[Federal Register: December 29, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 248)]
[Notices]
[Page 74972-74973]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29de03-83]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-52,622]


Descartes Systems (USA) LLC, an Affiliate of the Descartes
Systems Group, Inc., Atlanta, GA; Notice of Negative Determination
Regarding Application for Reconsideration

    By application of October 9, 2003, a petitioner requested
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative
determination regarding eligibility for workers and former workers of
the subject firm to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). The
denial notice applicable to workers of Descartes Systems (USA) LLC,
Atlanta, Georgia was signed on September 4, 2003, and published in the
Federal Register on October 10, 2003 (68 FR 58719).
    Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c) reconsideration may be granted under
the following circumstances:
    (1) If it appears on the basis of facts not previously considered
that the determination complained of was erroneous;
    (2) If it appears that the determination complained of was based on
a mistake in the determination of facts not previously considered; or
    (3) If in the opinion of the Certifying Officer, a mis-
interpretation of facts or of the law justified reconsideration of the
decision.
    The TAA petition was filed on behalf of workers at Descartes
Systems (USA) LLC, Atlanta, Georgia engaged in employment related to
providing electronic data interchange services. The petition was denied
because the petitioning workers did not produce an article within the
meaning of Section 222 of the Act.
    The petitioner appears to imply that the petitioning worker group
should be considered eligible for TAA on the basis that they created an
article as part of a ``paperless'' process.
    Data exchange services are not tangible commodities, that is,
marketable products, and they are not listed on the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTS), which describes all products
imported to or exported from the United States.
    Further, the TAA program was established to help workers who
produce articles and who lose their jobs as a result of trade
agreements. Throughout the Trade Act an article is often referenced as
something that can be subject to a duty. To be subject to a duty on a
tariff schedule an article will

[[Page 74973]]

have a value that makes it marketable, fungible and interchangeable for
commercial purposes. But, although a wide variety of tangible products
are described as articles and characterized as dutiable in the HTS,
informational products that could historically be sent in letter form
and that can currently be electronically transmitted, are not listed in
the HTS. Such products are not the type of products that customs
officials inspect and that the TAA program was generally designed to
address.
    Only in very limited instances are service workers certified for
TAA, namely the worker separations must be caused by a reduced demand
for their services from a parent or controlling firm or subdivision
whose workers produce an article and who are currently under
certification for TAA.

Conclusion

    After review of the application and investigative findings, I
conclude that there has been no error or misinterpretation of the law
or of the facts which would justify reconsideration of the Department
of Labor's prior decision. Accordingly, the application is denied.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 18th day of November, 2003.
Linda G. Poole,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 03-31861 Filed 12-24-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-30-P