80 FR 43156 - African Growth and Opportunity Act: Notice of Initiation of an Out-of-Cycle Review of South Africa Eligibility for Benefits; Scheduling of Hearing, and Request for Public Comments

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 139 (July 21, 2015)

Page Range		43156-43157
FR Document		2015-17772

This notice announces the initiation of an out-of-cycle review of the eligibility of the Republic of South Africa to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as required by the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (TPEA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is requesting written public comments for this out-of- cycle review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter. The Subcommittee will consider the written comments, written testimony, and oral testimony in developing recommendations for the President on South Africa's AGOA eligibility. This notice identifies the eligibility criteria under AGOA that will be considered in the review.

Federal Register, Volume 80 Issue 139 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 139 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43156-43157]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-17772]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


African Growth and Opportunity Act: Notice of Initiation of an 
Out-of-Cycle Review of South Africa Eligibility for Benefits; 
Scheduling of Hearing, and Request for Public Comments

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of initiation of review; notice of hearing and request 
for comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the initiation of an out-of-cycle review 
of the eligibility of the Republic of South Africa to receive the 
benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as required 
by the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (TPEA). The AGOA 
Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(Subcommittee) is requesting written public comments for this out-of-
cycle review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter. The 
Subcommittee will consider the written comments, written testimony, and 
oral testimony in developing recommendations for the President on South 
Africa's AGOA eligibility. This notice identifies the eligibility 
criteria under AGOA that will be considered in the review.

DATES: August 5, 2015: Deadline for filing requests to appear at the 
August 7 public hearing, and for filing pre-hearing briefs, statements, 
or comments on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA eligibility.
    August 7, 2015: AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the TPSC will 
convene a public hearing on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA 
eligibility.
    August 12, 2015: Deadline for filing post-hearing briefs, 
statements, or comments on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA 
eligibility.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made at http://www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0009. See ``Requirements 
for Submission,'' below. If you are unable to make a submission at 
www.regulations.gov, please contact Yvonne Jamison, Trade Policy Staff 
Committee, at (202) 395-9666 to make other arrangements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions, please 
contact Yvonne Jamison, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600 
17th Street NW., Room F516, Washington, DC, 20508, at (202) 395-9666. 
All other questions should be directed to Alan Treat, Director, Office 
of African Affairs,

[[Page 43157]]

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, at (202) 395-1351.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: AGOA (Title I of the Trade and Development 
Act of 2000, Public Law 106-200) (19 U.S.C. 2466a et seq.), as amended, 
authorizes the President to designate sub-Saharan African countries as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries eligible for duty-free 
treatment for certain additional products not included for duty-free 
treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) (Title V of 
the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) (the ``1974 Act'')), as 
well as for the preferential treatment for certain textile and apparel 
articles.
    The President may designate a country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country eligible for these benefits of AGOA if he determines 
that the country meets the eligibility criteria set forth in: (1) 
section 104 of AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3703); and (2) section 502 of the 1974 
Act (19 U.S.C. 2462).
    Section 104 of AGOA includes requirements that the country has 
established or is making continual progress toward establishing, inter 
alia: a market-based economy; the rule of law, political pluralism, and 
the right to due process; the elimination of barriers to U.S. trade and 
investment; economic policies to reduce poverty; a system to combat 
corruption and bribery; and the protection of internationally 
recognized worker rights. In addition, the country may not engage in 
activities that undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy 
interests or engage in gross violations of internationally recognized 
human rights. Please see section 104 of AGOA and section 502 of the 
1974 Act for a complete list of the AGOA eligibility criteria.
    Recognizing that concerns have been raised about the compliance 
with section 104 of AGOA of certain beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
countries, Section 105(d)(4)(E) of the TPEA (Pub. L. 114-27) requires 
the President to initiate an out-of-cycle review with respect to 
whether the Republic of South Africa is meeting the eligibility 
requirements set forth in section 104 of AGOA and section 502 of the 
1974 Act, not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of the 
TPEA.
    Section 506A of the 1974 Act requires that, if the President 
determines that a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country is not making 
continual progress in meeting the eligibility requirements, he must 
terminate the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African country. As amended by TPEA, the President may withdraw, 
suspend, or limit the application of duty-free treatment with respect 
to articles from the country if he determines that it would be more 
effective in promoting compliance with AGOA-eligibility requirements 
than terminating the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-
Saharan African country.
    The Subcommittee is seeking public comments in connection with this 
out-of-cycle review of the Republic of South Africa's eligibility for 
AGOA's benefits. The Subcommittee will consider any such comments in 
developing recommendations to the President on the Republic of South 
Africa's eligibility. Comments related to the child labor criteria may 
also be considered by the Secretary of Labor in making the findings 
required under section 504 of the 1974 Act.

