[Federal Register: December 29, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 249)]
[Notices]
[Page 77237-77239]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29de05-121]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Initiation of a Review
To Consider the Designation of Liberia as a Least Developed Beneficiary
Developing Country Under the GSP
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice and solicitation of public comment.
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SUMMARY: This notice announces the initiation of a review to consider
the designation of Liberia as a least developed beneficiary developing
country under the GSP program and solicits public comment relating to
the designation criteria. Comments are due January 13, 2006, in
accordance with the requirements for submissions, explained below.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments by electronic mail (e-mail) to:
FR0441@ustr.gov. For assistance or if unable to submit comments by e-
mail, contact the GSP Subcommittee, Office of the United States Trade
Representative; USTR Annex, Room F-220; 1724 F Street, NW., Washington,
DC 20508 (Tel. 202-395-6971).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact the GSP Subcommittee, Office
of the United States Trade Representative; USTR Annex, Room F-220; 1724
F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508 (Telephone: 202-395-6971,
Facsimile: 202-395-9481).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Liberia's GSP eligibility was suspended,
effective May 1, 1990, because, following a review and recommendation
by the Trade Policy Staff Committee in 1989, it was determined that it
had not taken and was not taking steps to afford internationally
recognized worker rights to workers in Liberia. The review was
initiated in response to a petition filed by the Lawyers Committee for
Human Rights in 1988. The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff
Committee (TPSC) has initiated a review in order to make a
recommendation to the President as to whether Liberia meets the
eligibility criteria of the GSP statute, as set out below. After
considering the eligibility criteria, the President is authorized to
designate Liberia as a least developed beneficiary developing country
for purposes of the GSP.
Interested parties are invited to submit comments regarding the
eligibility of Liberia for designation as a least developed beneficiary
developing country. Documents should be submitted in accordance with
the below instructions to be considered in this review.
Eligibility Criteria
The trade benefits of the GSP program are available to any country
that the President designates as a GSP ``beneficiary developing
country.'' Additional trade benefits under the GSP are available to any
country that the President designates as a GSP ``least-developed
beneficiary developing country.'' In designating countries as GSP
beneficiary developing countries, the President must consider the
criteria in sections 502(b)(2) and 502(c) of the Trade Act of 1974, as
amended (19 U.S.C. 2462(b)(2), 2462(c)) (``the Act''). Section
502(b)(2) provides that a country is ineligible for designation if:
1. Such country is a Communist country, unless--
(a) The products of such country receive nondiscriminatory
treatment, (b) Such country is a WTO Member (as such term is defined in
section 2(10) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act) (19 U.S.C. 3501(10))
and a member of the International Monetary Fund, and (c) Such country
is not dominated or controlled by international communism.
2. Such country is a party to an arrangement of countries and
participates in any action pursuant to such arrangement, the effect of
which is--
(a) To withhold supplies of vital commodity resources from
international trade or to raise the price of such commodities to an
unreasonable level, and (b) To cause serious disruption of the world
economy.
3. Such country affords preferential treatment to the products of a
developed country, other than the United States, which has, or is
likely to have, a
[[Page 77238]]
significant adverse effect on United States commerce.
4. Such country--
(a) Has nationalized, expropriated, or otherwise seized ownership
or control of property, including patents, trademarks, or copyrights,
owned by a United States citizen or by a corporation, partnership, or
association which is 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United
States citizens, (b) Has taken steps to repudiate or nullify an
existing contract or agreement with a United States citizen or a
corporation, partnership, or association which is 50 percent or more
beneficially owned by United States citizens, the effect of which is to
nationalize, expropriate, or otherwise seize ownership or control of
property, including patents, trademarks, or copyrights, so owned, or
(c) Has imposed or enforced taxes or other exactions, restrictive
maintenance or operational conditions, or other measures with respect
to property, including patents, trademarks, or copyrights, so owned,
the effect of which is to nationalize, expropriate, or otherwise seize
ownership or control of such property, unless the President determines
that--
(i) Prompt, adequate, and effective compensation has been or is
being made to the citizen, corporation, partnership, or association
referred to above, (ii) Good faith negotiations to provide prompt,
adequate, and effective compensation under the applicable provisions of
international law are in progress, or the country is otherwise taking
steps to discharge its obligations under international law with respect
to such citizen, corporation, partnership, or association, or (iii) A
dispute involving such citizen, corporation, partnership, or
association over compensation for such a seizure has been submitted to
arbitration under the provisions of the Convention for the Settlement
of Investment Disputes, or in another mutually agreed upon forum, and
the President promptly furnishes a copy of such determination to the
Senate and House of Representatives.
5. Such country fails to act in good faith in recognizing as
binding or in enforcing arbitral awards in favor of United States
citizens or a corporation, partnership, or association which is 50
percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens, which
have been made by arbitrators appointed for each case or by permanent
arbitral bodies to which the parties involved have submitted their
dispute.
