77870 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 248 / Tuesday, December 28, 2004 / Rules and Regulations 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Chapter 1

Federal Acquisition Circular 2001–27; 

Introduction

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Summary presentation of 

interim rule. 

SUMMARY: This document summarizes 

the Federal Acquisition Regulation 

(FAR) rule agreed to by the Civilian 

Agency Acquisition Council and the 

Defense Acquisition Regulations 

Council in this Federal Acquisition 

Circular (FAC) 2001–27. A companion 

document, the Small Entity Compliance 

Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The 

FAC, including the SECG, is available 

via the Internet at http://

www.acqnet.gov/far.

DATES: For effective date and comment 

date, see separate document which 

follows.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The 

FAR Secretariat, at (202) 501–4755, for 

information pertaining to status or 

publication schedules. For clarification 

of content, contact the analyst whose 

name appears in the table below in 

relation to the FAR case. Please cite 

FAC 2001–27, FAR case 2004–027. 

Interested parties may also visit our 

Web site at http://www.acqnet.gov/far.

Item Subject FAR case Analyst 

I ....... Free Trade Agreements—Australia and Morocco ............................................................................................... 2004–027 Davis. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A 

summary of the FAR rule follows. For 

the actual revisions and/or amendments 

to this FAR case, refer to the specific 

item number and subject set forth in the 

document following this item summary. 

FAC 2001–27 amends the FAR as 

specified below: 

Free Trade Agreements—Australia and 

Morocco (FAR case 2004–027) 

This interim rule allows contracting 

officers to purchase the products of 

Australia and Morocco without 

application of the Buy American Act if 

the acquisition is subject to the Free 

Trade Agreements. The U.S. Trade 

Representative negotiated Free Trade 

Agreements with Australia and 

Morocco, which go into effect January 1, 

2005, according to Public Laws 108–286 

and 108–302. These Agreements join the 

North American Free Trade Agreement 

(NAFTA) and the Chile and Singapore 

Free Trade Agreements which are 

already in the FAR. The threshold for 

applicability of the Australian Free 

Trade Agreement is $58,550 (the same 

as other Free Trade Agreements to date), 

but the threshold for applicability of the 

Morocco Free Trade Agreement is 

$175,000. Because of the short statutory 

time frame, this is an interim rule. Also 

in this rule are changes requested by the 

U.S. Trade Representative, in the list of 

Least Developed Countries, and changes 

in terminology on how the FAR uses the 

terms ‘‘designated country’’ and ‘‘Trade 

Agreements Act.’’ Some technical 

changes are also included.

Dated: December 22, 2004. 

Laura Auletta, 

Director, Contract Policy Division.

Federal Acquisition Circular 

Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 

2001–27 is issued under the authority of 

the Secretary of Defense, the 

Administrator of General Services, and 

the Administrator for the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

Unless otherwise specified, all 

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 

and other directive material contained 

in FAC 2001–27 is effective January 1, 

2005.

Dated: December 21, 2004. 

Lt. Col. Vincent Feck, 

Deputy Director (Operations), Defense 

Procurement and Acquisition Policy.

Dated: December 22, 2004. 

David A. Drabkin, 

Senior Procurement Executive, General 

Services Administration.

Dated: December 21, 2004. 

Scott Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Chief Acquisition Officer, 

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration.

[FR Doc. 04–28399 Filed 12–27–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–EP–P

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

GENERAL SERVICES 

ADMINISTRATION 

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND 

SPACE ADMINISTRATION 

48 CFR Parts 5, 6, 9, 12, 14, 17, 22, 25, 

and 52 

[FAC 2001–27; FAR Case 2004–027] 

RIN 9000–AK09 

Federal Acquisition Regulation; Free 

Trade Agreements—Australia and 

Morocco

AGENCIES: Department of Defense (DoD), 

General Services Administration (GSA), 

and National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA).

ACTION: Interim rule with request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Civilian Agency 

Acquisition Council and the Defense 

Acquisition Regulations Council 

(Councils) have agreed on an interim 

rule amending the Federal Acquisition 

Regulation (FAR) to implement new 

Free Trade Agreements with Australia 

and Morocco as approved by Congress 

(Public Laws 108–286 and 108–302). 

These Free Trade Agreements are 

scheduled to go into effect January 1, 

2005. 

The interim rule also establishes a 

table of services excluded from the 

coverage of the various trade 

agreements, corrects the threshold for 

Canadian services, revises the list of 

Least Developed Countries, revises FAR 

terminology relating to international 

trade agreements and the Trade 

Agreements Act (TAA), and revises the 

FAR clauses that implement application 

of the Buy American Act (41 U.S.C. 10a, 

10b, 10b–1, and 10c) and trade 

agreements to construction material.

DATES: Effective Date: January 1, 2005. 

Comment Date: Interested parties 

should submit comments to the FAR 

Secretariat at the address shown below 

on or before February 28, 2005, to be 

considered in the formulation of a final 

rule.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

identified by FAC 2001–27, FAR case 

2004–027, by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Agency Web site: http://

www.acqnet.gov/far/ProposedRules/