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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 53 (Monday, March 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15997-16001]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6715]

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COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS

Interim Procedures for Considering Requests From the Public for 
Textile and Apparel Safeguard Actions on Imports From Korea and 
Estimate of Burden for Collection of Information

AGENCY: The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.

ACTION: Notice of interim procedures and request for comments; estimate 
of information collection burden.

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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the procedures the Committee for the 
Implementation of Textile Agreements (``CITA'' or ``the Committee'') 
will

[[Page 15998]]

follow in considering requests from the public for textile and apparel 
safeguard actions as provided for in the United States-Korea Free Trade 
Agreement Implementation Act (``the Act''). The President has directed 
CITA to establish procedures that govern the submission of a request 
and provide the opportunity for interested entities to submit comments 
and supporting evidence in any such determination pursuant to the Act. 
CITA hereby gives notice to interested entities of the procedure CITA 
will follow in considering such requests and solicits public written 
comments on these interim procedures.
    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, this notice further 
provides an estimate of the burden to the public to collect and submit 
information as for requesting such safeguard measures, for making its 
determinations under Section 332(a) of the Act, and for providing 
relief under Section 332(b) of the Act.

DATES: As of March 19, 2012, CITA intends to use these interim 
procedures to process requests from the public. CITA solicits public 
written comments on the interim procedures. Comments must be received 
no later than April 18, 2012 in either hard copy or electronically.

ADDRESSES: If submitting comments in hard copy, an original, signed 
document must be submitted to the Chairman, Committee for the 
Implementation of Textile Agreements, Room 3100, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20230. If submitting comments electronically, an electronic copy, via 
electronic mail (``email'') must be submitted to [email protected]. 
All submitted comments will be posted for public review on the Web site 
dedicated to U.S.-Korea FTA textile and apparel safeguard proceedings. 
The Web site is located on the U.S. Department of Commerce's Office of 
Textile and Apparel Web site (www.otexa.ita.doc.gov), under ``Korea 
FTA''/``Safeguards'' Additional instructions regarding the submission 
of comments may be found at the end of this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maria D'Andrea, Office of Textiles and 
Apparel, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-1550.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title III, Subtitle C, Section 331 through 
Section 338 of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (the ``Act'') [Public Law 112-41] implements the 
textile and apparel safeguard provision, provided for in Article 4.1 of 
the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement (the ``Agreement''). The 
safeguard mechanism applies when, as a result of the reduction or 
elimination of a customs duty under the Agreement, a Korean textile or 
apparel article is being imported into the United States in such 
increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to the domestic 
market for that article, and under such conditions as to cause serious 
damage or actual threat thereof to a U.S. industry producing a like or 
directly competitive article. In these circumstances, Article 4.1.1(b) 
permits the United States to (a) suspend any further reduction in the 
rate of duty provided for under Annex 2-B of the Agreement in the duty 
imposed on the article; or (b) increase duties on the imported article 
from Korea to a level that does not exceed the lesser of the prevailing 
U.S. normal trade relations (``NTR'')/most-favored-nation (``MFN'') 
duty rate for the article or the U.S. NTR/MFN duty rate in effect on 
the day before the Agreement enters into force. In Presidential 
Proclamation 8783 (77 FR 14265, March 9, 2012), the President delegated 
to the Committee certain functions under Subtitle C of Title III of the 
Act.
    The import tariff relief is effective beginning on the date that 
the Committee determines that a Korean textile or apparel article as 
defined in section 301(3) of the Act, is being imported into the United 
States in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to 
the domestic market for that article, and under such conditions as to 
cause serious damage, or actual threat thereof, to a U.S. industry 
producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, the 
imported article. Consistent with Section 333(a) of the Act, the 
initial period of import tariff relief, as set forth in section 3 of 
this notice, shall be two years. The Committee may extend the period of 
import relief for a period not more than two years if the Committee 
determines that the continuation is necessary to remedy or prevent 
serious damage or actual threat thereof and to facilitate adjustment by 
the domestic industry to import competition, and that the domestic 
industry is, in fact, making a positive adjustment to import 
competition. Import tariff relief may not be applied to the same 
article under these procedures if (1) relief previously has been 
granted with respect to that article under these provisions, or (2) the 
article is subject to relief under (a) Subtitle A of Title III of the 
Act (Chapter Ten (Trade Remedies of the Agreement), or (B) Chapter 1 of 
Title III of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2133).
    Authority to provide import tariff relief with respect to a Korean 
textile or apparel article will expire ten years after duties on the 
article are eliminated pursuant to the Agreement.
    Under Article 4.1.6 of the Agreement, if the United States provides 
relief to a domestic industry under the textile and apparel safeguard, 
it must provide Korea ``mutually agreed trade liberalizing compensation 
in the form of concessions having substantially equivalent trade 
effects or equivalent to the value of the additional duties expected to 
result from the emergency action.'' Such concessions shall be limited 
to textile and apparel products, unless the United States and Korea 
agree otherwise. If the United States and Korea are unable to agree on 
trade liberalizing compensation, Korea may increase customs duties 
equivalently on U.S. products. The obligation to provide compensation 
terminates upon termination of the safeguard relief. Section 337 of the 
Act extends the President's authority to provide compensation under 
Section 123 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, to measures taken 
pursuant to the Agreement's textile and apparel safeguard provision.

