81 FR 46755 - African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): Request for Public Comments on Annual Review of Country Eligibility for Benefits Under AGOA in Calendar Year 2017; Scheduling of Hearing, and Request for Public Comments

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 137 (July 18, 2016)

This notice announces the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2017. The Subcommittee is requesting written public comments for this 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. Comments received related to the child labor criteria may also be considered by the Secretary of Labor in the preparation of the Department of Labor's report on child labor as required under section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974. This notice identifies the eligibility criteria under AGOA that must be considered under AGOA, and lists those sub-Saharan African countries that are currently eligible for the benefits of AGOA and those that were ineligible for such benefits in 2016.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 137 (Monday, July 18, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46755-46756]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16957]



[[Page 46755]]

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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): Request for Public 
Comments on Annual Review of Country Eligibility for Benefits Under 
AGOA in Calendar Year 2017; Scheduling of Hearing, and Request for 
Public Comments

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

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

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the initiation of the annual review of 
the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the 
benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA 
Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA 
country eligibility for calendar year 2017. The Subcommittee is 
requesting written public comments for this 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. Comments received related to the 
child labor criteria may also be considered by the Secretary of Labor 
in the preparation of the Department of Labor's report on child labor 
as required under section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974. This notice 
identifies the eligibility criteria under AGOA that must be considered 
under AGOA, and lists those sub-Saharan African countries that are 
currently eligible for the benefits of AGOA and those that were 
ineligible for such benefits in 2016.

DATES: 
    August 5, 2016: Deadline for filing requests to appear at the 
August 22, 2016 public hearing, and for filing pre-hearing briefs, 
statements, or comments on sub-Saharan African countries' AGOA 
eligibility.
    August 22, 2016: AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the TPSC will 
convene a public hearing on AGOA country eligibility.
    September 2, 2016: Deadline for filing post-hearing briefs, 
statements, or comments on this matter.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made at 
www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2016-0006. 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) 395-3475 to make other arrangements.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions, please 
contact Yvonne Jamison, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative at 
(202) 395-3475. All other questions should be directed to Constance 
Hamilton, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for African 
Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, at (202) 395-9514.

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 
beneficiaries 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.
    Section 502 of the 1974 Act provides for country eligibility 
criteria under GSP, which is generally reviewed as a result of a 
petition process. For more information on the GSP criteria and review 
process, see section 502 of the 1974 Act and the annual Federal 
Register notice initiating the GSP product and country practices 
review.
    Section 506A of the 1974 Act provides that the President shall 
monitor and review annually the progress of each sub-Saharan African 
country in meeting the foregoing eligibility criteria in order to 
determine whether each beneficiary sub-Saharan African country should 
continue to be eligible, and whether each sub-Saharan African country 
that is currently not a beneficiary, should be designated as such a 
country. 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. The President may 
also withdraw, suspend, or limit the application of duty-free treatment 
with respect to specific articles from a 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.
    For 2016, 38 countries were designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African countries. These countries, as well as the countries currently 
designated as ineligible, are listed below. The Subcommittee is seeking 
public comments in connection with the annual review of sub-Saharan 
African countries' eligibility for AGOA's benefits. The Subcommittee 
will consider any such comments in developing recommendations to the 
President related to this review. 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.
    The following sub-Saharan African countries were designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2016:

Angola
Republic of Benin
Republic of Botswana
Burkina Faso
Republic of Cabo Verde
Republic of Cameroon
Republic of Chad
Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros
Republic of Congo
Republic of Cote d'Ivoire
Republic of Djibouti
Ethiopia
Gabonese Republic
Republic of Ghana
Republic of Guinea
Republic of Guinea-Bissau
Republic of Kenya
Kingdom of Lesotho
Republic of Liberia
Republic of Madagascar
Republic of Malawi
Republic of Mali
Islamic Republic of Mauritania
Republic of Mauritius
Republic of Mozambique
Republic of Namibia

[[Page 46756]]

Republic of Niger
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Republic of Rwanda
Sao Tome & Principe
Republic of Senegal
Republic of Seychelles
Republic of Sierra Leone
Republic of South Africa
United Republic of Tanzania
Republic of Togo
Republic of Uganda
Republic of Zambia

    The following sub-Saharan African countries were not designated as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in 2016:

Burundi
Central African Republic
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Gambia
Republic of Equatorial Guinea
State of Eritrea
Somalia
Republic of South Sudan
Republic of Sudan
Kingdom of Swaziland
Republic of Zimbabwe

    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 10:00 a.m. on Monday, August 22, 2016, to 
receive testimony related to sub-Saharan African countries' eligibility 
for AGOA's benefits. Requests to present oral testimony at the hearing 
and pre-hearing briefs, statements, or comments must be received by 
noon August 5, 2016.
    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 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 noon, 
August 5, 2016. The intent to testify notification must be made in the 
``Type Comment'' field under docket number USTR-2016-0006 on the 
regulations.gov Web site and should include the name, address, and 
telephone number of the person presenting the testimony. A summary of 
the testimony should be attached by using the ``Upload File'' field. 
The name of the file should also include who will be presenting the 
testimony. Remarks at the hearing should be limited to no more than 
five minutes to allow for possible questions from the TPSC. All 
documents should be submitted in accordance with the instructions 
below.
    Requirements For Submissions: Persons submitting a notification of 
intent to testify and/or written comments must do so electronically by 
noon, Friday, August 5, 2016, using www.regulations.gov, docket number 
USTR-2016-0006. 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 www.regulations.gov upon completion of 
processing. Such submissions may be viewed by entering the country-
specific docket number in the search field at www.regulations.gov.

Edward Gresser,
Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 2016-16957 Filed 7-15-16; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F6-P