1300 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 5 / Tuesday, January 8, 2013 / Notices 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Generalized System of Preferences 

(GSP): Request for Public Comments 

on the Possible Withdrawal, 

Suspension, or Limitation of GSP 

Benefits With Respect to Bangladesh 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice and solicitation of public 

comment. 

SUMMARY: As part of an ongoing country 

practice review, the GSP Subcommittee 

of the Trade Policy Staff Committee 

(TPSC) is considering whether to 

recommend that duty-free treatment 

accorded to imports from Bangladesh 

under the GSP program be withdrawn, 

suspended, or limited on the grounds 

that Bangladesh is not taking steps to 

afford to workers in Bangladesh 

internationally recognized worker 

rights, specifically the right of 

association and the right to organize and 

bargain collectively. The GSP 

Subcommittee is seeking public 

comments on the effect of a withdrawal, 

suspension, or limitation of GSP 

benefits on products imported into the 

United States from Bangladesh. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Contact Marin Weaver, Director for GSP, 

Office of the United States Trade 

Representative, 600 17th Street NW., 

Washington, DC 20508. The telephone 

number is (202) 395–9618 and the email 

address is Marin_Weaver@ustr.eop.gov. 

DATES: Final date for comments is 

January 31, 2013. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The GSP 

program is authorized pursuant to Title 

V of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended 

(19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.). The GSP 

program grants duty-free treatment to 

designated eligible articles that are 

imported from designated beneficiary 

developing countries. Once granted, 

GSP benefits may be withdrawn, 

suspended, or limited by the President 

with respect to any article or with 

respect to any country (19 U.S.C. 

2462(d)(1)). In making this 

determination, the President must 

consider several factors, one of which is 

whether a beneficiary country ‘‘has 

taken or is taking steps to afford to 

workers in that country (including any 

designated zone in that country) 

internationally recognized worker 

rights’’ (19 U.S.C. 2462(c)(7)). 

Bangladesh is a designated beneficiary 

developing country under the GSP 

program, as well as a least-developed 

beneficiary developing country. 

Possible Withdrawal, Suspension, or 

Limitation of GSP Benefits for 

Bangladesh 

In 2007, the GSP Subcommittee 

accepted for review a GSP country 

practice petition submitted by the AFL– 

CIO seeking the removal of GSP benefits 

for Bangladesh based on the country’s 

non-compliance with the GSP statutory 

eligibility criteria related to worker 

rights. The GSP Subcommittee held 

public hearings on the petition in 

October 2007, April 2009, and January 

2012, and also invited public comments 

on the petition on several occasions. 

The original petition and other 

information related to the review of 

Bangladesh are available for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov in 

docket USTR–2012–0036. 

Based on the most recent available 

information, including updated reports 

from the AFL–CIO, the GSP 

Subcommittee believes that the lack of 

progress by the government of 

Bangladesh in addressing worker rights 

issues in the country warrants 

consideration of possible withdrawal, 

suspension, or limitation of 

Bangladesh’s trade benefits under GSP. 

By statute, any change in Bangladesh’s 

trade benefits under GSP would require 

the President to make a determination. 

In 2011, U.S. imports from 

Bangladesh under GSP totaled $26.3 

million. Among the leading GSP 

imports from Bangladesh were tobacco 

products, sports equipment, china 

kitchenware, and plastic articles. A full 

list of U.S. imports from Bangladesh 

under GSP may be found in the 

www.regulations.gov docket cited above. 

Opportunity for Public Comment; 

Requirements for Submissions 

This notice invites public comments 

on the effect of a possible withdrawal, 

suspension, or limitation of GSP 

benefits on products imported into the 

United States from Bangladesh. The 

GSP Subcommittee may also convene a 

public hearing to receive testimony on 

this topic. If so, the date of that hearing 

and related instructions will be 

announced in the Federal Register. 

Requirements for Submissions 

All submissions in response to this 

notice must conform to the GSP 

regulations set forth at 15 CFR part 

2007, except as modified below. These 

regulations are available on the USTR 

Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/tradetopics/trade-development/preferenceprograms/generalized-systempreference-gsp/gsp-program-inf. 