Procedures for Requesting Textile and Apparel Safeguard Actions

    1. Requirements for Requests. Pursuant to Section 331(a) of the Act 
and Section 7 of Presidential Proclamation 8783, an interested party 
may file a request for a textile and apparel safeguard action with the 
Committee. The Committee will review requests from the interested party 
sent to the Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile 
Agreements, Room 3100, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230. Ten copies of any such 
request must be provided. As provided in Section 338 of the Act, the 
Committee will protect from disclosure any business confidential 
information that is marked ``business confidential'' to the full extent 
permitted by law. To the extent that business confidential information 
is provided, two copies of a non-confidential version must also be 
provided, in which business confidential information is summarized or, 
if necessary, deleted. At the conclusion of the request, an interested 
party must attest that ``all information contained in the request is 
complete and accurate and no false claims, statements, or 
representations have been made.'' Consistent with Section 331(a) of the

[[Page 15999]]

Act, the Committee will review a request initially to determine whether 
to commence consideration of the request on its merits. Within 15 
business days of receipt of a request, the Committee will determine 
whether the request provides the information necessary for the 
Committee to consider the request in light of the considerations set 
forth below. If the request does not, the Committee will promptly 
notify the requester of the reasons for this determination and the 
request will not be considered. However, the Committee will reevaluate 
any request that is resubmitted with additional information.
    Consistent with longstanding Committee practice in considering 
textile and apparel safeguard actions, the Committee will consider an 
interested party to be an entity (which may be a trade association, 
firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers) that is 
representative of either: (A) A domestic producer or producers of an 
article that is like or directly competitive with the subject Korean 
textile or apparel article; or (B) a domestic producer or producers of 
a component used in the production of an article that is like or 
directly competitive with the subject Korean textile or apparel 
article. See ``Procedures for Considering Requests from the Public for 
Textile and Apparel Safeguard Actions on Imports from Peru'', 76 FR 
9556 (February 18, 2011).
    A request will only be considered if the request includes the 
specific information set forth below in support of a claim that a 
textile or apparel article from Korea is being imported into the United 
States in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to 
the domestic market for that article, and under such conditions as to 
cause serious damage or actual threat thereof, to a U.S. industry 
producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, the 
imported article.
    A. Product description. Name and description of the imported 
article concerned, including the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States subheading(s) (HTSUS) (http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts) 
under which such article is classified, and the name and description of 
the like or directly competitive domestic article concerned.
    B. Import data. The following data, in quantity by HTSUS, on total 
imports of the subject article into the United States and imports from 
Korea into the United States:
    * Annual data for the most recent three full calendar years for 
which such data are available;
    * Quarterly data for the most recent year for which such data are 
partially available, and quarterly data for the same quarter(s) of the 
previous year (e.g., January-March 2011, April-June 2011 and January-
March 2010, April-June 2010).
    The data should demonstrate that imports of a Korean origin textile 
or apparel article that are like or directly competitive with the 
articles produced by the domestic industry concerned are increasing in 
absolute terms or relative to the domestic market for that article.
    C. Production data. The following data, in quantity, on U.S. 
domestic production of the like or directly competitive articles of 
