[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 130 (Friday, July 6, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31629-31631]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-14098]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2018-0022]


Annual Review of Country Eligibility for Benefits Under the 
African Growth and Opportunity Act

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of initiation of review, public hearing, and request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the initiation of the annual review of 
the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the 
benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA 
Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA 
country eligibility for calendar year 2019. The Subcommittee is 
requesting written public comments for this review and will conduct a 
public hearing on this matter. The Subcommittee will consider the 
written comments, written testimony, and oral testimony in developing 
recommendations for the President. Comments received related to the 
child labor criteria also may be considered by the Secretary of Labor 
in the preparation of the U.S. Department of Labor's report on child 
labor as required under the Trade Act of 1974. This notice identifies 
the eligibility criteria that must be considered under AGOA, and lists 
those sub-Saharan African countries that are currently eligible for the 
benefits of AGOA and those that were ineligible for such benefits in 
2018.

DATES: 
    August 1, 2018: Deadline for filing requests to appear at the 
August 16, 2018 public hearing, and for filing pre-hearing briefs, 
statements, or comments on sub-Saharan African countries' AGOA 
eligibility.
    August 16, 2018: The Subcommittee will convene a public hearing on 
AGOA country eligibility.

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    August 23, 2018: Deadline for filing post-hearing briefs, 
statements, or comments on this matter.

ADDRESSES: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) strongly 
prefers electronic submissions made through the Federal eRulemaking 
portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the submission instructions 
in sections II and III below. The docket number is USTR-2018-0022. For 
alternatives to on-line submissions, please contact Yvonne Jamison at 
(202) 395-3475.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions, please 
contact Yvonne Jamison at (202) 395-3475. Direct all other questions to 
Alan Treat, Director for African Affairs, at (202) 395-9514.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    AGOA (Title I of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, Public Law 
106-200) (19 U.S.C. 2466a et seq.), as amended, authorizes the 
President to designate sub-Saharan African countries as beneficiaries 
eligible for duty-free treatment for certain additional products not 
included for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of 
Preferences (GSP) (Title V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et 
seq.) (1974 Act)), as well as for the preferential treatment for 
certain textile and apparel articles. The President may designate a 
country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country eligible for AGOA 
benefits if he determines that the country meets the eligibility 
criteria set forth in section 104 of AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3703) and section 
502 of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2462).
    Section 104 of AGOA includes requirements that the country has 
established or is making continual progress toward establishing, among 
other things: a market-based economy; the rule of law, political 
pluralism, and the right to due process; the elimination of barriers to 
U.S. trade and investment; economic policies to reduce poverty; a 
system to combat corruption and bribery; and the protection of 
internationally recognized worker rights. In addition, the country may 
not engage in activities that undermine U.S. national security or 
foreign policy interests or engage in gross violations of 
internationally recognized human rights. Section 502 of the 1974 Act 
provides for country eligibility criteria under GSP. For a complete 
list of the AGOA eligibility criteria and more information on the GSP 
criteria, see section 104 of the AGOA and section 502 of the 1974 Act.
    Section 506A of the 1974 Act requires the President to monitor and 
review annually the progress of each sub-Saharan African country in 
meeting the foregoing eligibility criteria in order to determine if 
each beneficiary sub-Saharan African country should continue to be 
eligible, and if each sub-Saharan African country that currently is not 
a beneficiary, should be designated as a beneficiary. If the President 
determines that a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country is not making 
continual progress in meeting the eligibility requirements, he must 
terminate the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country. The President also may withdraw, suspend, or limit the 
application of duty-free treatment with respect to specific articles 
from a country if he determines that it would be more effective in 
promoting compliance with AGOA eligibility requirements than 
terminating the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country.
    For 2018, 40 countries were designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African countries. These countries, as well as the countries currently 
designated as ineligible, are listed below. The Subcommittee is seeking 
public comments in connection with the annual review of sub-Saharan 
African countries' eligibility for AGOA's benefits. The Subcommittee 
will consider any comments in developing recommendations to the 
President related to this review. Comments related to the child labor 
criteria may also be considered by the Secretary of Labor in making the 
findings required under section 504 of the 1974 Act.
    The following sub-Saharan African countries were designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2018:

Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Republic of Congo
Cote d'Ivoire
Djibouti
Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
Ethiopia
Gabon
The Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe
Senegal
Sierra Leone
South Africa
Tanzania
Togo
Uganda
Zambia

    The following sub-Saharan African countries were not designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for 2018:

Burundi
Democratic Republic of Congo
Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP)
Eritrea
Seychelles (graduated from GSP)
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Zimbabwe

II. Notice of Public Hearing

    In addition to written comments from the public on the matters 
listed above, the Subcommittee will convene a public hearing at 10:00 
a.m. on Thursday, August 16, 2018, to receive testimony related to sub-
Saharan African countries' eligibility for AGOA's benefits. USTR must 
receive requests to present oral testimony at the hearing and pre-
hearing briefs, statements, or comments must be received by noon August 
1, 2018.
    The hearing will be held at 1724 F Street NW Washington DC 20508, 
and will be open to the public and to the press. USTR will make a 
transcript of the hearing available on www.regulations.gov within 
approximately two weeks of the hearing.
    USTR must receive your written requests to present oral testimony 
at the hearing and pre-hearing briefs, statements, or comments by noon 
on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. You must make the intent to testify 
notification in the ``type comment'' field under docket number USTR-
2018-0022 on the www.regulations.gov website and you should include the 
name, address, telephone number and email address, if available, of the 
person presenting the testimony. You should attach a summary of the 
testimony by using the

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``upload file'' field. The name of the file also should include who 
will be presenting the testimony. Remarks at the hearing should be 
limited to no more than five minutes to allow for possible questions 
from the Subcommittee. You should submit all documents in accordance 
with the instructions in section III below.

III. Requirements for Submissions

    In order to be assured of consideration, persons submitting a 
notification of intent to testify and/or written comments must do so in 
English by noon on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. USTR strongly encourages 
commenters to make on-line submissions, using the www.regulations.gov 
website. To submit comments via www.regulations.gov, enter docket 
number USTR-2018-0022 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 and click on the link 
entitled ``comment now!'' For further information on using the 
www.regulations.gov website, please consult the resources provided on 
the website by clicking on ``How to Use Regulations.gov'' on the bottom 
of the home page. We will not accept hand-delivered submissions.
    For any comments submitted electronically containing business 
confidential information, the file name of the business confidential 
version should begin with the characters ``BC''. Any page containing 
business confidential information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS 
CONFIDENTIAL'' on the top of that page. Filers of submissions 
containing business confidential information also must submit a public 
version of their comments that we will place in the docket for public 
inspection. The file name of the public version should begin with the 
character ``P''. The ``BC'' and ``P'' should be followed by the name of 
the person or entity submitting the comments or reply comments. Filers 
submitting comments containing no business confidential information 
should name their file using the name of the person or entity 
submitting the comments. Please do not attach separate cover letters to 
electronic submissions; rather, include any information that might 
appear in a cover letter in the comments themselves. Similarly, to the 
extent possible, please include any exhibits, annexes, or other 
attachments in the same file as the submission itself, not as separate 
files.
    As noted, USTR strongly urges submitters to file comments through 
www.regulations.gov. You must make any alternative arrangements with 
Yvonne Jamison at (202) 395-3475 in advance of transmitting a comment. 
General information concerning USTR is available at www.ustr.gov.
    We will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except 
business confidential information. You can view comments on the 
www.regulations.gov website by entering the relevant docket number in 
the search field on the home page.

IV. Petitions

    15 CFR part 2017 permits any interested party to submit a petition 
to USTR, at any time, with respect to whether a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country is meeting the AGOA eligibility requirements. An 
interested party may file a petition through www.regulations.gov, under 
docket number USTR-2018-0022.

Edward Gresser,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2018-14098 Filed 7-5-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3290-F8-P