[Federal Register: December 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 247)]
[Notices]
[Page 77232-77233]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27de04-42]
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COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS
Solicitation of Public Comments on Request for Textile and
Apparel Safeguard Action on Imports From China
December 16, 2004.
AGENCY: The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (the
Committee).
ACTION: Solicitation of public comments concerning a request for
safeguard action on imports from China of dressing gowns and robes
(Category 350/650).
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SUMMARY: The Committee has received a request from the National Council
of Textile Organizations, the National Textile Association, the
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, SEAMS, and UNITE HERE!
(Requestors) asking the Committee to reapply the limit on imports from
China of dressing gowns and robes in accordance with the textile and
apparel safeguard provision of the Working Party on the Accession of
China to the World Trade Organization (the Accession Agreement). On
December 24, 2003 the Committee established an Accession Agreement
limit on imports from China of dressing gowns and robes, which will
expire on December 23, 2004. The Committee hereby solicits public
comments on this request.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jay Dowling, Office of Textiles and
Apparel, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-4058.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Authority: Section 204 of the Agriculture Act of 1956, as
amended; Executive Order 11651, as amended.
Background
The textile and apparel safeguard provision of the Accession
Agreement provides for the United States and other members of the World
Trade Organization that believe imports of Chinese origin textile and
apparel products are, due to market disruption, threatening to impede
the orderly development of trade in these products to request
consultations with China with a view to easing or avoiding the
disruption. Pursuant to this provision, if the United States requests
consultations with China, it must, at the time of the request, provide
China with a detailed factual statement showing ``(1) the existence or
threat of market disruption; and (2) the role of products of Chinese
origin in that disruption.'' Beginning on the date that it receives
such a request, China must restrict its shipments to the United States
to a level no greater than 7.5 percent (6 percent for wool product
categories) above the amount entered during the first 12 months of the
most recent 14 months preceding the request. If exports from China
exceed that amount, the United States may enforce the restriction.
The Committee has published procedures (the Procedures) it follows
in considering requests for Accession Agreement textile and apparel
safeguard actions (68 FR 27787, May 21, 2003; 68 FR 49440, August 18,
2003), including the information that must be included in such requests
in order for the Committee to consider them.
On November 24, 2004, the Requestors asked the Committee to reapply
an Accession Agreement textile and apparel safeguard action on imports
from China of dressing gowns and robes (Category 350/650) on the ground
that an anticipated increase in imports of dressing gowns and robes
after December 23, 2004, threatens to disrupt the U.S. market for
dressing gowns and robes. The request is available at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/Safeguard_intro.htm.
In light of the considerations
set forth in the Procedures, the Committee has determined that the
Requestors have provided the information necessary for the Committee to
consider the request.
The Committee is soliciting public comments on the request, in
particular with regard to whether there is a threat of disruption to
the U.S. market for dressing gowns and robes and, if so, the role of
Chinese-origin dressing gowns and robes in that disruption. To this
end, the Committee seeks relevant information addressing factors such
as the following, which may be relevant in the particular circumstances
of this case, involving a product under a quota that will expire on
December 23, 2004: (1) Whether imports of dressing gowns and robes from
China are entering, or are expected to enter, the United States at
prices that are substantially below prices of the like or directly
competitive U.S. product, and whether those imports are likely to have
a significant depressing or suppressing effect on domestic prices of
the like or directly competitive U.S. product or are likely to increase
demand for further imports from China; (2) whether exports of Chinese-
origin dressing gowns and robes to the United States are likely to
increase substantially and imminently (due to existing unused
production capacity, to capacity that can easily be shifted from the
production of other products to the production of dressing gowns and
robes, or to an imminent and substantial increase in production
capacity or investment in production capacity), taking into account the
availability of other markets to absorb any additional exports; (3)
whether Chinese-origin dressing gowns and robes that are presently sold
in the Chinese market or in third-country markets will be diverted to
the U.S. market in the imminent future (for example, due to more
favorable pricing in the U.S. market or to existing or imminent import
restraints into third country markets); (4) the level and the extent of
any recent change in inventories of dressing gowns and robes in China
or in U.S. bonded warehouses;
[[Page 77233]]
(5) whether conditions of the domestic industry of the like or directly
competitive product demonstrate that market disruption is likely (as
may be evident from any anticipated factory closures or decline in
investment in the production of dressing gowns and robes, and whether
actual or anticipated imports of Chinese-origin dressing gowns and
robes are likely to affect the development and production efforts of
the U.S. dressing gowns and robes industry; and (6) whether U.S.
managers, retailers, purchasers, importers, or other market
participants have recognized Chinese producers of dressing gowns and
robes as potential suppliers (for example, through pre-qualification
procedures or framework agreements).
Comments may be submitted by any interested person. Comments must
be received no later than January 26, 2005. Interested persons are
invited to submit ten copies of such comments to the Chairman,
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, Room 3001A,
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
The Committee will protect any business confidential information
that is marked business confidential from disclosure to the full extent
permitted by law. To the extent that business confidential information
is provided, two copies of a non-confidential version must also be
provided in which business confidential information is summarized or,
if necessary, deleted. Comments received, with the exception of
information marked ``business confidential'', will be available for
inspection between Monday and Friday, 8:30 a.m and 5:30 p.m in the
Trade Reference and Assistance Center Help Desk, Suite 800M, USA Trade
Information Center, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC, (202) 482-3433.
The Committee will make a determination within 60 calendar days of
the close of the comment period as to whether the United States will
request consultations with China. If the Committee is unable to make a
determination within 60 calendar days, it will cause to be published a
notice in the Federal Register, including the date by which it will
make a determination. If the Committee makes a negative determination,
it will cause this determination and the reasons therefore to be
published in the Federal Register. If the Committee makes an
affirmative determination that imports of Chinese-origin dressing gowns
and robes threaten to disrupt the U.S. market, the United States will
request consultations with China with a view to easing or avoiding the
disruption.
James C. Leonard, III,
Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.
[FR Doc. 04-28257 Filed 12-23-04; 8:45 am]