
Title V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461, et seq.), as amended 
(1974 Act), and is implemented in accordance with Executive Order 11888 
of November 24, 1975, as modified by subsequent Executive Orders and 
Presidential Proclamations.

Petitions Requesting Modifications of Product Eligibility

    In a notice published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2015 
(80 FR 50377), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) 
announced the initiation of the 2015/2016 GSP Annual Review and 
indicated that the interagency GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC was 
prepared to receive petitions to modify the list of products that are 
eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP program and petitions to 
waive CNLs on imports of certain products from specific beneficiary 
countries. On November 17, 2015, USTR announced that the deadline for 
the filing of CNL waiver petitions had been extended to December 4, 
2015 (80 FR 73868 and 80 FR 71913).
    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC has reviewed the product and CNL 
waiver petitions submitted in response to these announcements, and has 
decided to accept for review 23 petitions to add a product to the list 
of those eligible for duty-free treatment

[[Page 1276]]

under GSP, 3 petitions to remove a product from GSP eligibility for 
certain GSP beneficiary countries, and 8 petitions to waive CNLs.
    A list of petitions and products accepted for review is posted on 
the USTR Web site at https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/preference-programs/generalized-system-preferences-gsp/current-reviews/gsp-2015-annual 
under the title ``Petitions Accepted in the 2015/2016 GSP Annual 
Product Review.'' This list can also be found at www.regulations.gov in 
Docket Number USTR-2015-0013. Acceptance of a petition indicates only 
that the TPSC found that the subject petition warranted further 
consideration and that a review of the requested action will take 
place.
    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC invites comments in support of or 
in opposition to any petition that has been accepted for the 2015/2016 
GSP Annual Product Review. The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will also 
convene a public hearing on these products and petitions. See below for 
information on how to submit a request to testify at this hearing.

Notice of Public Hearing

    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will hold a two-day hearing on 
Thursday, March 3, 2016, and Friday, March 4, 2016 beginning at 9:30 
a.m. each day, for products and petitions accepted for the 2015/2016 
GSP Annual Product Review. The hearing will be held at 1724 F Street 
NW., Washington DC 20508 and will be open to the public. A transcript 
of the hearing will be made available on www.regulations.gov 
approximately two weeks after the hearing.
    All interested parties wishing to make an oral presentation at the 
hearing must submit, following the ``Requirements for Submissions'' set 
out below, the name, address, telephone number, and email address (if 
available), of the witness(es) representing their organization by 5 
p.m., Friday, February 19, 2016. Requests to present oral testimony in 
connection with the public hearing must be accompanied by a written 
brief or summary statement, in English, and also must be received by 5 
p.m., Friday, February 19, 2016. Oral testimony before the GSP 
Subcommittee will be limited to five-minute presentations that 
summarize or supplement information contained in briefs or statements 
submitted for the record. Post-hearing briefs or statements will be 
accepted if they conform with the regulations cited below and are 
submitted, in English, by 5 p.m., Friday, March 25, 2016. Parties not 
wishing to appear at the public hearing may submit pre-hearing and 
post-hearing briefs or comments by the aforementioned deadlines.

Requirements for Submissions

    Submissions in response to this notice (including requests to 
testify, written comments, and pre-hearing and post-hearing briefs) 
must be submitted by the applicable deadlines set forth in this notice. 
All submissions must be made in English and submitted electronically 
via http://www.regulations.gov, using docket number USTR-2015-0013. 
Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted. To make a submission 
using http://www.regulations.gov, enter docket number USTR-2015-0013 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. The Subcommittee prefers that submissions be provided in an 
attached document and, in such cases, that parties note ``See 
attached'' in the ``Type Comment'' field on the online submission form. 
At the beginning of the submission, or on the first page (if an 
attachment) should be the following text (in bold and underlined): (1) 
``2015/2016 GSP Annual Product Review;'' (2) the product description 
and related HTS tariff number; and (3) whether the document is a 
``Written Comment,'' ``Notice of Intent to Testify,'' ``Pre-hearing 
brief,'' or a ``Post-hearing brief.'' 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 unable to provide submissions as requested, please 
contact the GSP Program at USTR to arrange for an alternative method of 
transmission.

Business Confidential Submissions

    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, usually within two 
weeks of the relevant due date or date of the submission. Public 
versions of all documents relating to the 2015/2016 Annual Product 
Review will be made available for public viewing in docket USTR-2015-
0013 at www.regulations.gov upon completion of processing.

William D. Jackson,
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Generalized System 
of Preferences, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2016-00088 Filed 1-8-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3290-F6-P