All submissions in response to this 

notice must be submitted electronically 

via http://www.regulations.gov, using 

docket number USTR–2012–0036. 

Hand-delivered submissions will not be 

accepted. Submissions must be 

submitted in English to the Chairman of 

the GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC by 

the applicable deadlines set forth in this 

notice. To make a submission using 

http://www.regulations.gov, enter 

docket number USTR–2012–0036 in the 

‘‘Search for’’ field 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’’ in 

the ‘‘Filter Results by’’ section on the 

left side of the screen and click on the 

link entitled ‘‘Comment Now.’’ The 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site 

offers the option of providing comments 

by filling in a ‘‘Type Comment’’ field or 

by attaching a document using the 

‘‘Upload file(s)’’ field. The 

Subcommittee prefers that submissions 

be provided in an attached document. 

At the beginning of the submission, or 

on the first page (if an attachment), 

please note that the submission is in 

response to this Federal Register notice 

and provides comments on the possible 

withdrawal, suspension, or limitation of 

GSP benefits for Bangladesh. 

Submissions should not exceed 30 

single-spaced, standard letter-size pages 

in 12-point type, including attachments. 

Any data attachments to the submission 

should be included in the same file as 

the submission itself, and not as 

separate files. 

Each submitter will receive a 

submission tracking number upon 

completion of the submissions 

procedure at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. The tracking 

number will be the submitter’s 

confirmation that the submission was 

received into http:// 

www.regulations.gov. The confirmation 

should be kept for the submitter’s 

records. USTR is not able to provide 

technical assistance for the Web site. 

Documents not submitted in accordance 

with these instructions may not be 

considered in this review. If an 

interested party is unable to provide 

submissions as requested, please contact 

the GSP Program at USTR to arrange for 

an alternative method of transmission. 

Business Confidential Submissions 

An interested party requesting that 

information contained in a submission 

be treated as business confidential 

information must certify that such 

information is business confidential and 

would not customarily be released to 

the public by the submitter. 

Confidential business information must 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with 
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 5 / Tuesday, January 8, 2013 / Notices 1301 

be clearly designated as such. The 

submission must be marked ‘‘BUSINESS 

CONFIDENTIAL’’ at the top and bottom 

of the cover page and each succeeding 

page, and the submission should 

indicate, via brackets, the specific 

information that is confidential. 

Additionally, ‘‘Business Confidential’’ 

must be included in the ‘‘Type 

Comment’’ field. For any submission 

containing business confidential 

information, a non-confidential version 

must be submitted separately (i.e., not as 

part of the same submission with the 

confidential version), indicating where 

confidential information has been 

redacted. The non-confidential version 

will be placed in the docket and open 

to public inspection. 

William D. Jackson, 

Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative 

for the Generalized System of Preferences, 

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. 

[FR Doc. 2013–00067 Filed 1–7–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3290–F3–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Fiscal Year 2012 Public Transportation 

on Indian Reservations Program 

Project Selections 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 

ACTION: Tribal transit program 

announcement of project selections. 

SUMMARY: The US. Department of 

Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) announces the 

selection of projects with Fiscal Year 

(FY) 2012 appropriations for the Tribal 

Transit Program. A March 9, 2012 

Federal Register Notice (77 FR 14465) 

announced the availability of the 

funding for the program. The Surface 

and Air Transportation Programs 

Extension Act of 2011 authorizes 

approximately $15 million for federally 

recognized Indian Tribes or Alaska 

Native villages, groups, or communities 

as identified by the Bureau of Indian 

Affairs (BIA) in the U.S. Department of 

the Interior for public transportation. An 

additional $500,000 is available from 

prior years, bringing the total available 

to just over $15.5 million. The Tribal 

Transit Program supports capital 

projects, operating costs and planning 

activities that are eligible under the 

Formula Grants for Rural Areas Program 

(Section 5311). 