6. Such country aids or abets, by granting sanctuary from
prosecution to, any individual or group which has committed an act of
international terrorism or the Secretary of State makes a determination
with respect to such country under section 6(j)(1)(A) of the Export
Administration Act of 1979 (50 U.S.C. Appx. section 2405(j)(1)(A)) or
such country has not taken steps to support the efforts of the United
States to combat terrorism.
7. Such country has not taken or is not taking steps to afford
internationally recognized worker rights to workers in the country
(including any designated zone in that country).
8. Such country has not implemented its commitments to eliminate
the worst forms of child labor.
Section 502(c) provides that, in determining whether to designate
any country as a GSP beneficiary developing country, the President
shall take into account:
1. An expression by such country of its desire to be so designated;
2. The level of economic development of such country, including its
per capita gross national product, the living standards of its
inhabitants, and any other economic factors which the President deems
appropriate;
3. Whether or not other major developed countries are extending
generalized preferential tariff treatment to such country;
4. The extent to which such country has assured the United States
that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to the markets and
basic commodity resources of such country and the extent to which such
country has assured the United States that it will refrain from
engaging in unreasonable export practices;
5. The extent to which such country is providing adequate and
effective protection of intellectual property rights;
6. The extent to which such country has taken action to--
(a) Reduce trade distorting investment practices and policies
(including export performance requirements); and (b) Reduce or
eliminate barriers to trade in services; and
7. Whether or not such country has taken or is taking steps to
afford to workers in that country (including any designated zone in
that country) internationally recognized worker rights. Note that the
Trade Act of 2002 amended paragraph (D) of the definition of the term
``internationally recognized worker rights,'' which now includes: (A)
The right of association; (B) the right to organize and bargain
collectively; (C) a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or
compulsory labor; (D) a minimum age for the employment of children and
a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor as defined in paragraph
(6) of section 507(4) of the Act; and (E) acceptable conditions of work
with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety
and health.
To designate a country as a least-developed beneficiary developing
country, the President must consider the criteria in section 502(c), as
well as the criteria in section 501 of the Act. Section 501 provides
that, in extending preferences under the GSP, the President shall have
due regard for:
1. The effect such action will have on furthering the economic
development of developing countries through the expansion of their
exports.
2. The extent to which other major developed countries are
undertaking a comparable effort to assist developing countries by
granting generalized preferences with respect to imports of products of
such countries.
3. The anticipated impact of such action on United States producers
of like or directly competitive products.
4. The extent of the beneficiary developing country's
competitiveness with respect to eligible articles.
Requirements for Submissions
All submissions must conform to the GSP regulations set forth at 15
CFR Part 2007, except as modified below. Comments must be submitted, in
English, to the Chairman of the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy
Staff Committee (TPSC) as soon as possible, but not later than 5 p.m.,
January 13, 2006.
In order to facilitate prompt consideration of submissions, USTR
requires electronic e-mail submissions in response to this notice.
Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted. Submissions should be
single-copy transmissions in English with the total submission not to
exceed 50 single-spaced standard letter-size pages. The e-mail
transmission should use the following subject line: ``Liberia GSP
Eligibility Review''. Documents must be submitted as MSWord (``.doc''),
WordPerfect (``.wpd''), or text (``.txt'') files. Documents submitted
as electronic image files or containing imbedded images (for example,
``.jpg'', ``.pdf'', ``.bmp'', or ``.gif'') will not be accepted.
Spreadsheets submitted as supporting documentation are acceptable as
Quattro Pro or Excel files, pre-formatted for printing only on 8\1/2\ x
11 inch paper. 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.
Submissions in response to this notice will be subject to public
inspection by
[[Page 77239]]
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, a
non-confidential version of the submission must also be submitted that
indicates where confidential information was redacted by inserting
asterisks where material was deleted. In addition, the confidential
version must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and
bottom of each page of the document. The non-confidential version must
be clearly marked ``PUBLIC'' or ``NON-CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and
bottom of each page. Documents that are submitted without any marking
might not be accepted or will be considered public documents.
For any document containing business confidential information
submitted as an electronic attached file to an e-mail transmission, the
file name of the business confidential version should begin with the
characters ``BC-'', and the file name of the public version should
begin with the character ``P-''. The BC-'' or ``P-'' should be followed
by the name of the party (government, company, union, association,
etc.) which is submitting the comments.
E-mail submissions should not include separate 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 attached
file containing the submission itself, including the sender's
identifying information with telephone number, fax number, and e-mail
address. The e-mail address for these submissions is FR0441@USTR.GOV.
Documents not submitted in accordance with these instructions might not
be considered in this review. If unable to provide submissions by e-
mail, please contact the GSP Subcommittee to arrange for an alternative
method of transmission.
Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be
available for public review approximately three weeks 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.
Marideth J. Sandler,
Executive Director for the GSP Program; Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of
the Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E5-8021 Filed 12-28-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W6-P