Notice of Public Hearing

    In addition to written comments from the public on the matters 
listed above, the Subcommittee of the TPSC will convene a public 
hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 7, 2015, to receive testimony 
related to South Africa's eligibility for AGOA's benefits.
    The hearing will be held at 1724 F Street NW., Washington, DC 20508 
and will be open to the public and to the press. A transcript of the 
hearing will be made available on http://www.regulations.gov within 
approximately two weeks of the hearing.
    All interested parties wishing to present oral testimony at the 
hearing must submit, following the ``Requirements for Submissions'' set 
out below, the name, address, telephone number, and email address, if 
available, of the witness(es) representing their organization by 5 
p.m., Wednesday, August 5, 2015. Requests to present oral testimony 
must be accompanied by a written brief or summary statement and also 
must be received by 5 p.m., Wednesday, August, 5, 2015. Oral testimony 
before the Subcommittee will be limited to five-minute presentations 
that summarize or supplement information contained in briefs or 
statements submitted for the record. Post-hearing briefs, statements, 
or comments will be accepted if they conform with the requirements set 
out below and are submitted by 5 p.m., Tuesday, August 12, 2015. 
Parties not wishing to appear at the public hearing may submit pre-
hearing and post-hearing briefs or comments by the aforementioned 
deadlines.

Requirements for Submissions

    All written requests to appear at the public hearing, briefs, 
statements, or comments submitted in response to this notice must be 
submitted electronically by 5:00 p.m., August 5, 2015, using 
www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0009. Instructions for 
submitting business confidential versions are provided below. Hand-
delivered submissions will not be accepted. All written materials must 
be submitted in English to the Chairman of the AGOA Implementation 
Subcommittee of the TPSC.

Business Confidential Submissions

    An interested party requesting that information contained in a 
submission be treated as business confidential information must certify 
that such information is business confidential and would not 
customarily be released to the public by the submitter. Confidential 
business information must be clearly designated as such. The submission 
must be marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and bottom of the 
cover page and each succeeding page, and the submission should 
indicate, via brackets, the specific information that is confidential. 
Additionally, ``Business Confidential'' must be included in the ``Type 
Comment'' field. For any submission containing business confidential 
information, a non-confidential version must be submitted separately 
(i.e., not as part of the same submission with the confidential 
version), indicating where confidential information has been redacted. 
The non-confidential version will be placed in the docket and open to 
public inspection.

Public Viewing of Review Submissions

    Submissions in response to this notice, except for information 
granted ``business confidential'' status under 15 CFR 2003.6, will be 
available for public viewing pursuant to 15 CFR 2007.6 at http://www.regulations.gov upon completion of processing. Such submissions may 
be viewed by entering the country-specific docket number in the search 
field at http://www.regulations.gov.

Edward Gresser,
Acting Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 2015-17772 Filed 7-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F5-P

43156 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 139 / Tuesday, July 21, 2015 / Notices

