80 FR 73868 - Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice of Acceptance of a Country Practices Petition on Thailand; Notice of Schedule for Public Comments and a Hearing on Certain Country Practice Reviews

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 227 (November 25, 2015)

The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) announces that it has accepted for review a country practices petition regarding worker rights in Thailand submitted as part of the GSP Annual Review. This notice sets forth the schedule for public comments and a public hearing on the newly accepted petition on Thailand, as well as the ongoing GSP country practice reviews regarding Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Iraq, Niger, and Uzbekistan. This notice also announces the closure of the country practices review of worker rights in the Philippines without change to that country's GSP trade benefits.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 227 (Wednesday, November 25, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73868-73870]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-30065]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice of Acceptance of 
a Country Practices Petition on Thailand; Notice of Schedule for Public 
Comments and a Hearing on Certain Country Practice Reviews

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for submissions.

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SUMMARY: The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(TPSC) announces that it has accepted for review a country practices 
petition regarding worker rights in Thailand submitted as part of the 
GSP Annual Review. This notice sets forth the schedule for public 
comments and a public hearing on the newly accepted petition on 
Thailand, as well as the ongoing GSP country practice reviews regarding 
Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Iraq, Niger, and Uzbekistan. This notice also 
announces the closure of the country practices review of worker rights 
in the Philippines without change to that country's GSP trade benefits.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Contact Aimee Larsen, Director for 
GSP, Office of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street 
NW., Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-2974 and 
the email address is [email protected].

DATES: The GSP regulations (15 CFR part 2007) provide the schedule of 
dates for conducting an annual review unless otherwise specified in a 
Federal Register notice. The schedule for the review of the country 
practices reviews cited above follows.
    January 4, 2016: Deadline for submission of pre-hearing briefs and 
requests to appear at the January 14-15, 2016 public hearing; 
submissions must be received by 5:00 p.m.
    January 14-15, 2016: The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff 
Committee (TPSC) will convene a two-day public hearing on the country 
practices reviews cited above at 1724 F Street NW., Washington, DC 
20508, beginning at 9:30 a.m. each day.

[[Page 73869]]

    February 12, 2016: Deadline for submission of post-hearing briefs, 
which must be received by 5:00 p.m.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GSP program provides for the duty-free 
importation of designated articles when imported from designated BDCs. 
The GSP program is authorized by Title V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2461, et seq.), as amended (the ``1974 Act''), and is 
implemented in accordance with Executive Order 11888 of November 24, 
1975, as modified by subsequent Executive Orders and Presidential 
Proclamations.

Country Practices Reviews

    The status of country practices reviews considered as part of the 
2015/2016 GSP Annual Review is described in the list of Active and 
Closed Country Practices Reviews, which is available on the USTR GSP 
Web site at https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/trade-development/preference-programs/generalized-system-preference-gsp/current-review-0. This list 
includes previously accepted country practices petitions. Country 
practices petitions accepted for review in previous years that continue 
to be under review include those regarding Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, 
Indonesia, Iraq, Niger, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
    The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), drawing on the advice of the 
TPSC, has accepted for review a country practices petition submitted as 
part of the 2015/2016 GSP Annual Review on Thailand regarding worker 
rights. In addition, the USTR, drawing on the advice of the TPSC, has 
decided to close the country practices review case USTR-2013-0006 
regarding worker rights in the Philippines in view of progress made by 
the government of the Philippines in addressing worker rights issues in 
that country.

