[Federal Register: November 23, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 225)]
[Notices]
[Page 68133-68134]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23no04-38]
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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 17, 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 combed cotton yarn (Category
301).
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SUMMARY: The Committee has received a request from the National Council
of Textile Organizations, the National Textile Association, and the
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (Requestors) asking the
Committee to limit imports from China of combed cotton yarn 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;
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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 October 27, 2004, the Requestors asked the Committee to impose
an Accession Agreement textile and apparel safeguard action on imports
from China of combed cotton yarn (Category 301) on the ground that an
anticipated increase in imports of combed cotton yarn after January 1,
2005, threatens to disrupt the U.S. market for combed cotton yarn. 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 combed cotton yarn and, if so, the role of Chinese-
origin combed cotton yarn 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) Whether imports of combed cotton yarn 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 combed cotton yarn 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 combed cotton yarn, 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
combed cotton yarn that is 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 combed cotton yarn 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 combed cotton yarn, and
whether actual or anticipated imports of Chinese-origin combed cotton
yarn are likely to affect the development and production efforts of the
U.S. combed cotton yarn industry; and (6) Whether U.S. managers,
retailers, purchasers, importers, or other market participants have
recognized Chinese producers of combed cotton yarn 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 23, 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 therefore to be
published in the Federal Register. If the Committee makes an
affirmative determination that imports of Chinese origin combed cotton
yarn 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. E4-3306 Filed 11-22-04; 8:45 am]