proposed Singly-Listed Option fees in arguments concerning the foregoing, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
Section III with the proposed non-Penny including whether the proposed rule TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Pilot Option fees in Section II of the change is consistent with the Act.
Pricing Schedule, as well as with other Comments may be submitted by any of African Growth and Opportunity Act:
exchanges. Despite these proposed fee the following methods: Notice of Initiation of an Out-of-Cycle
and rebate changes, the Exchange’s Review of South Africa Eligibility for
Electronic Comments Benefits; Scheduling of Hearing, and
proposal will allow it to continue to
incentivize market participants to bring • Use the Commission’s Internet Request for Public Comments
liquidity to the Exchange, as described comment form (http://www.sec.gov/
AGENCY: Office of the United States
herein. rules/sro.shtml); or Trade Representative.
The Exchange operates in a highly • Send an email to rule-
ACTION: Notice of initiation of review;
competitive market, comprised of comments@sec.gov. Please include File
Number SR–Phlx–2015–61 on the notice of hearing and request for
twelve exchanges, in which market
comments.
participants can easily and readily subject line.
direct order flow to competing venues if SUMMARY: This notice announces the
Paper Comments
they deem fee levels at a particular initiation of an out-of-cycle review of
venue to be excessive or rebates to be • Send paper comments in triplicate the eligibility of the Republic of South
inadequate. Accordingly, the fees that to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Securities Africa to receive the benefits of the
are assessed and the rebates paid by the and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street African Growth and Opportunity Act
Exchange, as described in the proposal, NE., Washington, DC 20549–1090. (AGOA), as required by the Trade
are influenced by these robust market All submissions should refer to File Preferences Extension Act of 2015
forces and therefore must remain Number SR–Phlx–2015–61. This file (TPEA). The AGOA Implementation
competitive with fees charged and number should be included on the Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff
rebates paid by other venues and subject line if email is used. To help the Committee (Subcommittee) is requesting
therefore must continue to be reasonable Commission process and review your written public comments for this out-of-
and equitably allocated to those comments more efficiently, please use cycle review and will conduct a public
members that opt to direct orders to the only one method. The Commission will hearing on this matter. The
Exchange rather than competing venues. post all comments on the Commission’s Subcommittee will consider the written
The proposed fees are designed to Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/ comments, written testimony, and oral
ensure a fair and reasonable use of rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the testimony in developing
Exchange resources by allowing the submission, all subsequent recommendations for the President on
Exchange to recoup costs while amendments, all written statements South Africa’s AGOA eligibility. This
continuing to attract liquidity and offer with respect to the proposed rule notice identifies the eligibility criteria
connectivity at competitive rates to change that are filed with the under AGOA that will be considered in
Exchange members and member Commission, and all written the review.
organizations. communications relating to the DATES: August 5, 2015: Deadline for
proposed rule change between the filing requests to appear at the August
C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Commission and any person, other than 7 public hearing, and for filing pre-
Statement on Comments on the
those that may be withheld from the hearing briefs, statements, or comments
Proposed Rule Change Received From
public in accordance with the on the Republic of South Africa’s AGOA
Members, Participants, or Others
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be eligibility.
No written comments were either available for Web site viewing and August 7, 2015: AGOA
solicited or received. printing in the Commission’s Public Implementation Subcommittee of the
III. Date of Effectiveness of the Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., TPSC will convene a public hearing on
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for Washington, DC 20549, on official the Republic of South Africa’s AGOA
Commission Action business days between the hours of eligibility.
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the August 12, 2015: Deadline for filing
The foregoing rule change has become filing also will be available for post-hearing briefs, statements, or
effective pursuant to Section inspection and copying at the principal comments on the Republic of South
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act.34 At any time office of the Exchange. All comments Africa’s AGOA eligibility.
within 60 days of the filing of the received will be posted without change;
proposed rule change, the Commission ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers
the Commission does not edit personal electronic submissions made at http://
summarily may temporarily suspend identifying information from
such rule change if it appears to the www.regulations.gov, docket number
submissions. You should submit only USTR–2015–0009. See ‘‘Requirements
Commission that such action is information that you wish to make
necessary or appropriate in the public for Submission,’’ below. If you are
available publicly. All submissions unable to make a submission at
interest, for the protection of investors, should refer to File Number SR–Phlx–
or otherwise in furtherance of the www.regulations.gov, please contact
2015–61 and should be submitted on or Yvonne Jamison, Trade Policy Staff
purposes of the Act. If the Commission before August 11, 2015.
takes such action, the Commission shall Committee, at (202) 395–9666 to make
For the Commission, by the Division of other arrangements.
asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

institute proceedings to determine
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
whether the proposed rule should be
authority.35 procedural questions, please contact
approved or disapproved.
Robert W. Errett, Yvonne Jamison, Office of the U.S.
IV. Solicitation of Comments Deputy Secretary. Trade Representative, 600 17th Street
Interested persons are invited to [FR Doc. 2015–17754 Filed 7–20–15; 8:45 am] NW., Room F516, Washington, DC,
submit written data, views, and BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 20508, at (202) 395–9666. All other
questions should be directed to Alan
34 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii). 35 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). Treat, Director, Office of African Affairs,

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Document Created: 2018-02-23 09:23:25
Document Modified: 2018-02-23 09:23:25

Category		Regulatory Information
Collection		Federal Register
sudoc Class		AE 2.7: GS 4.107: AE 2.106:
Publisher		Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration
Section		Notices
Action		Notice of initiation of review; notice of hearing and request for comments.
Dates		August 5, 2015: Deadline for filing requests to appear at the August 7 public hearing, and for filing pre-hearing briefs, statements, or comments on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA eligibility.
Contact		For procedural questions, please contact Yvonne Jamison, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600 17th Street NW., Room F516, Washington, DC, 20508, at (202) 395-9666. All other questions should be directed to Alan Treat, Director, Office of African Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, at (202) 395-1351.
FR Citation		80 FR 43156