[Federal Register: November 9, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 216)]
[Notices]
[Page 64914-64915]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09no04-44]
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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
November 3, 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 cotton and man-made fiber
underwear (Category 352/652).
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SUMMARY: The Committee has received a request from the American
Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, National Council of Textile
Organizations, the National Textile Association, and UNITE HERE!
(Requestors) asking the Committee to limit imports from China of cotton
and man-made fiber underwear 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). 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 month in which the request was
made. 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 October 15, 2004, the Requestors asked the Committee to impose
an Accession Agreement textile and apparel safeguard action on imports
from China of cotton and man-made fiber underwear (Category 352/652) on
the ground that an anticipated increase in imports of cotton and man-
made fiber underwear after January 1, 2005, threatens to disrupt the
U.S. market for cotton and man-made fiber underwear. The request is
available at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov. 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 cotton and man-made fiber underwear and, if so, the
role of Chinese-origin cotton and man-made fiber underwear 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 be removed on January 1, 2005: (1)
[[Page 64915]]
Whether imports of cotton and man-made fiber underwear 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
cotton and man-made fiber underwear 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 cotton and man-made
fiber underwear, 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 cotton and man-made fiber underwear
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 cotton
and man-made fiber underwear in China or in U.S. bonded warehouses; (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 cotton and man-made fiber underwear,
and whether actual or anticipated imports of Chinese-origin cotton and
man-made fiber underwear are likely to affect the development and
production efforts of the U.S. cotton and man-made fiber underwear
industry; and (6) Whether U.S. managers, retailers, purchasers,
importers, or other market participants have recognized Chinese
producers of cotton and man-made fiber underwear 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 December 9, 2004. 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 N.W.,
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-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 therefor to be
published in the Federal Register. If the Committee makes an
affirmative determination that imports of Chinese origin cotton and
man-made fiber underwear 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. E4-3084 Filed 11-8-04; 8:45 am]