U.S. origin indicating the nature and extent of the serious damage or 
actual threat thereof:
    * Annual data for the most recent three full calendar years for 
which such data are available;
    * Quarterly data for the most recent year for which such data are 
partially available, and quarterly data for the same quarter(s) of the 
previous year (e.g. January-March 2011, April-June 2011 and January-
March 2010, April-June 2010).
    The requester must provide a complete listing of all sources from 
which the data were obtained and an affirmation that to the best of the 
requester's knowledge, the data represent substantially all of the 
domestic production of the like or directly competitive article(s) of 
U.S. origin. In such cases, data should be reported in the first unit 
of quantity in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 
(http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts ) for the Korean origin textile and/or 
apparel articles and the like or directly competitive articles of U.S. 
origin.
    D. Market Share Data. The following data, in quantity, on imports 
from Korea as a percentage of the domestic market (defined as the sum 
of domestic production of the like or directly competitive article and 
total imports of the subject article); on total imports as a percentage 
of the domestic market; and on domestic production of like or directly 
competitive articles as a percentage of the domestic market:
    * Annual data for the most recent three full calendar years for 
which such data are available;
    * Quarterly data for the most recent year for which such data are 
partially available, and quarterly data for the same quarter(s) for the 
previous year (e.g. January-March 2011, April-June 2011 and January-
March 2010, April-June 2010).
    E. Additional data showing serious damage or actual threat thereof. 
All data available to the requester showing changes in productivity, 
utilization of capacity, inventories, exports, wages, employment, 
domestic prices, profits, and investment, and any other information, 
relating to the existence of serious damage or actual threat thereof 
caused by imports from Korea to the industry producing the like or 
directly competitive article that is the subject of the request. To the 
extent that such information is not available, the requester should 
provide best estimates and the basis therefore:
    * Annual data for the most recent three full calendar years for 
which such data are available;
    * Quarterly data for the most recent year for which such data are 
partially available, and quarterly data for the same quarter(s) for the 
previous year (e.g. January-March 2011, April-June 2011 and January-
March 2010, April-June 2010).
    2. Consideration of Requests. Consistent with Section 331(b) of the 
Act, if the Committee determines that the request provides the 
information necessary for it to be considered, the Committee will cause 
to be published in the Federal Register a notice seeking public 
comments regarding the request, which will include a summary of the 
request and the date by which comments must be received. The Federal 
Register notice and the request, with the exception of information 
marked ``business confidential'', will be posted by the Department of 
Commerce's Office of Textiles and Apparel (``OTEXA'') on the Internet 
(http://otexa.ita.doc.gov). The comment period shall be 30 calendar 
days.
    If business confidential information is submitted, a non-
confidential version must also be provided, in which business 
confidential information is summarized or, if necessary, deleted. At 
the conclusion of all such comments, an interested party must attest 
that ``all information contained in the request is complete and 
accurate and no false claims, statements, or representations have been 
made.'' Comments received, with the exception of information marked 
``business confidential'', will also be on the Internet (http://otexa.ita.doc.gov) for review by the public. If a comment alleges that 
there is no serious damage or actual threat thereof, or that the 
subject imports are not the cause of the serious damage or actual 
threat thereof, the Committee will closely review any supporting 
information and documentation, such as information about domestic 
production or prices of like or directly competitive articles. The 
Committee will fully consider all requests, including those

[[Page 16000]]

