[Federal Register: August 14, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 158)]
[Notices]
[Page 47633-47634]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14au08-55]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA); Notice Regarding the 2008
Annual Review
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice and request for petitions.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the 2008 Annual Review of the Andean
Trade Preference Act (ATPA). Under this process petitions may be filed
calling for the limitation, withdrawal or suspension of ATPA or ATPDEA
benefits by presenting evidence that the eligibility criteria of the
program are not being met. USTR will publish a list of petitions filed
in response to this announcement in the Federal Register.
DATES: The deadline for the submission of petitions for the 2008 Annual
ATPA Review is September 15, 2008.
ADDRESSES: Submit petitions by electronic mail (e-mail) to
FR0716@ustr.eop.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bennett M. Harman, Deputy Assistant
U.S. Trade Representative for Latin America, Office of the Americas,
Office of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th St., NW.,
Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-9446 and the
facsimile number is (202) 395-9675.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ATPA (19 U.S.C. 3201-06), as renewed and
amended by the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA)
in the Trade Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-210) and extended until December
31, 2008 by the Andean Trade Preference Act, (Pub L. 110-42), provides
for trade benefits for eligible Andean countries. Consistent with
Section 3103(d) of the ATPDEA, USTR promulgated regulations (15 CFR
part 2016) (68 FR 43922) regarding the review of eligibility of
articles and countries for the benefits of the ATPA, as amended. The
2008 Annual ATPA Review is the fifth such review to be conducted
pursuant to the ATPA review regulations. To qualify for the benefits of
the ATPA and ATPDEA, each country must meet several eligibility
criteria, as set forth in sections 203(c) and (d), and section
204(b)(6)(B) of the ATPA, as amended (19 U.S.C. 3202(c), (d); 19 U.S.C.
3203(b)(6)(B)), and as outlined in the Federal Register notice USTR
published to request public comments regarding the designation of
eligible countries as ATPDEA beneficiary countries (67 FR 53379). Under
section 203(e) of the ATPA, as amended (19 U.S.C. 3202(e)), the
President may withdraw or suspend the designation of any country as an
ATPA or ATPDEA beneficiary country, and may also withdraw, suspend, or
limit preferential treatment for any product of any such beneficiary
country, if the President determines that, as a result of changed
circumstances, the country is not meeting the eligibility criteria.
The ATPA regulations provide the schedule of dates for conducting
an annual review, unless otherwise specified by Federal Register
notice. Notice is hereby given that, in order to be considered in the
2008 Annual ATPA Review, all petitions to withdraw or suspend the
designation of a country as an ATPA or ATPDEA beneficiary country, or
to withdraw, suspend, or limit application of preferential treatment to
any article of any ATPA beneficiary country under the ATPA, or to any
article of any ATPDEA beneficiary country under section 204(b)(1), (3),
or (4) (19 U.S.C. 3202(b)(1), (3), (4)) of the ATPA, must be received
by the Andean Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later
than 5 p.m. EDT on September 15, 2008. Petitioners should consult 15
CFR 2016.0 regarding the content of such petitions.
E-mail submissions should be single copy transmissions in English,
and the total submission including attachments should not exceed 50
pages. Submissions should use the following subject line: ``2008 Annual
ATPA Review--Petition.'' Documents must be submitted as either
WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MSWord (``.DOC''), Adobe (``PDF''), or text
(``.TXT'') files. Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets
are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel, pre-formatted for printing on 8
\1/2\ x 11-inch paper. Submissions by e-mail should not include
separate
[[Page 47634]]
cover letters or messages in the message area of the e-mail;
information that might appear in any cover letter should be included
directly in the submission. To the extent possible, any data
attachments to the submission should be included in the same file as
the submission itself, and not as separate files.
Petitions will be available for public inspection by appointment
with the staff of the USTR Public Reading Room, except for information
granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.6. If
the submission contains business confidential information that the
submitter wishes to protect from public disclosure, the confidential
submission must be marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and
bottom of every page of the document. In addition, the submission must
be accompanied by a non-confidential version that indicates, with
asterisks, where confidential information was redacted or deleted. The
top and bottom of each page of the non-confidential version must be
marked either ``PUBLIC VERSION'' or ``NON-CONFIDENTIAL''. Business
confidential comments that are submitted without the required markings
or that are not accompanied by a properly marked non-confidential
version as set forth above may not be accepted or may be treated as
public documents.
The file name of any document containing business confidential
information attached to an e-mail transmission should begin with the
characters ``BC-'', and the file name of the public version should
begin with the characters ``P-''. The ``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be
followed by the name of the person or party submitting the petition.
The e-mail address for submissions is FR0716@ustr.eop.gov. Public
versions of all documents relating to this review will be available for
review shortly after the due date by appointment in the USTR Public
Reading Room, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC. Availability of
documents may be ascertained, and appointments may be made from 9:30
a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, by calling
(202) 395-6186.
Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E8-18861 Filed 8-13-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W8-P