This is the final discretionary 

allocation for the Tribal Transit 

Program, which was first authorized 

under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, 

Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A 

Legacy for Users (SAFETEA–LU). The 

new authorizing legislation, Moving 

Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century 

Act (MAP–21), was signed into law by 

President Obama on July 6, 2012, and 

became effective on October 1, 2012. 

MAP–21 continues the Tribal Transit 

Program and authorizes $25 million for 

a formula allocation and $5 million for 

a discretionary allocation in each of 

fiscal years 2013 and 2014. On 

November 9, 2012, FTA published a 

Federal Register Notice (77FR 67439) 

regarding the Fiscal Year 2013 Public 

Transportation on Indian Reservations 

Program, which: (1) Introduces FTA’s 

consultation process and schedule for 

implementing changes due to MAP–21; 

(2) describes and seeks comment on the 

methodology for the formula allocation 

and the assumptions made to determine 

who is eligible for the formula program; 

(3) seeks comment on the terms and 

conditions for the formula and 

discretionary components of the 

program; (4) seeks comment on how the 

discretionary program should be 

allocated; and (5) announces two public 

meetings sponsored by FTA to consult 

with tribal governments regarding the 

Tribal Transit Program. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Successful applicants should contact 

the appropriate FTA Regional office 

(Appendix) for information regarding 

applying for the funds or programspecific information. A list of Regional 

offices can be found at www.fta.dot.gov. 

Unsuccessful applicants may contact 

Lorna Wilson, Office of Program 

Management at (202) 366–0893, email: 

Lorna.Wilson@dot.gov, to arrange a 

proposal debriefing within 30 days of 

this announcement. In the event the 

contact information provided by your 

tribe in the application has changed, 

please contact your regional tribal 

liaison with the current information in 

order to expedite the grant award 

process. For general Tribal Transit 

Discretionary Program information, 

contact Elan Flippin, Office of Transit 

Programs, at (202) 366–3800, email: 

Elan.Flippin@dot.gov. A TDD is 

available at 1–800–877–8339 (TDD/ 

FIRS). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A total of 

$15,514,495 million is available for the 

FY 2012 Tribal Transit program. A total 

of 107 applicants requested $53 million, 

indicating significant demand for funds 

for new transit services, enhancement or 

expansion of existing transit services, 

and planning studies including 

operational planning. Project proposals 

were evaluated based on each 

applicant’s responsiveness to the 

program evaluation criteria outlined in 

FTA’s March 9, 2012 Notice of Funding 

Availability. FTA also took into 

consideration the current status of 

previously funded applicants. A total of 

72 applications have been selected for 

funding. The projects selected as shown 

in Table 1 will provide funding for 

transit planning studies/and or 

operational planning, start-up projects 

for new transit service, and for the 

operational expenses of existing transit 

services. Grantees selected for 

competitive discretionary funding 

should work with their FTA regional 

office to finalize the grant application in 

FTA’s Transportation Electronic Awards 

Management System (TEAM) for the 

projects identified in the attached table 

and so that funds can be obligated 

expeditiously. FTA funds may only be 

used for eligible purposes defined under 

49 U.S.C 5311 and described in FTA 

Circular 9040.1F. In cases where the 

allocation amount is less than the 

proposer’s requested amount, grantees 

should work with the regional office to 

reduce scope or scale the project such 

that a completed phase or project is 

accomplished. A discretionary project 

identification number has been assigned 

to each project for tracking purposes 

and must be used in the TEAM 

application. The post award reporting 

requirements include submission of the 

Federal Financial Report (FFR), 

Milestone Report in TEAM, and 

National Transit Database reporting as 

appropriate (see FTA Circular 9040.1F). 

The grantee must comply with all 

applicable Federal statutes, regulations, 

executive orders, FTA circulars, and 

other Federal requirements in carrying 

out the project supported by the FTA 

grant. Funds allocated in this 

announcement must be obligated in a 

grant by September 30, 2015. 

Issued in Washington, DC, this 28th day of 

December, 2012. 

Peter M. Rogoff, 

Administrator. 

BILLING CODE P 


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