[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 36 (Friday, February 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12412-12413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04039]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice of Status of
Certain Pending Country Practice Petitions; Notice of Schedule for
Public Comments and a Hearing on Certain Country Practice Reviews
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice and request for submissions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice announces (1) the status of pending country
practice petitions submitted as part of previous GSP Annual Reviews,
and (2) the schedule for public comments and a public hearing on the
ongoing GSP country practice reviews regarding worker rights and/or
child labor in Bangladesh, Georgia, Niger, the Philippines, and
Uzbekistan, and protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in
Russia and Uzbekistan.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tameka Cooper, GSP Program, Office of
the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street NW., Room 422,
Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-6971, the fax
number is (202) 395-9674, 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
Federal Register notice. The schedule for the review of the country
practice petitions cited above follows.
March 14, 2013: Deadline for submission of pre-hearing briefs and
requests to appear at the March 28, 2013 public hearing; submissions
must be received by 5:00 p.m.
March 28, 2013: The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff
Committee (TPSC) will convene a public hearing on the country practice
petitions cited above at 1724 F Street NW., Washington, DC 20508,
beginning at 9:30 a.m.
April 18, 2013: Deadline for submission of post-hearing briefs,
which must be received by 5:00 p.m.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GSP program provides for the duty-free
treatment of designated articles when imported from 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.
Country Practice Petitions
The status of country practice petitions considered in the 2012 GSP
Annual Review is described in the list of Active and Pending Country
Practices Reviews, which is available on the USTR GSP Web site at
http://www.ustr.gov/trade-topics/trade-development/preference-programs/generalized-system-preference-gsp/gsp-program-inf. This list includes
petitions accepted as part of annual reviews from previous years.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), drawing on the advice of the
TPSC, has deferred a decision on acceptance of a country practice
petition on Russia regarding expropriation. In addition, the USTR,
drawing on the advice of the TPSC, has decided to close the country
practice review of case 007-CP-08 regarding IPR protection in Lebanon
in view of (1) progress made by the government of Lebanon in addressing
IPR issues in that country and (2) a request by the petitioner, the
International Intellectual Property Alliance, that the petition be
withdrawn in view of progress in addressing the issues cited in the
petition.
Notice of Public Hearing
A hearing will be held by the GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC on
Thursday, March 28, 2013, beginning at 9:30 a.m., to receive
information regarding recent developments pertinent to the ongoing
country practice reviews regarding worker rights and/or child labor in
Bangladesh, Georgia, Niger, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan, and
protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Russia and
Uzbekistan.
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 http://www.regulations.gov within approximately two
weeks of 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., March 14, 2013. Requests to
[[Page 12413]]
present oral testimony must be accompanied by a written brief or
summary statement, in English, and also must be received by 5 p.m.,
March 14, 2013. 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.,
April 18, 2013. Parties not wishing to appear at the public hearing may
submit pre-hearing and post-hearing briefs or comments by the
aforementioned deadlines.
The GSP Subcommittee strongly encourages submission of all post-
hearing briefs or statements by the April 18, 2013 deadline in order to
receive timely consideration in the GSP Subcommittee's review of the
subject petitions. However, if there are new developments or
information that parties wish to share with the GSP Subcommittee after
this date, the regulations.gov dockets will remain open. Comments,
letters, or other submissions related to the subject country practice
reviews must be posted to the http://regulations.gov docket in order to
be considered by the GSP Subcommittee.
Requirements for Submissions
All submissions in response to this notice must be submitted in
English by the applicable deadlines set forth in this notice and
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.
To ensure their timely and expeditious receipt and consideration,
submissions in response to this notice must be submitted electronically
via http://www.regulations.gov using the appropriate country-specific
docket number(s) listed below.
Bangladesh (worker rights): USTR-2012-0036;
Georgia (worker rights): USTR-2013-0009;
Niger (worker rights): USTR-2013-0005;
Philippines (worker rights): USTR-2013-0006;
Uzbekistan (worker rights): USTR-2013-0007;
Russia (IPR): USTR-2013-0008; and
Uzbekistan (IPR): USTR-2013-0014.
Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted.
To make a submission using http://www.regulations.gov, enter the
country-specific 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 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 GSP Subcommittee prefers that submissions be provided in an
attached document. At the beginning of the submission, or on the first
page (if an attachment), please note that the submission is in response
to this Federal Register notice and provides comments on the GSP
country practice review regarding [relevant 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 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. Such
submissions may be viewed by entering the country-specific docket
number 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. 2013-04039 Filed 2-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F3-P