Notice of Public Hearing

    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will hold a two-day hearing on 
Thursday, January 14 and Friday, January 15, 2016 beginning at 9:30 
a.m. each day, for the newly accepted country practices petition 
regarding worker rights in Thailand, as well as to receive information 
regarding recent developments pertinent to the ongoing country 
practices reviews regarding worker rights and/or child labor in Fiji, 
Georgia, Iraq, Niger, and Uzbekistan, and arbitral awards in Ecuador.
    The hearing will be held at 1724 F Street NW., Washington, DC 20508 
and will be open to the public. 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 make an oral presentation 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., January 4, 2016. Requests to present oral testimony must be 
accompanied by a written brief or summary statement, in English, and 
also must be received by 5 p.m., January 4, 2016. Oral testimony before 
the GSP 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 or statements will be 
accepted if they conform with the regulations cited below and are 
submitted, in English, by 5 p.m., February 12, 2016. Parties not 
wishing to appear at the public hearing may submit pre-hearing and 
post-hearing briefs or comments by the aforementioned deadlines.
    The GSP Subcommittee strongly encourages submission of all post-
hearing briefs or statements by the February 12, 2016 deadline in order 
to receive timely consideration in the GSP Subcommittee's deliberation 
on the subject reviews. However, if there are new developments or 
information that parties wish to share with the GSP Subcommittee after 
this date, the regulations.gov dockets will remain open. Comments, 
letters, or other submissions related to the subject country practices 
reviews must be posted to the http://regulations.gov docket in order to 
be considered by the GSP Subcommittee.

Requirements for Submissions

    All submissions in response to this notice must be submitted in 
English by the applicable deadlines set forth in this notice and 
conform to the GSP regulations set forth at 15 CFR part 2007, except as 
modified below. These regulations are available on the USTR Web site at 
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/USTR-Regulations-Pertaining-Eligibility-GSP-Program-15-CFR-Part-2007_0.pdf. Any person or party 
making a submission is strongly advised to review the GSP regulations 
and the GSP Guidebook, available at: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/GSP%20Guidebook%20October%202015%20Final.pdf.
    To ensure their timely and expeditious receipt and consideration, 
submissions in response to this notice must be submitted electronically 
via http://www.regulations.gov using the appropriate country-specific 
docket number(s) listed below.

    Fiji (worker rights): USTR-2013-0012;
    Ecuador (arbitral awards): USTR-2013-0013;
    Georgia (worker rights): USTR-2013-0009;
    Iraq (worker rights): USTR-2013-0004;
    Niger (worker rights and child labor): USTR-2013-0005;
    Thailand (worker rights): USTR-2015-0018;
    Uzbekistan (worker rights): USTR-2013-0007.

    Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted.
    To make a submission using http://www.regulations.gov, enter the 
country-specific docket number in the ``Search for'' field on the home 
page and click ``Search.'' The site will provide a search-results page 
listing all documents associated with this docket. Find a reference to 
this notice by selecting ``Notice'' under ``Document Type'' in the 
``Filter Results by'' section on the left side of the screen and click 
on the link entitled ``Comment Now.'' The http://www.regulations.gov 
Web site offers the option of providing comments by filling in a ``Type 
Comment'' field or by attaching a document using the ``Upload file(s)'' 
field. The GSP Subcommittee prefers that submissions be provided in an 
attached document. At the beginning of the submission, or on the first 
page (if an attachment), please note that the submission is in response 
to this Federal Register notice and provides comments on the GSP 
country practice review regarding [relevant country]. Submissions 
should not exceed 30 single-spaced, standard letter-size pages in 12-
point type, including attachments. Any data attachments to the 
submission should be included in the same file as the submission 
itself, and not as separate files.
    Each submitter will receive a submission tracking number upon 
completion of the submissions procedure at http://www.regulations.gov. 
The tracking number will be the submitter's confirmation that the 
submission was received into http://www.regulations.gov. The 
confirmation should be kept for the submitter's records. USTR is not 
able to provide technical assistance for the Web site. Documents not 
submitted in accordance with these instructions may not be considered 
in this review. If an interested party is unable to provide submissions 
as requested, please contact the GSP Program at USTR to arrange for an 
alternative method of transmission.

[[Page 73870]]

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, usually within two 
weeks of the relevant due date or date of the submission. Such 
submissions may be viewed by entering the country-specific docket 
number in the search field at: http://www.regulations.gov.

William D. Jackson,
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Generalized System 
of Preferences, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2015-30065 Filed 11-24-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F6-P