37652 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 154 / Friday, August 11, 2017 / Notices 

1The Line is the same line as to which the Board 

granted PRC’s application for adverse abandonment 

against SMS in December 2014. See Paulsboro 

Refining Co.—Adverse Aban.—in Gloucester Cty., 

N.J., AB 1095 (Sub-No. 1) (STB served Dec. 2, 2014). 

That decision later was vacated at the parties’ joint 

request due to settlement. Paulsboro Refining Co.— 

Adverse Aban.—in Gloucester Cty., N.J., AB 1095 

(Sub-No. 1) (STB served June 19, 2015). 

2To qualify for the two-year out-of-service class 

exemption, a carrier must also certify that ‘‘no local 

traffic has moved over the line for at least 2 years,’’ 

49 CFR 1152.50(b). Here, SMS certifies that ‘‘no rail 

traffic has been transported by SMS over [the Line] 

. . . for at least two years.’’ (Notice, App. 1 at 1 

(emphasis added).) In light of the unique 

circumstances of this case (including, among other 

things, the recent adverse abandonment proceeding 

pertaining to the Line), the Board has waived 

1152.50(b) to the extent, if any, that SMS’s 

certification could be deemed not to meet the 

requirement of that regulation. SMS Rail Serv., 

Inc.—Aban. Exemption—in Gloucester Cty., N.J. 

(July Decision), AB 1095 (Sub-No. 2X), slip op. at 

1 (STB served July 13, 2017). 

3The Board will grant a stay if an informed 

decision on any environmental issues raised cannot 

be made before the exemption’s effective date. See 

Exemption of Out-of-Serv. Rail Lines, 5 I.C.C.2d 377 

(1989). Any request for a stay should be filed as 

soon as possible so that the Board may take 

appropriate action before the exemption’s effective 

date. 

4Each OFA must be accompanied by the filing 

fee, which is currently set at $1,700. See 49 CFR 

1002.2(f)(25). Effective September 1, 2017, the fee 

will become $1,800. See Regulations Governing 

Fees for Servs. Performed in Connection with 

Licensing & Related Servs.—2017 Update, EP 542 

(Sub-No. 25), slip op. App. C at 20 (STB served July 

28, 2017). 

County, N.J.1 The Line traverses United 

States Postal Service Zip Code 08066. 

SMS has certified that: (1) No 

overhead traffic has moved over the 

Line for at least two years and overhead 

traffic, if there were any, could be 

rerouted over other lines; (2) no formal 

complaint filed by a user of rail service 

on the Line (or by a state or local 

government entity acting on behalf of 

such user) regarding cessation of service 

over the Line either is pending with the 

Surface Transportation Board (Board) or 

with any U.S. District Court or has been 

decided in favor of a complainant 

within the two-year period; and (3) the 

requirements at 49 CFR 1105.7(c) 

(environmental report), 49 CFR 1105.11 

(transmittal letter), 49 CFR 1105.12 

(newspaper publication), and 49 CFR 

1152.50(d)(1) (notice to governmental 

agencies) have been met.2

As a condition to this exemption, any 

employee adversely affected by the 

abandonment shall be protected under 

Oregon Short Line Railroad— 

Abandonment Portion Goshen Branch 

Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & 

Bonneville Counties, Idaho, 360 I.C.C. 

91 (1979). To address whether this 

condition adequately protects affected 

employees, a petition for partial 

revocation under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d) 

must be filed. 

Provided no formal expression of 

intent to file an offer of financial 

assistance (OFA) has been received, this 

exemption will be effective on 

September 10, 2017, unless stayed 

pending reconsideration. Petitions to 

stay that do not involve environmental 

issues,3 formal expressions of intent to 

file an OFA under 49 CFR 

1152.27(c)(2),4 and interim trail use/rail 

banking requests under 49 CFR 1152.29 

must be filed by August 21, 2017. 

Petitions to reopen or requests for 

public use conditions under 49 CFR 

1152.28 must be filed by August 31, 

2017, with the Surface Transportation 

Board, 395 E Street SW., Washington, 

DC 20423–0001. 

A copy of any petition filed with the 

Board should be sent to Robert A. Klein, 

Berkowitz Klein, LLP, 629 B Swedesford 

Road, Swedesford Corporate Center, 

Malvern, PA 19355–1530. 

If the verified notice contains false or 

misleading information, the exemption 

is void ab initio. 

Combined environmental and historic 

reports that addressed the effects, if any, 

of abandonment of the Line on the 

environment and historic resources 

were prepared and submitted to the 

Board as part of PRC’s adverse 

abandonment application for the Line in 

Docket No. AB 1095 (Sub-No. 1). The 

Board’s Office of Environmental 

Analysis (OEA) issued an 

Environmental Assessment (EA) in that 

proceeding on February 12, 2014, 

concluding that the proposed 

abandonment would not significantly 

impact the quality of the human 

environment and recommending no 

environmental mitigation conditions. 

