01-9258. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP); Deadline for Submission of Petitions for the 2001 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review

AGENCY:

Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION:

Notice of the 2001 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review.

DATES:

Final date for submission of petitions is June 13, 2001.

SUMMARY:

The deadline for the submission of petitions for the 2001 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review is 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 13, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

GSP Subcommittee, Office of the United States Trade Representative, 1724 F Street, NW., Room F220, Washington, DC 20508. The telephone number is [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Announcement of 2001 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review

The GSP regulations (15 CFR Part 2007) provide the schedule of dates for conducting an annual review unless otherwise specified by a Federal Register notice. Notice is hereby given that, in order to be considered in the 2001 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review, all petitions to modify the list of articles eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP or to review the GSP status of any beneficiary developing country must be received by the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee no later than 5 p.m., Wednesday, June 13, 2001. Petitions submitted after the deadline will not be considered for review and will be returned to the petitioner.

The GSP provides for the duty-free importation of designated articles when imported from designated beneficiary developing countries. The GSP is authorized by title V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et. seq.), as amended (the “Trade Act”), and is implemented in accordance with Executive Order 11888 of November 24, 1975, as modified by subsequent Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations. Section 505 of the Trade Act states that duty-free treatment provided under the GSP shall not remain in effect after September 30, 2001. If the program expires without reauthorization on that date, the 2001 Annual GSP review will be conducted according to a schedule to be issued in the Federal Register if and when the program is reauthorized. The review will be based on those petitions that are submitted prior to the June 13 deadline and accepted for review by the GSP Subcommittee.

A. 2001 GSP Annual Product Review

Interested parties or foreign governments may submit petitions: (1) To designate additional articles as eligible for GSP; (2) to withdraw, suspend or limit GSP duty-free treatment accorded either to eligible articles under the GSP or to individual beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific GSP eligible articles; (3) to waive the competitive need limits for individual beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific GSP eligible articles; and (4) to otherwise modify GSP coverage. As specified in 15 CFR 2007.1, all product petitions must include a detailed description of the product and the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheading in which the product is classified.

B. 2001 GSP Annual Country Eligibility Practices Review

Interested parties may submit petitions to have the GSP status of any eligible beneficiary developing country revised with respect to any of the designation criteria listed in sections 502(b) or 502(c) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2462(b) and (c)). Such petitions must comply with the requirements of 15 CFR 2007.01(b).

C. Submission of Petitions and Requests

Petitions to modify GSP treatment should be addressed to GSP Subcommittee, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 1724 F Street, NW, Room F220, Washington, DC 20508. An original and fourteen (14) copies of each petition must be submitted in English. If the petition contains business confidential information, an original and fourteen (14) copies of a nonconfidential version of the submission along with an original and fourteen (14) copies of the confidential version must be submitted. In addition, the submission containing confidential information should be clearly marked “confidential” at the top and bottom of each and every page of the submission. Petitions submitted as “business confidential” must conform to 15 CFR 2003.6 and other qualifying information submitted in confidence must conform to 15 CFR 2007.7. The version that does not contain business confidential information (the public version) should also be clearly marked at the top and bottom of each page (either “public version” or “nonconfidential”). Furthermore, interested parties submitting petitions that request action with respect to specific products should list on the first page of the petition the following information: (1) The requested action; (2) the HTS subheading in which the product is classified; and (3) if applicable, the beneficiary country.

All such submissions must conform to the GSP regulations which are set forth in 15 CFR part 2007. The regulations are also included in “A Guide to the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)” (August 1991) (“GSP Guide”). Petitioners are strongly advised to review the GSP regulations. Submissions that do not provide all information required by sections 2007.0 and 2007.1 of the GSP regulations will not be accepted for review, except upon a detailed showing in the submission that the petitioner made a good faith effort to obtain the information required. These requirements will be strictly enforced. Petitions with respect to waivers of the competitive need limitations must meet the information requirements for product addition requests in section 2007.1(c) of the GSP regulations. A model petition format is available from the GSP Subcommittee and is included in the GSP Guide. Petitioners are requested to use this model petition format so as to ensure that all information requirements are met.

Only the public versions of the submissions will be available for public inspection and only by appointment. Appointments to review petitions may be made by contacting Ms. Brenda Webb (Tel. [phone]) of the USTR Public Reading Room. The hours of the Reading Room are 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Jon Rosenbaum,

Chairman, GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee.