[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 199 (Monday, October 15, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52048-52049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22374]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Numbers USTR-2017-0009, USTR-2013-0013, USTR-2013-0009, USTR-
2013-0011, USTR-2013-0004, USTR-2015-0018, USTR-2013-0007, USTR-2013-
0014, and USTR-2013-0021]


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding a 
Hearing for Ongoing Country Practice Reviews of Bolivia, Ecuador, 
Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, and Uzbekistan and for the Ongoing 
Country Designation Review of Laos

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of public hearing and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is 
announcing a hearing for the open country practice reviews for which 
USTR has not held hearings in 2018 regarding compliance with the GSP 
eligibility criteria of Bolivia, Ecuador, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, 
Thailand, and Uzbekistan. This review will focus on whether: (1) 
Bolivia, Georgia, Iraq, Thailand, and Uzbekistan are meeting the GSP 
eligibility criterion requiring that a GSP beneficiary country afford 
workers internationally recognized worker rights; (2) Ecuador is 
meeting the GSP eligibility criterion requiring a GSP beneficiary 
country to act in good faith in recognizing as binding or in enforcing 
applicable arbitral awards; and (3) Indonesia and Uzbekistan are 
meeting the GSP eligibility criterion requiring a GSP beneficiary to 
provide adequate protection of intellectual property rights. In 
addition, USTR is announcing a hearing for the ongoing country 
designation review of Laos. This review will focus on whether Laos 
meets all the GSP eligibility criteria and should be newly designated 
as a GSP beneficiary. This notice includes the schedule for submission 
of public comments and a public hearing.

DATES: November 13, 2018 at midnight EDT: Deadline for submission of 
comments, pre-hearing briefs, and requests to appear at the November 
29, 2018 public hearing. November 29, 2018: The GSP Subcommittee of the 
Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will convene a public hearing on 
the GSP country practice reviews of Bolivia, Ecuador, Georgia, 
Indonesia, Iraq, Thailand, and Uzbekistan and the country designation 
review of Laos in Rooms 1 and 2, 1724 F Street NW, Washington, DC 
20508, beginning at 10:00 a.m. December 17, 2018 at midnight EDT: 
Deadline for submission of post-hearing briefs.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through 
the Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments below using the docket number for 
the appropriate individual country review. For alternatives to on-line 
submissions, please contact Lauren Gamache at 202-395-2974 or 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lauren Gamache, Director for GSP, at 
(202) 395-2974 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    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 as amended (19 U.S.C. 2461-2467), and is implemented 
in accordance with Executive Order 11888 of November 24, 1975, as 
modified by subsequent Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations.
    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will hold a hearing on November 
29, 2018 for the following cases:

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            Country              Basis for petition      Petitioner                     Docket No.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bolivia........................  worker rights and   USTR..............  USTR-2017-0009
                                  child labor.
Ecuador........................  arbitral awards...  Chevron             USTR-2013-0013
                                                      Corporation.
Georgia........................  worker rights.....  AFL-CIO...........  USTR-2013-0009
Indonesia......................  intellectual        International       USTR-2013-0011
                                  property rights.    Intellectual
                                                      Property Alliance
                                                      (IIPA).
Iraq...........................  worker rights.....  AFL-CIO...........  USTR-2013-0004
Laos...........................  eligibility.......  Laos..............  USTR-2013-0021

[[Page 52049]]

 
Thailand.......................  worker rights.....  AFL-CIO...........  USTR-2015-0018
Uzbekistan.....................  worker rights and   ILRF..............  USTR-2013-0007
                                  child labor.
Uzbekistan.....................  intellectual        IIPA..............  USTR-2013-0014
                                  property rights.
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B. Notice of Public Hearing

    The GSP Subcommittee will hold a hearing on November 29, 2018, 
beginning at 10:00 a.m., to receive information regarding the country 
practice reviews of Bolivia, Ecuador, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, 
Thailand, and Uzbekistan, and the country designation review of Laos. 
The hearing will be held in Rooms 1 and 2, 1724 F Street NW, 
Washington, DC 20508, and will be open to the public and to the press. 
A transcript of the hearing will be available on www.regulations.gov 
within approximately two weeks after the date of the hearing. All 
interested parties wishing to make an oral presentation at the hearing 
must submit, following the Requirements for Submissions below, the 
name, address, telephone number, and email address, if available, of 
the witness(es) representing their organization by midnight on November 
13, 2018.
    Requests to present oral testimony must be accompanied by a written 
brief or summary statement, in English. The GSP Subcommittee will limit 
oral testimony to five-minute presentations that summarize or 
supplement information contained in briefs or statements submitted for 
the record. The GSP Subcommittee will accept post-hearing briefs or 
statements if they conform to the requirements set out below and are 
submitted in English, by midnight on December 17, 2018.
    Parties not wishing to appear at the public hearing may submit pre-
hearing and post-hearing briefs or comments by these deadlines. In 
order to be assured of consideration, you must submit all post-hearing 
briefs or statements by the December 17, 2018 deadline to the relevant 
docket listed below via www.regulations.gov.

C. 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 the appropriate docket number. We 
will not accept hand-delivered submissions. To make a submission using 
http://www.regulations.gov, enter the appropriate docket number 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 regulations.gov website 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 GSP 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. Include the following bold and 
underlined text at the beginning of the submission, or on the first 
page (if an attachment): (1) ``[Insert Country] Country Practice 
Review''; (2) the subject matter; 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 
thirty single-spaced, standard letter-size pages in twelve-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 tracking number upon completion of 
the submissions procedure at http://www.regulations.gov. The tracking 
number is your confirmation that the submission was received into 
regulations.gov. We are not able to provide technical assistance for 
the regulations.gov website. We may not consider submissions that are 
not made in accordance with these instructions. If you are unable to 
provide submissions as requested, please contact Lauren Gamache at 202-
395-2974 or [email protected] to arrange for an alternative method of 
transmission.

D. Business Confidential Submissions

    If a submission contains business confidential information (BCI), 
you must certify that the information is business confidential and that 
you would not customarily release the information to the public. You 
must clearly indicate that information is BCI by marking ``BUSINESS 
CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and bottom of the cover page and each 
succeeding page that contains BCI, and indicating, via brackets, the 
specific information that is BCI. Additionally, you should include 
``Business Confidential'' in the ``type comment'' field. For any 
submission containing BCI, you also must submit a separate non-
confidential version (i.e., not as part of the same submission with the 
confidential version), indicating where you have redacted BCI. We will 
post the non-confidential version in the docket for public inspection.

E. Public Viewing of Review Submissions

    We will post all submissions other than BCI for public viewing in 
the appropriate docket number at http://www.regulations.gov upon 
completion of processing, usually within two weeks of the relevant due 
date or date of the submission.

Erland Herfindahl,
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Generalized System 
of Preferences, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2018-22374 Filed 10-12-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3290-F9-P