Following the public comment period, 

OEA issued a final EA in which it 

recommended no environmental 

mitigation conditions. In its decision 

granting PRC’s adverse abandonment 

application, the Board adopted OEA’s 

analysis and found that the proposed 

abandonment, if implemented, would 

not significantly affect the quality of the 

human environment and that no 

environmental conditions were needed. 

See Paulsboro Refining Co.—Adverse 

Aban.—in Gloucester Cty., N.J., AB 1095 

(Sub-No. 1), slip op. at 6 (STB served 

Dec. 2, 2014). In the July Decision, the 

Board found that the environmental 

review conducted in Docket No. AB 

1095 (Sub-No. 1) satisfies the agency’s 

obligations under the National 

Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 

4321, and the National Historic 

Preservation Act, 54 U.S.C. 300101 et 

seq., in this case and therefore waived 

the environmental and historic 

reporting requirements under 49 CFR 

1105.7 and 1105.8 for this proceeding. 

Public use or trail use/rail banking 

conditions will be imposed, where 

appropriate, in a subsequent decision. 

Pursuant to the provisions of 49 CFR 

1152.29(e)(2), SMS shall file a notice of 

consummation with the Board to signify 

that it has exercised the authority 

granted and fully abandoned the Line. If 

consummation has not been effected by 

SMS’s filing of a notice of 

consummation by August 13, 2017, and 

there are no legal or regulatory barriers 

to consummation, the authority to 

abandon will automatically expire. 

Board decisions and notices are 

available on our Web site at 

‘‘WWW.STB.GOV.’’ 

Decided: 

By the Board, Rachel D. Campbell, 

Director, Office of Proceedings. 

Kenyatta Clay, 

Clearance Clerk. 

[FR Doc. 2017–17007 Filed 8–10–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4915–01–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

[Docket Number USTR–2017–0014] 

Generalized System of Preferences 

(GSP): Initiation of the 2017 Annual 

GSP Product and Country Practices 

Review; Deadlines for Filing Petitions; 

Notice of Change in Country Practices 

Hearing 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice of public hearing and 

request for petitions and comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the United 

States Trade Representative (USTR) will 

consider petitions to modify the list of 

articles that are eligible for duty-free 

treatment under the Generalized System 

of Preferences (GSP) program, and to 

modify the GSP status of certain GSP 

beneficiary developing countries 

because of country practices. 

USTR is extending the previously 

announced hearing on Bolivia’s country 

practices to include a second day to 

provide interested parties with an 

opportunity to submit testimony on the 

following country practice petitions 

accepted in previous years that continue 

to be under review: Argentina, Ecuador, 

Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Thailand, 

Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. 

USTR will announce the procedures 

to receive petitions requesting waivers 

of competitive need limitations (CNLs) 

and the schedule for a public hearing on 

the product review petitions and any 


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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 154 / Friday, August 11, 2017 / Notices 37653 

new country practice petitions in the 

Federal Register at a later date. 

DATES:

September 12, 2017 at midnight EST: 

Deadline for submission of comments, 

pre-hearing briefs and requests to 

appear at the September 26–27, 2017, 

public hearing. 

September 26–27, 2017: The GSP 

Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff 

Committee (TPSC) will convene a 

public hearing on the GSP country 

practice review of Bolivia in Rooms 1 

and 2, 1724 F Street NW., Washington 

DC 20508, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The 

GSP Subcommittee is extending the 

hearing to September 27th to provide 

interested parties with an opportunity to 

submit testimony on all country practice 

petitions accepted in previous years that 

continue to be under review. Any 

interested party, including foreign 

governments, may submit testimony or 

ask to testify at the September 26–27, 

2017 country practices hearing. 

October 17, 2017 at midnight EST: 

Deadline for submission of post-hearing 

briefs. 

October 17, 2017 at midnight EST: 

Deadline for submission of petitions to 

modify the list of articles eligible for 

duty-free treatment under the GSP and 

new petitions to review the GSP status 

of any beneficiary developing country. 

USTR will announce decisions on the 

petitions accepted for review, a 

schedule for any related public 

hearings, and the opportunity to provide 

comments, at a later date. 

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers 

electronic submissions made through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https:// 

www.regulations.gov. The docket 

number for the 2017 Annual GSP 

Review is USTR–2017–0014. The 

current country practice case docket 

numbers are listed in section B.3 below. 

