82 FR 7915 - Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review and Certain Country Practice Cases

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 13 (January 23, 2017)

This notice announces petitions submitted in connection with the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review that have been accepted for further review. This notice also sets forth the schedule for submitting comments and for a public hearing associated with the review of these petitions and products. This notice also announces the closure of the country practices review of worker rights in Fiji and Niger without change to those countries' GSP trade benefits.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 13 (Monday, January 23, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7915-7916]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-01362]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Generalized System of Preferences (GSP): Notice Regarding the 
2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review and Certain Country Practice Cases

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of hearing and receipt of public comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces petitions submitted in connection with 
the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review that have been accepted for 
further review. This notice also sets forth the schedule for submitting 
comments and for a public hearing associated with the review of these 
petitions and products. This notice also announces the closure of the 
country practices review of worker rights in Fiji and Niger without 
change to those countries' GSP trade benefits.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Naomi Freeman, Director for GSP, 
Office of the United States Trade Representative, 1724 F Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is (202) 395-2974 and the 
email address is [email protected].

DATES: The schedule for the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review is set 
forth below: February 15, 2017--Due date for submission of comments, 
pre-hearing briefs and requests to appear at the GSP Subcommittee 
Public Hearing on the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review. February 22, 
2017--The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) 
will convene a public hearing on all petitioned product additions, 
product removals, and competitive needs limitation (CNL) waiver 
petitions that were accepted for the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product 
Review. The hearing will be held in Rooms 1 and 2, 1724 F Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20508, beginning at 9:30 a.m. March 15, 2017--Due date 
for submission of post-hearing comments or briefs in connection with 
the GSP Subcommittee Public Hearing.
    April 2017--The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is 
expected to publish a public version of its report providing advice on 
the probable economic effect of the prospective addition and removal of 
products and granting of CNL waiver petitions considered as part of 
2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review. Comments from interested parties 
on the USITC report on these products should be posted on 
www.regulations.gov in Docket Number USTR-2016-0009 following the 
instructions provided below and will be due ten calendar days after the 
date of the USITC's publication of the public version of the report. 
July 1, 2017--Effective date for any modifications that the President 
proclaims to the list of articles eligible for duty-free treatment 
under the GSP resulting from the 2016/2017 Annual Product Review and 
for determinations related to CNL waivers.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Certain Country Practice Reviews

    The status of country practices reviews being considered as part of 
the 2016/2017 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/node/6526. This list includes previously 
accepted country practices petitions. The United States Trade 
Representative, drawing on the advice of the TPSC, has decided to close 
the country practices review cases in docket number USTR-2013-0012 
regarding worker rights in Fiji, and docket number USTR-2013-0005 
regarding worker rights in Niger, in view of progress made by the 
governments of Fiji and Niger, respectively, in addressing worker 
rights issues in those countries.

Background

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

Petitions Requesting Modifications of Product Eligibility

    In a notice published in the Federal Register on August 25, 2016 
(81 FR 58547), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) 
announced the initiation of the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Review and 
indicated that the interagency GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC was 
prepared to receive petitions to modify the list of products that are 
eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP program and petitions to 
waive CNLs on imports of certain products from specific beneficiary 
countries.
    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC has reviewed the product and CNL 
waiver petitions submitted in response to these announcements, and has 
decided to accept for review five petitions to add a product to the 
list of those eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP, one petition 
to remove a product from GSP eligibility for certain GSP beneficiary 
countries, and seven petitions to waive CNLs.
    A list of petitions and products accepted for review is posted on 
the USTR Web site at https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/preference-programs/generalized-system-preferences-gsp/current-reviews/gsp-20162017 under 
the title ``Petitions Accepted in the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product 
Review.'' This list also can be found at www.regulations.gov in Docket 
Number USTR-2016-0009. Acceptance of a petition indicates only that the 
TPSC found that the subject petition warranted further consideration 
and that a review of the requested action will take place.
    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC invites comments in support of or 
in opposition to any petition that has been accepted for the 2016/2017 
GSP Annual Product Review. The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will also 
convene a public hearing on these products and petitions. See below for 
information on how to submit a request to testify at this hearing.

Notice of Public Hearing

    The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will hold a hearing on Wednesday, 
February 22, 2017 beginning at 9:30 a.m., for products and petitions 
accepted for the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review. The hearing will 
be held at 1724 F Street NW., Washington,

[[Page 7916]]

DC 20508 and will be open to the public. A transcript of the hearing 
will be made available on www.regulations.gov approximately two weeks 
after 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 
midnight, Friday, February 15, 2017. Requests to present oral testimony 
in connection with the public hearing must be accompanied by a written 
brief or summary statement, in English, and also must be received by 
midnight, Friday, February 15, 2017. 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 midnight, Friday, March 15, 2017. 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

    Submissions in response to this notice (including requests to 
testify, written comments, and pre-hearing and post-hearing briefs) 
must be submitted by the applicable deadlines set forth in this notice. 
All submissions must be made in English and submitted electronically 
via http://www.regulations.gov, using docket number USTR-2016-0009. 
Hand-delivered submissions will not be accepted. To make a submission 
using http://www.regulations.gov, enter docket number USTR-2016-0009 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 Subcommittee prefers that submissions be provided in an 
attached document and, in such cases, that parties note ``See 
attached'' in the ``Type Comment'' field on the online submission form. 
At the beginning of the submission, or on the first page (if an 
attachment) should be the following text (in bold and underlined): (1) 
``2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review;'' (2) the product description 
and related HTS tariff number; and (3) whether the document is a 
``Written Comment,'' ``Notice of Intent to Testify,'' ``Pre-hearing 
brief,'' or a ``Post-hearing brief.'' Submissions should not exceed 
thirty single-spaced, standard letter-size pages in twelve-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 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 unable to 
provide submissions as requested, please contact the GSP Program at 
USTR to arrange for an alternative method of transmission.

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. Public 
versions of all documents relating to the 2016/2017 Annual Product 
Review will be made available for public viewing in docket USTR-2016-
0009 at www.regulations.gov upon completion of processing.

Erland Herfindahl,
Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Generalized System 
of Preferences, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2017-01362 Filed 1-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3190-F7-P