submitted by entities that are not the actual producers of a like or 
directly competitive article, however the Committee will give 
particular consideration to comments representing the views of actual 
producers in the United States of a like or directly competitive 
article.
    Any interested party may submit information to rebut, clarify, or 
correct public comments submitted by any other interested party at any 
time prior to the deadline provided in this section for submission of 
such public comments. If public comments are submitted less than 10 
days before, or on, the applicable deadline for submission of such 
public comments, an interested party may submit information to rebut, 
clarify, or correct the public comments no later than 10 days after the 
applicable deadline for submission of public comments.
    With respect to any request considered by the Committee, the 
Committee will make a determination within 60 calendar days of the 
close of the comment period. If the Committee is unable to make a 
determination within 60 calendar days, it will cause to be published in 
a notice in the Federal Register, including the date by which it will 
make a determination. If the Committee makes a negative determination, 
it will cause this determination and the reasons therefore to be 
published in the Federal Register.
    3. Determination and Provision of Relief. The Committee shall 
determine whether, as a result of the reduction or elimination of a 
duty under the Agreement, a Korean textile or apparel article is being 
imported into the United States in such increased quantities, in 
absolute terms or relative to the domestic market for that article, and 
under such conditions as to cause serious damage, or actual threat 
thereof, to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or 
directly competitive with, the imported article. In making a 
determination, the Committee: (1) Shall examine the effect of increased 
imports on the domestic industry as reflected in such relevant economic 
factors as output, productivity, market share, exports, wages, 
employment, domestic prices, profits, and investment, none of which is 
necessarily decisive; and (2) shall not consider changes in technology 
or consumer preferences as factors supporting a determination of 
serious damage or actual threat thereof. The Committee, without delay, 
will provide written notice of its decision to the Government of Korea 
and will consult with said party upon its request.
    If a determination under this section is affirmative, the Committee 
may provide import tariff relief to a U.S. industry to the extent 
necessary to remedy or prevent the serious damage or actual threat 
thereof and to facilitate adjustment by the domestic industry to import 
competition. Such relief may consist of (a) suspension of any further 
reduction in the rate of duty provided for under Annex 2-B of the 
Agreement in the duty imposed on the article; or (b) an increase in 
duties to the lower of: (1) The NTR/MFN duty rate in place for the 
textile or apparel article at the time the relief is granted; or (2) 
the NTR/MFN duty rate for that article on the day before the Agreement 
enters into force.
    The import tariff relief is effective beginning on the date that 
the Committee's affirmative determination is published in the Federal 
Register. The maximum period of import tariff relief shall not exceed 
two years. However, the Committee may extend the period of import 
relief to the maximum four years if the Committee determines that the 
continuation is necessary to remedy or prevent serious damage or actual 
threat thereof and to facilitate adjustment by the domestic industry to 
import competition, and that the domestic industry is, in fact, making 
a positive adjustment to import competition. Import tariff relief may 
not be imposed for an aggregate period greater than four years. Import 
tariff relief may not be applied to the same article under these 
procedures if (1) relief previously has been granted with respect to 
that article under these provisions, or (2) the article is subject to 
relief under (A) Subtitle A of Title III of the Act, or (B) Chapter 1 
of Title III of the Trade Act of 1974.
    Authority to provide import tariff relief for a textile or apparel 
article from Korea that is being imported into the United States in 
such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to the 
domestic market for that article, and under such conditions as to cause 
serious damage or actual threat thereof to a U.S. industry producing a 
like or directly competitive article, will expire ten years after 
duties on the article are eliminated pursuant to this Agreement.
    4. Self Initiation. The Committee may, on its own initiative, 
consider whether imports of a textile or apparel article from Korea are 
being imported into the United States in such increased quantities, in 
absolute terms or relative to the domestic market for that article, and 
under such conditions as to cause serious damage or actual threat 
thereof to a U.S. industry producing a like or directly competitive 
article. In such considerations, the Committee will follow procedures 
consistent with those set forth in section 2 of this notice, including 
causing to be published in the Federal Register a notice seeking public 
comment regarding the action it is considering.
    5. Record Keeping and Business Confidential Information. OTEXA will 
maintain an official record for each request on behalf of the 
Committee. The official record will include all factual information, 
written argument, or other material developed by, presented to, or 
obtained by OTEXA regarding the request as well as other material 
provided to the Department of Commerce by other government agencies for 
inclusion in the official record. The official record will include 
Committee memoranda pertaining to the request, memoranda of Committee 
meetings, meetings between OTEXA staff and the public, determinations, 
and notices published in the Federal Register. The official record will 
contain material which is public, business confidential, privileged, 
and classified, but will not include pre-decisional inter-agency or 
intra-agency communications. If the Committee decides it is appropriate 
to consider materials submitted in an untimely manner, such materials 
will be maintained in the official record. Otherwise, such material 
will be returned to the submitter and will not be maintained as part of 
the official record. OTEXA will make the official record public except 
for business confidential information, privileged information, 
classified information, and other information the disclosure of which 
is prohibited by U.S. law. The public record will be made available for 
public inspection at the Office of Textiles and Apparel, Room 3100, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on business 
days.
    Information designated by the submitter as business confidential 
will normally be considered to be business confidential unless it is 
publicly available. The Committee will protect from disclosure any 
business confidential information that is marked ``business 
confidential'' to the full extent permitted by law. To the extent that 
business confidential information is provided, two copies of a non-
confidential version must also be provided, in which business 
confidential information is summarized or, if necessary, deleted. The 
Committee will make available to the public non-confidential versions 
of the request that is being considered, non-confidential versions of 
any public comments

[[Page 16001]]

received with respect to a request, and in the event consultations are 
requested, the statement of the reasons and justifications for the 
determination subsequent to the delivery of the statement to Korea.