Follow the instructions for submitting 

comments in section C below. For 

alternatives to on-line submissions, 

please contact Naomi Freeman at (202) 

395–2974. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Naomi Freeman at (202) 395–2974 or 

GSP@ustr.eop.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

The GSP program provides for the 

duty-free treatment of designated 

articles when imported from beneficiary 

developing countries. The GSP program 

is authorized by Title V of the Trade Act 

of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.), as 

amended, and is implemented in 

accordance with Executive Order 11888 

of November 24, 1975, as modified by 

subsequent Executive Orders and 

Presidential Proclamations. 

B. The 2017 Annual GSP Review 

Petitions 

1. GSP Product Review Petitions 

Any interested party, including 

foreign governments, may submit 

petitions to: 

1. Designate additional articles as 

eligible for GSP benefits, if the articles 

are imported from countries designated 

as least-developed beneficiary 

developing countries, or as beneficiary 

sub-Saharan African countries under the 

African Growth and Opportunity Act 

(AGOA). 

2. Withdraw, suspend or limit the 

application of duty-free treatment 

accorded under the GSP with respect to 

any article. 

3. Otherwise modify GSP coverage. 

Petitioners seeking to add products to 

eligibility for GSP benefits should note 

that, as provided in section 503(b) of the 

Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2463(b)), certain 

articles may not be designated as 

eligible articles under GSP. As specified 

in 15 CFR 2007.1, all petitions must 

include a detailed description of the 

product and the eight-digit subheading 

of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

the United States (HTSUS) under which 

the product is classified. 

2. Country Practices Review Petitions 

Any interested party may submit a 

petition to review the GSP eligibility of 

any beneficiary developing country with 

respect to any of the designation criteria 

listed in sections 502(b) and 502(c) of 

the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2462(b) and 

(c)). 

3. Notice of Change to Country Practices 

Public Hearing 

The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC 

will hold a hearing on September 26–27, 

2017, for the following country practice 

cases: 

Country Basis for petition Petitioner Docket No. 

• Argentina ............... Request for GSP Benefits ........................... Argentina .................................................................... USTR–2016–0023 

• Bolivia .................... Worker Rights+Child Labor ......................... USTR ......................................................................... USTR–2017–0009 

• Ecuador ................. Arbitral Awards ............................................. Chevron Corporation .................................................. USTR–2013–0013 

• Georgia .................. Worker Rights .............................................. AFL–CIO .................................................................... USTR–2013–0009 

• Indonesia ............... Intellectual Property Rights .......................... International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) ...... USTR–2013–0011 

• Iraq ........................ Worker Rights .............................................. AFL–CIO .................................................................... USTR–2013–0004 

• Laos ....................... Request for GSP Benefits ........................... Laos ........................................................................... USTR–2013–0021 

• Thailand ................. Worker Rights .............................................. AFL–CIO .................................................................... USTR–2015–0018 

• Ukraine .................. Intellectual Property Rights .......................... IIPA ............................................................................ USTR–2013–0010 

• Uzbekistan ............. Worker Rights+Child Labor ......................... International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) ................... USTR–2013–0007 

• Uzbekistan ............. Intellectual Property Rights .......................... IIPA ............................................................................ USTR–2013–0014 

The hearing will be held in Rooms 1 

and 2, 1724 F Street NW., Washington 

DC 20508 and will be open to the public 

and to the press. We will make a 

transcript of the hearing available on 

https://www.regulations.gov within 

approximately two weeks after the date 

of the hearing. 

All interested parties wishing to make 

an oral presentation at the hearing must 

submit, following the ‘‘Requirements for 

Submissions’’ set out below, the name, 

address, telephone number, and email 

address, if available, of the witness(es) 

representing their organization by 

midnight on September 12, 2017. 

Requests to present oral testimony must 

be accompanied by a written brief or 

summary statement, in English. The 

GSP Subcommittee will limit oral 

testimony to five-minute presentations 

that summarize or supplement 

information contained in briefs or 

statements submitted for the record. The 

GSP Subcommittee will accept posthearing briefs or statements if they 

conform with the requirements set out 

below and are submitted, in English, by 

midnight on October 17, 2017. Parties 

not wishing to appear at the public 

hearing may submit pre-hearing and 

post-hearing briefs or comments by 

these deadlines. 

In order to be assured of 

consideration, you must submit all posthearing briefs or statements by the 

October 17, 2017 deadline to docket 

number USTR–2017–0014 via 

www.regulations.gov. However, if there 

are new developments or information 

that parties wish to share with the GSP 

Subcommittee after this date, the 


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37654 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 154 / Friday, August 11, 2017 / Notices 

regulations.gov docket will remain open 

until a final decision is made. Post all 

comments, letters, or other submissions 

related to country practice reviews to 

the appropriate docket listed above via 

www.regulations.gov. 

