48622 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 183 / Wednesday, September 23, 2009 / Notices 

CFR 404.1720(e) and 416.1520(e). 

Accordingly, we are rescinding SSR 85– 

3 as obsolete. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Nos. 96.001, Social SecurityDisability Insurance; 96.002, Social SecurityRetirement Insurance; 96.004, Social 

Security-Survivors Insurance; and 96.006, 

Supplemental Security Income) 

Dated: July 30, 2009. 

Michael J. Astrue, 

Commissioner of Social Security. 

[FR Doc. E9–22843 Filed 9–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4191–02–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Request for Public Comments on 

Annual Review of Country Eligibility 

for Benefits Under the African Growth 

and Opportunity Act 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice and Request for 

Comments. 

SUMMARY: The African Growth and 

Opportunity Act Implementation 

Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff 

Committee (the ‘‘Subcommittee’’) is 

requesting written public comments for 

the annual review of the eligibility of 

sub-Saharan African countries to receive 

the benefits of the African Growth and 

Opportunity Act (AGOA). The 

Subcommittee will consider these 

comments in developing 

recommendations on AGOA country 

eligibility for the President. Comments 

received related to the child labor 

criteria may also be considered by the 

Secretary of Labor for the preparation of 

the Department of Labor’s report on 

child labor as required under section 

412(c) of the Trade and Development 

Act of 2000. This notice identifies the 

eligibility criteria that must be 

considered under the AGOA, and lists 

those sub-Saharan African countries 

that are currently eligible for the 

benefits of the AGOA, and those that are 

currently ineligible for such benefits. 

DATES: Public comments are due at the 

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative 

(USTR) by noon, Monday, October 19, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers 

electronic submissions made at http:// 

www.regulations.gov, docket number 

USTR–2009–0034. See ‘‘Requirements 

for Submission,’’ below. If you are 

unable to make a submission at 

www.regulations.gov, please contact 

Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade 

Policy Staff Committee, at (202) 395– 

6143 to make other arrangements. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

procedural questions, please contact 

Gloria Blue, Office of the U.S. Trade 

Representative, 600 17th Street, NW., 

Room F516, Washington, DC, 20508, at 

(202) 395–3475. All other questions 

should be directed to Constance 

Hamilton, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade 

Representative for Africa, Office of the 

U.S. Trade Representative, at (202) 395– 

9514. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

AGOA (Title I of the Trade and 

Development Act of 2000, Public Law 

106–200) (19 U.S.C. 3721 et seq.), as 

amended, authorizes the President to 

designate sub-Saharan African countries 

as beneficiary sub-Saharan African 

countries eligible for duty-free treatment 

for certain additional products 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 the AGOA provides for 

certain textile and apparel articles. 

The President may designate a 

country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan 

African country eligible for both the 

additional GSP benefits and the textile 

and apparel benefits of the AGOA for 

countries meeting certain statutory 

requirements intended to prevent 

unlawful transshipment of such articles, 

if he determines that the country meets 

the eligibility criteria set forth in: (1) 

Section 104 of the AGOA; and (2) 

section 502 of the 1974 Act. For 2009, 

40 countries have been designated as 

beneficiary sub-Saharan African 

countries. These countries, as well as 

the 8 countries currently ineligible, are 

listed below. 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 sub-Saharan African 

country, should be designated as such a 

country. Section 506A of the 1974 Act 

requires that, if the President 

determines that a beneficiary subSaharan 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 Subcommittee is seeking public 

comments in connection with the 

annual review of the eligibility of 

beneficiary sub-Saharan African 

countries for the AGOA’s benefits. The 

Subcommittee will consider any such 

comments in developing 

recommendations on country eligibility 

for the President. 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 2009: 

Angola 

Republic of Benin 

Republic of Botswana 

Burkina Faso 

Burundi 

Republic of Cape Verde 

Republic of Cameroon 

Republic of Chad 

Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros 

Republic of Congo 

Democratic Republic of Congo 

Republic of Djibouti 

Ethiopia 

Gabonese Republic 

The Gambia 

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 

Republic of Mauritius 

Republic of Mozambique 

Republic of Namibia 

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 

Kingdom of Swaziland 

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 2009: 

Central African Republic 

Republic of Cote d’Ivoire 

Republic of Equatorial Guinea 

State of Eritrea 

Islamic Republic of Mauritania 

Somalia 

Republic of Sudan 

Republic of Zimbabwe 

Requirements for Submissions: 

Comments must be submitted in 

English. To ensure the most timely and 

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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 183 / Wednesday, September 23, 2009 / Notices 48623 

expeditious receipt and consideration of 

petitions, USTR has arranged to accept 

on-line submissions via http:// 

www.regulations.gov. To submit 

petitions via this site, enter docket 

number USTR–2009–0034 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’’ on search-results page and click 

on the link entitled ‘‘Submit a 

Comment.’’ (For further information on 

using the http://www.regulations,gov 

Web site, please consult the resources 

provided on the Web site by clicking on 

‘‘Help’’ at the top of the home page.) 

The http://www.regulations.gov Web 

site provides the option of making 

submissions by filling in a ‘‘General 

Comments’’ field, or by attaching a 

document. USTR prefers comments to 

be submitted as attachments. When 

doing this, it is sufficient to type ‘‘See 

attached’’ in the ‘‘Comments’’ field. 

Submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or 

Adobe Acrobat (pdf) are preferred. 

