[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 231 (Monday, December 6, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69019-69020]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-26342]


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COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS


Request for Public Comment on a Commercial Availability Request 
Under the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement

AGENCY: Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).

ACTION: Request for public comments concerning a request for 
modification of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS) 
rules of origin for certain textile products.

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SUMMARY: The Government of the United States (``United States'') 
received a request from the Government of the Republic of Korea 
(``Korea''), submitted on November 9, 2021, to initiate consultations 
under Article 4.2.3 of the KORUS. Korea is requesting that the United 
States and Korea (``the Parties'') consider revising the rules of 
origin for certain woven fabrics to address availability of supply of 
yarns in the territories of the Parties.
    The President of the United States may proclaim a modification to 
the KORUS rules of origin for textile and apparel products after the 
United States reaches an agreement with Korea on a modification under 
Article 4.2.5 of the KORUS to address issues of availability of supply 
of fibers, yarns, or fabrics in the territories of the Parties. CITA 
hereby solicits public comments on this request, in particular with 
regard to whether certain textured and non-textured triacetate filament 
yarns can be supplied by the U.S. domestic industry in commercial 
quantities in a timely manner.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by January 5, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically to the Chairman, Committee 
for the Implementation of Textile Agreements at 
[email protected]. Please see the instructions below for other 
means of submissions, and submission of comments containing business 
confidential information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Linda Martinich, Office of Textiles 
and Apparel, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 510-3955.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Authority: Section 202(o)(2)(C) of the United States-Korea Free 
Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3805 note) (KORUS 
Implementation Act); Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as 
amended.
    Background: Article 4.2.3 of the KORUS provides that, on the 
request of either Party, the Parties shall consult to consider whether 
the rules of origin applicable to a particular textile or apparel good 
should be revised to address issues of availability of supply of 
fibers, yarns, or fabrics in the territories of the Parties. In the 
consultations, pursuant to Article 4.2.4 of the KORUS, each Party shall 
consider all data presented by the other Party that demonstrate 
substantial production in its territory of a particular fiber, yarn, or 
fabric. The Parties shall onsider that there is substantial production 
if a Party demonstrates that its domestic producers are capable of 
supplying commercial quantities of the fiber, yarn, or fabric in a 
timely manner. The KORUS Implementation Act provides the President with 
the authority to proclaim as part of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States, modifications to the KORUS rules of origin set out 
in Annex 4-A of the KORUS as are necessary to implement an agreement 
with Korea under Article 4.2.5 of the KORUS, subject to the 
consultation and layover requirements of Section 104 of the KORUS 
Implementation Act. See Section 202(o)(2)(C)(iii) of the KORUS 
Implementation Act.
    Executive Order 11651 established CITA to supervise the 
implementation of textile trade agreements and authorizes the Chairman 
of CITA to take actions or recommend that appropriate officials or 
agencies of the United States take actions necessary to implement 
textile trade agreements. 37 FR 4699 (March 3, 1972) reprinted as 
amended in 7 U.S.C. Sec. 1854 note. The Government of the United States 
received a request from the Government of Korea, submitted on November 
9, 2021, requesting that the United States consider whether the KORUS 
rule of origin for certain woven fabrics should be modified to allow 
the use of certain yarns that are not originating under the KORUS. The 
yarns subject to this request, and their specific end-uses, are 
described below.

[[Page 69020]]



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                                              Input product
                                             classification,                                          End-use
                                                harmonized                                            product
         Input product description           tariff schedule      End-use product description     classification
                                               of the U.S.                                            (HTSUS)
                                                 (HTSUS)
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Certain textured and non-textured                    5403.33  Woven fabric of artificial                    5408
 triacetate filament.                                          filament yarn, including woven
                                                               fabric obtained from material of
                                                               heading 5405.
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    CITA is soliciting public comments regarding this request, 
particularly with respect to whether the yarns described above can be 
supplied by the U.S. domestic industry in commercial quantities in a 
timely manner. Comments must be received no later than January 5, 2022. 
Interested persons are invited to submit such comments or information 
electronically to the Chairman of the Committee for the Implementation 
of Textile Agreements at [email protected]. However, if 
interested persons are unable to submit comments or information 
electronically, please contact Linda Martinich at 
[email protected] or (202) 510-3955 for instructions on other 
means of submission. For those seeking to submit confidential business 
information (CBI) for Government use only, please clearly mark such 
submissions as CBI and submit an accompanying redacted version to be 
made public. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the current 
telework directive issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce, CITA has 
issued a temporary waiver to allow for electronic submissions, 
including submissions that contain business confidential information 
through a secure online system. This waiver will be in effect until 
such time as the Chairman of CITA determines that normal CITA/
Department of Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel operations have 
resumed to allow for receipt of hard copy submissions. Access to the 
secure electronic system will be by invitation only. Interested 
entities planning to file a commercial availability request should 
contact Linda Martinich at [email protected] for instructions 
before submitting any documents (either public or confidential 
versions) to CITA. CITA will protect any information that is marked 
business confidential from disclosure to the full extent permitted by 
law. All public versions of the comments will be posted on the Office 
of Textiles and Apparel website for Commercial Availability proceedings 
under KORUS: https://www.trade.gov/fta-commercial-availability-korea

Paul E. Morris,
Acting Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile 
Agreements.
[FR Doc. 2021-26342 Filed 12-3-21; 8:45 am]
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