Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 36 / Monday, February 24, 1997 / Notices 8293

360 Rainbow Blvd. South, 3rd Floor,

Niagara Falls, NY 14303, or other locally

announced locations. The interest rate

for eligible small businesses and small

agricultural cooperatives is 4 percent.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program No. 59002)

Dated: February 14, 1997.

Ginger Lew,

Acting Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–4433 Filed 2–21–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

[Declaration of Economic Injury Disaster

Loan Area # 9383]

South Dakota (And Contiguous

Counties in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska

& Wyoming)

Declaration of Disaster Loan Area

Aurora, Dewey, Hamlin, Hutchinson,

Lake, Lincoln, Lyman, McPherson,

Pennington, Perkins, Roberts, Shannon,

Spink, and Todd Counties, which

together with their contiguous counties

comprise the entire State of South

Dakota; as well as Big Stone County,

Minnesota; Lyon and Sioux Counties in

Iowa; Cherry, Dawes, Keya Paha, and

Sheridan Counties in Nebraska; and

Weston County, Wyoming constitute an

economic injury disaster loan area as a

result of severe winter storms and

blizzard conditions during the period of

January 3 through January 31, 1997.

Eligible small businesses without credit

available elsewhere and small

agricultural cooperatives without credit

available elsewhere may file

applications for economic injury

assistance until the close of business on

November 14, 1997 at the address listed

below: U.S. Small Business

Administration, Disaster Area 3 Office,

4400 Amon Carter Blvd., Suite 102, Fort

Worth, TX 76155, or other locally

announced locations. The interest rate

for eligible small businesses and small

agricultural cooperatives is 4 percent.

Any contiguous counties not listed

herein have been covered under a

separate declaration for the same

occurrence.

The economic injury numbers

assigned to this disaster are 938300 for

South Dakota; 938400 for Minnesota;

938500 for Iowa; 938600 for Nebraska;

and 938700 for Wyoming.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program No. 59002)

Dated: February 14, 1997.

Ginger Lew,

Acting Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–4432 Filed 2–21–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Generalized System of Preferences;

Information on Imports During First 10

Months of 1996; Opportunity for Public

Comment

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: By this notice, the Trade

Policy Staff Committee informs the

public of certain U.S. import statistics

for the period from January through

October 1996 and affords the public an

opportunity to comment on decisions,

(including certain discretionary

decisions) the President will make with

respect to the Generalized System of

Preferences (GSP) program. Before July

1, 1997, the President must announce

the GSP ‘‘competitive need’’ limits set

forth in section 503(c)(2)(A) of the Trade

Act of 1974, as amended (the ‘‘1974

Act’’) (19 U.S.C. 2463(c)(2)(A)). The

discretionary decisions concern (1) the

‘‘de minimis waiver’’ authority set forth

in section 503(c)(2)(F) of their 1974 Act;

and (2) the redesignation authority set

forth in section 503(c)(2)(C) of the 1974

Act. Presidential decisions concerning

the application of competitive need

limits and other product-related

decisions stemming from the 1995

Annual Review are expected to be

announced in April, and implemented

no later than July 1, 1997. (Note because

the program’s authorization previously

expired on July 31, 1995, the Annual

Review for that year was delayed until

the program’s reauthorization was

signed into law on August 20, 1996. At

that time the 1995 Annual Review

resumed and no review for 1996 was

conducted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

GSP Subcommittee, Office of the U.S.

Trade Representative, 600 17th Street,

NW., Room 517, Washington, DC 20508.

The telephone number is (202) 395–

6971.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Competitive Need Limits

Pursuant to section 503(c)(2)(A), any

GSP-eligible beneficiary country that

exported to the United States in 1996 a

quantity of any one GSP eligible article

in excess of (1) $75 million, or (2) 50

percent of the value of total U.S. imports

of the article, is to be removed from GSP

eligibility with respect to that article not

later than July 1 of the next calendar

year.

II. Discretionary Decisions

A. De Minimis Waivers

Section 503(c)(2)(F) of the 1974 Act

permits the President to disregard the 50

percent ‘‘competitive need’’ limit with

respect to any eligible article if the value

of total imports of the article during

calendar year 1996 did not exceed $13

million.

B. Redesignation of Eligible Articles

If a country is no longer a beneficiary

developing country with respect to an

eligible article because imports

exceeded the competitive need limits in

a prior year, then, pursuant to section

503(c)(2)(C) of the 1974 Act, the

President may redesignate the

beneficiary developing country with

respect to the eligible article if imports

do not exceed the competitive need

limits in a subsequent year.

III. Implementation of Competitive

Need Limits, Waivers, and

Redesignations

A proclamation will be issued to be

effective no later than July 1, 1997,

making the adjustments to the list of

eligible articles that are required by

section 503(c)(2)(A) of the 1974 Act and

announcing the discretionary decisions

referred to in this notice, on the basis of

official data covering all of calendar

year 1996.

It should be emphasized that the

information set forth below covers only

the first 10 months of 1996. Partial year

data is being published now to provide

the maximum possible advance

indication of adjustments that may be

made to meet the requirements of

section 503(c)(2)(A) of the 1974 Act and

to afford the earliest opportunity for

comment on the possible discretionary

decisions.

List I below shows specific GSPeligible articles for beneficiaries which

have already exceeded estimated

competitive need limitations (i.e., a

beneficiary supplied over $75 million of

an article and/or over 50 percent of

imports of an article during the period

from January through October, 1996) or

have been graduated from the GSP in

earlier years pursuant to the President’s

discretionary authority.

List II below shows beneficiaries

which are approaching the competitive

need limitations (i.e., a beneficiary

accounted for over 48 percent of the

value of total U.S. imports and/or over

$63 million during the period from

January through October 1996).

List III below shows beneficiaries

which, despite accounting for more than

50 percent of the value of total U.S.

imports of an article, may be eligible to