Persons wishing to file comments 

containing business confidential 

information must submit both a 

business confidential version and a 

public version. Persons submitting 

business confidential information 

should write ‘‘See attached BC 

comments’’ in the ‘‘Comment’’ field. 

Any page containing business 

confidential information must be clearly 

marked ‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’ 

on the top of that page. Persons 

submitting a business confidential 

comment must also submit a separate 

public version of that comment with the 

business confidential information 

deleted. Persons should write ‘‘See 

attached public version’’ in the 

‘‘Comment’’ field of the public 

submission. Submissions should not 

attach separate cover letters; rather, 

information that might appear in the 

cover letter should be included in the 

comments you submit. Similarly, to the 

extent possible, please include any 

exhibits, annexes, or other attachments 

to a submission in the same file as the 

submission itself and not as separate 

files. 

Public versions of all documents 

relating to this review will be available 

for review no latter than two weeks after 

the due date at www.regulations.gov, 

docket number USTR–2009–0034. 

Carmen Suro-Bredie, 

Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee. 

[FR Doc. E9–22860 Filed 9–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–D2–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

[Docket No. FRA–2009–0001–N–21] 

Proposed Agency Information 

Collection Activities; Comment 

Request 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration, DOT. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice 

announces that the Information 

Collection Requirement (ICR) abstracted 

below has been forwarded to the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and comment. The ICR describes 

the nature of the information collection 

and its expected burden. The Federal 

Register notice with a 60-day comment 

period soliciting comments on the 

following collection of information was 

published on June 26, 2009 (74 FR 

30662). 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before October 23, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Robert Brogan, Office of Safety, 

Planning and Evaluation Division, RRS– 

21, Federal Railroad Administration, 

1200 New Jersey Ave., SE., 3rd Floor, 

Mail Stop 25, Washington, DC 20590 

(telephone: (202) 493–6292), or Ms. 

Nakia Jackson, Office of Information 

Technology, RAD–20, Federal Railroad 

Administration, 1200 New Jersey Ave., 

SE., 3rd Floor, Mail Stop 35, 

Washington, DC 20590 (telephone: (202) 

493–6073). (These telephone numbers 

are not toll-free.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), Public Law 104–13, Section 2, 

109 Stat. 163 (1995) (codified as revised 

at 44 U.S.C. 3501–3520), and its 

implementing regulations, 5 CFR Part 

1320, require Federal agencies to issue 

two notices seeking public comment on 

information collection activities before 

OMB may approve paperwork packages. 

44 U.S.C. 3506, 3507; 5 CFR 1320.5, 

1320.8(d)(1), 1320.12. On June 26, 2009, 

FRA published a 60-day notice in the 

Federal Register soliciting comment on 

this ICR that the agency was seeking 

OMB approval. 74 FR 30662. FRA 

received no comments in response to 

this notice. 

Before OMB decides whether to 

approve these proposed collections of 

information, it must provide 30-days for 

public comment. 44 U.S.C. 3507(b); 5 

CFR 1320.12(d). Federal law requires 

OMB to approve or disapprove 

paperwork packages between 30 and 60 

days after the 30-day notice is 

published. 44 U.S.C. 3507 (b)-(c); 5 CFR 

1320.12(d); see also 60 FR 44978, 44983, 

Aug. 29, 1995. OMB believes that the 

30-day notice informs the regulated 

community to file relevant comments 

and affords the agency adequate time to 

digest public comments before it 

renders a decision. 60 FR 44983, Aug. 

29, 1995. Therefore, respondents should 

submit their respective comments to 

OMB within 30 days of publication to 

best ensure having their full effect. 5 

CFR 1320.12(c); see also 60 FR 44983, 

Aug. 29, 1995. 

The summary below describes the 

nature of the information collection 

requirement (ICR) and the expected 

burden for the ICR being submitted for 

clearance by OMB as required by the 

PRA. 

Title: Notice of Funding Availability 

and Solicitation of Applications for 

Grants under the Railroad Rehabilitation 

and Repair Grant Program. 

OMB Control Number: 2130–0580. 

Type of Request: Regular Approval of 

a Previously Approved Collection of 

Information under Emergency Clearance 

Procedures. 

Affected Public: 39 States/Local 

Governments. 

Abstract: On September 30, 2008, 

President Bush signed Public Law 110– 

329, The Consolidated Security, Disaster 

Assistance, and Continuing 

Appropriations Act, 2009. As part of 

this Act, Congress provided $20 million 

in disaster relief funds to FRA to award 

to States in one or more grants for 

eligible projects related to repair and 

rehabilitation of Class II and Class III 

railroad infrastructure damaged by 

hurricanes, floods, and other natural 

disasters in counties for which the 

President declared a major disaster 

under title IV of the Robert T. Stafford 

Disaster Relief and Emergency 

Assistance Act of 1974. Approximately 

$5 million of these funds remain 

available for rehabilitation and repairs 

of railroad right-of-way, bridges, signals, 

and other infrastructure which are part 

of the general railroad system of 

transportation and primarily used by 

railroads to move freight traffic. The 

Secretary may retain up to one-half of 

one (1) percent of these funds for the 

oversight of the design and 

implementation of projects funded by 

grants under this Program. Funds 

provided under this grant program may 

constitute no more than 80 percent of 

the total cost of a selected project, with 

the remaining cost funded from other 

sources. The funding provided under 

these grants will be made available to 

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