Request for Comment on the Interim Procedures

    Comments must be received no later than April 18, 2012 and in the 
following format:
    (1) Comments must be in English.
    (2) Comments must be submitted electronically or in hard copy, with 
original signatures.
    (3) Comments submitted electronically, via email, must be either in 
PDF or Word format, and sent to the following email address: 
[email protected]. The email version of the comments must include 
an original electronic signature. Further, the comments must have a 
bolded heading stating ``Public Version'', and no business confidential 
information may be included. The email version of the comments will be 
posted for public review on the KOREA FTA Safeguard Web site.
    (4) Comments submitted in hard copy must include original 
signatures and must be mailed to the Chairman, Committee for the 
Implementation of Textile Agreements, Room 3100, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 
20230. All comments submitted in hard copy will be made available for 
public inspection at the Office of Textiles and Apparel, Room 3100, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on business 
days. In addition, comments submitted in hard copy will also be posted 
for public review on the KOREA FTA Safeguard Web site.
    (5) Any business confidential information upon which an interested 
person wishes to rely may only be included in a hard copy version of 
the comments. Brackets must be placed around all business confidential 
information. Comments containing business confidential information must 
have a bolded heading stating ``Confidential Version.'' Attachments 
considered business confidential information must have a heading 
stating ``Business Confidential Information''. The Committee will 
protect from disclosure any business confidential information that is 
marked ``Business Confidential Information'' to the full extent 
permitted by law.

Estimate of Burden to the Public for Collection of Information and 
Request for Public Comment

    CITA must collect information in order to determine whether a 
domestic textile or apparel industry is being adversely impacted by 
imports of these products from Korean, thereby allowing CITA to take 
corrective action to protect the viability of the domestic textile or 
apparel industry, subject to section 332(b) of the Act. This 
information collection is subject to review and approval by the Office 
of Management and Budget's (``OMB'') OMB under the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 (PRA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.
    OMB has approved under Control Number 0625-0269 the interim 
procedures requiring the collection of information under the emergency 
provisions of the PRA. In accordance with the PRA, CITA has estimated 
the ``burden'' (in number of hours) on the public to submit information 
required by CITA under its interim procedures. CITA hereby provides the 
public the opportunity to provide comment on its estimates of the 
burden on the public to submit information to CITA under the U.S.-Korea 
FTA textile and apparel safeguard mechanism.
    Estimate of Burden as a Result of Information Collection: Based on 
the number of Requests and Comments filed per year, and the average 
amount of time required to submit a Request and Response, CITA 
estimates that a total annual burden to the public is 56 hours per 
year. A further breakdown of its estimates of the number of hours to 
collect and provide information to CITA for Requests and Comments is 
provided in detail below.
    Requests: CITA estimates that 4 Requests will be filed per year 
under the U.S.-Korea FTA textile and apparel safeguard mechanism. Based 
on the following activities required to submit a request, CITA 
estimates that the total time to collect and present information in a 
Request is 4 hours, for a total of 16 hours per year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Time
                           Activity                             required
                                                                (hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preparing Request............................................          3
Preparing Supporting Documentation...........................          1
                                                              ----------
    Total Time per Request...................................          4
                                                              ----------
    Times 4 Request per Year.................................         16
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Comments: CITA estimates that 10 Comments will be filed per year in 
response to the Request under the U.S.-Korea FTA textile and apparel 
safeguard mechanism. Based on the following activities required to 
submit a comment, CITA estimates that the total time to collect and 
present information in a Comment is 4 hours, for a total of 40 hours 
per year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  Time
                           Activity                             required
                                                                (hours)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Preparing Comments...........................................          3
Preparing Supporting Documentation...........................          1
                                                              ----------
    Total Time per Comment...................................          4
                                                              ----------
    Times 10 Comments per Year...............................         40
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Combined, these three information collections represent an annual 
burden of 56 hours. Copies of the above estimate can be obtained by 
calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th & 
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 or via email at 
[email protected].
    Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, no person is 
required to respond to, nor shall any person be subject to a penalty 
for failure to comply with, a collection of information subject to the 
requirements of the PRA, unless that collection of information displays 
a currently valid OMB Control Number.

Kimberly Glas,
Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.
[FR Doc. 2012-6715 Filed 3-15-12; 4:15 pm]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P
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