The ITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, is launching a new "umbrella" investigation, as requested by the USTR. Under the "umbrella" investigation, the ITC will conduct individual product-specific reviews on the probable economic effect of granting duty- free and quota-free treatment to certain apparel imports from AGOA and CBTPA countries.

The AGOA and the CBTPA, both part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, extend duty- free and quota-free treatment to imports of apparel assembled in AGOA and CBTPA beneficiary countries from fabrics made in the United States from U.S. yarns. They also authorize the President, on request of an interested party, to grant preferential treatment to apparel made in AGOA and CBTPA beneficiary countries from fabrics or yarns which "cannot be supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities in a timely manner," regardless of the source of the fabrics or yarns. Before proclaiming such preferential treatment, the President is required to submit a report to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Ways and Means and the U.S. Senate's Committee on Finance that sets forth the proposed action, the reasons for it, advice from the ITC on the probable economic effect of the action, and advice from the appropriate industry advisory committee.

The ITC's advice will be provided on an ongoing basis during 2002 under Investigation No. 332- 436, Apparel Inputs in "Short Supply" (2002): Effect of Providing Preferential Treatment to Apparel from Sub-Saharan African and Caribbean Basin Countries. The ITC will submit its advice to USTR in a series of classified reports, with each report provided on or about 42 (rather than 47) days after receipt of a short-supply request. A public version of each report will be available shortly after the ITC submits its report to the USTR.

The ITC will not issue a Federal Register notice in connection with any request for which it initiates analysis. Instead, the ITC will issue a news release for each request that it reviews. The news release will identify the articles under consideration, request public comment on the proposed preferential treatment to be proclaimed, and refer the public to a special area on the ITC's Internet site (www.usitc.gov/shortsup/shortsupintro.htm) for information on the request. Each news release will also provide the name, telephone number, and Internet e-mail address of ITC staff who will be able to provide additional information.

Further information on the requests under review in this investigation also may be obtained by contacting the Office of the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436, or by calling 202-205-1802. In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) publishes a summary of each request from interested parties in the Federal Register. These notices are posted on OTEXA's Internet site at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/fr.stm.

Because of time constraints, the ITC will not hold public hearings in connection with the "umbrella" investigation or any of the requests it receives. However, interested parties will be invited to submit written statements for the record for each request review. The ITC is particularly interested in receiving input from the private sector on the likely effect of the proposed action on U.S. producers, workers, and consumers.

ITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs or trade and are generally conducted at the request of the USTR, the Senate Committee on Finance, or the House Committee on Ways and Means. The resulting reports convey the Commission's objective findings and independent analyses on the subjects investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the ITC submits its findings and analysis to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public, unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.