C. Requirements for Submissions 

All submissions in response to this 

notice must conform to the GSP 

regulations set forth at 15 CFR part 

2007—https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/ 

text-idx?SID=271bd12a5ef9cae0c4c178

d1131ac292&mc=true&node=

pt15.3.2007&rgn=div5—except as 

modified below. 

The GSP Subcommittee strongly 

encourages on-line submissions, using 

the https://www.regulations.gov Web 

site. All submissions must be in English 

and must be transmitted electronically 

via www.regulations.gov using docket 

number USTR–2017–0014 for the 2017 

GSP Annual Review (for products or 

new country practice petitions), and the 

docket numbers listed above for 

testimony at the country practice public 

hearing for current country practice 

cases. To make a submission via 

www.regulations.gov, enter the 

appropriate docket number 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 and click 

on the link entitled ‘‘Comment Now!’’ 

For further information on using the 

www.regulations.gov Web site, please 

consult the resources provided on the 

Web site by clicking on ‘‘How to Use 

Regulations.gov’’ on the bottom of the 

home page. 

USTR will not accept hand-delivered 

submissions. USTR will not accept 

submissions for review that do not 

provide the information required by 

sections 2007.0 and 2007.1 of the GSP 

regulations, except upon a detailed 

showing in the submission that the 

petitioner made a good faith effort to 

obtain the information required. 

The https://www.regulations.gov Web 

site allows users to provide comments 

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

by attaching a document using an 

‘‘Upload File’’ field. The GSP 

Subcommittee prefers that you provide 

submissions as an attached document. If 

you attach a document, it is sufficient to 

type ‘‘See attached’’ in the ‘‘Type 

Comment’’ field. USTR prefers 

submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or 

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. If the 

submission is in another file format, 

please indicate the name of the software 

application in the ‘‘Type Comment’’ 

field. At the beginning of the 

submission or on the first page (if an 

attachment), include the following text 

(in bold and underlined): (1) ‘‘2017 GSP 

Annual Review’’ and (2) the eight-digit 

HTSUS subheading number in which 

the product is classified (for product 

petitions) or the name of the country 

(for country practice or requests for new 

GSP country benefits petitions). 

Interested parties submitting petitions 

that request action with respect to 

specific products also should list at the 

beginning of the submission, or on the 

first page (if an attachment) the 

following information: (1) The requested 

action; and (2) if applicable, the 

beneficiary developing country. 

Submissions should not exceed 30 

single-spaced, standard letter-size pages 

in 12-point type, including attachments. 

Please do not attach separate cover 

letters or data attachments to electronic 

submissions; rather, include any such 

information in the comments 

themselves. Similarly, to the extent 

possible, please include any exhibits, 

annexes, or other attachments in the 

same file as the comment itself, rather 

than submitting them as separate files. 

For any electronic submissions that 

contain business confidential 

information, the file name of the 

business confidential version should 

begin with the characters ‘‘BC’’. Any 

page containing business confidential 

information must be clearly marked 

‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’ on the 

top of that page and the submission 

should clearly indicate, via brackets, 

highlighting, or other means, the 

specific information that is business 

confidential. A filer requesting business 

confidential treatment must certify that 

the information is business confidential 

and would not customarily be released 

to the public by the submitter. Filers of 

submissions containing business 

confidential information also must 

submit a public version of their 

comments that we will place in the 

docket for public inspection. The file 

name of the public version should begin 

with the character ‘‘P’’. The ‘‘BC’’ and 

‘‘P’’ should be followed by the name of 

the person or entity submitting the 

comments. Filers submitting comments 

containing no business confidential 

information should name their file using 

the name of the person or entity 

submitting the comments. 

You will receive a submission 

tracking number upon completion of the 

submissions procedure at https://

www.regulations.gov. The tracking 

number is your confirmation that the 

submission was received into https://

www.regulations.gov. The GSP 

Subcommittee is not able to provide 

technical assistance for the Web site. 

The GSP Subcommittee may not 

consider documents that are not 

submitted in accordance with these 

instructions 

As noted, the GSP Subcommittee 

strongly urges submitters to file 

comments through 

www.regulations.gov. You must make 

any alternative arrangements with 

Naomi Freeman in advance of 

transmitting a comment. You can 

contact Ms. Freeman at (202) 395–2974. 

We will post comments in the docket 

for public inspection, except business 

confidential information. You can view 

comments on the https://

www.regulations.gov Web site by 

entering the relevant docket number in 

the search field on the home page. 

Erland Herfindahl, 

Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative 

for the Generalized System of Preferences and 

Chair of the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade 

Policy Staff Committee Office of the U.S. 

Trade Representative. 

[FR Doc. 2017–16967 Filed 8–10–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3290–F7–P 


asabaliauskas on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with NOTICES