Request for Petitions To Accelerate Tariff Elimination and Modify the Rules of Origin Under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement, 29355-29356 [E7-10150]
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 101 / Friday, May 25, 2007 / Notices
Kathy Plowitz-Worden, Office of
Guidelines & Panel Operations, National
Endowment for the Arts, Washington,
DC, 20506, or call 202/682–5691.
Dated: May 21, 2007
Kathy Plowitz-Worden,
Panel Coordinator, Panel Operations,
National Endowment for the Arts.
[FR Doc. E7–10079 Filed 5–24–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7537–01–P
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRADE
REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Petitions To Accelerate
Tariff Elimination and Modify the Rules
of Origin Under the U.S.-Chile Free
Trade Agreement
Office of the United States
Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice of opportunity to file
petitions requesting accelerated tariff
elimination and changes to the rules of
origin under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade
Agreement (‘‘the Agreement’’ or
‘‘USCFTA’’).
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This notice solicits petitions
requesting accelerated tariff elimination
under the USCFTA and describes the
procedures for filing petitions. This
notice also solicits proposals on
appropriate changes that USTR should
consider for liberalizing the USCFTA’s
rules of origin.
DATES: Public comments are due at
USTR by close of business, July 20,
2007.
Submissions by electronic
mail: FR0712@ustr.eop.gov.
Submissions by facsimile: Kent
Shigetomi, Office of the Americas, at
(202) 395–9675. USTR strongly
encourages the public to submit
documents electronically rather than by
facsimile. See requirements for
submissions below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent
Shigetomi, Office of the Americas,
Office of the United States Trade
Representative, Room 523, 600 17th
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508;
telephone: (202) 395–3412; facsimile:
(202) 395–9675; e-mail:
FR0712@ustr.eop.gov.
ADDRESSES:
On
December 5, 2005, the U.S-Chile Free
Trade Commission (‘‘FTC’’ or ‘‘the
Commission’’), the bilateral body
responsible for supervising the
implementation of the USCFTA,
decided to launch negotiations to
accelerate the elimination of tariffs
under the Agreement. Article 3.3(4) of
the USCFTA provides that Parties may
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
17:34 May 24, 2007
Jkt 211001
agree to accelerate the elimination of
customs duties set out in their tariff
schedules. Section 201(b) of the U.S.Chile Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act (‘‘the FTA Act’’ or
‘‘the Act’’) authorizes the President to
proclaim modifications in the staging of
duty treatment set out in the Agreement,
subject to the Act’s consultation and
layover requirements.
Further, on January 24, 2007, the
Commission agreed to consider
liberalizing the rules of origin
established in the Agreement,
particularly in light of more recent free
trade agreements. The USCFTA requires
each government to provide preferential
tariff treatment to goods that meet the
Agreement’s origin rules. In the United
States, those rules are implemented
through the FTA Act. Under the Act,
goods imported into the United States
qualify for preferential treatment if they
meet the requirements of the general
USCFTA rules of origin set out in
section 202 of the Act and the USCFTA
product-specific rules set out in the
HTS. The Agreement allows the Parties
to amend the Agreement’s origin rules
as they deem appropriate. Section
202(o)(2) of the USCFTA Act authorizes
the President to proclaim modifications
to the USCFTA’s product-specific origin
rules set forth in the HTS, subject to the
consultation and layover provisions of
section 103(a) of the Act.
Additional Information
The United States and Chile have not
yet decided whether to accelerate the
elimination of tariffs or to make further
changes to the Agreement’s rules of
origin and, if such changes were made,
what the scope or extent of such
changes should be. The United States
and Chile expect to take into account
several factors in considering whether to
make such changes, including (1) the
extent that any such changes may
reduce transaction and manufacturing
costs or increase trade between Chile
and the United States; (2) the feasibility
of devising, implementing, and
monitoring new rules of origin; and (3)
the level and breadth of interest that
manufacturers, processors, traders, and
consumers in the United States and
Chile express for making particular
changes. The United States and Chile
expect to make only those changes that
are broadly supported by stakeholders
in both countries.
Requirements for Comments/Proposals
Submitters should indicate whether
they have discussed their proposals
with representatives of the relevant
sector in Chile and, if such discussions
have taken place, what the result of
PO 00000
Frm 00063
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
29355
those discussions was. Submissions
should indicate if representatives of the
relevant sector in Chile do not support
the proposal. USTR encourages
interested parties to consider submitting
proposals jointly with interested parties
in Chile.
Scope and Coverage of Proposals:
USTR encourages interested parties to
review the broadest appropriate range of
items and to submit proposals that
reflect a consensus reached after such a
broad-based review. A single proposal
can thus include requests covering
multiple tariff headings. Proposals
should cover entire 8-digit tariff
subheadings, and may also be submitted
at the 6, 4, or 2 digit level where the
intent is to cover all subsidiary duties.
Requirements for Submissions: In
order to facilitate prompt processing of
submissions, USTR strongly urges and
prefers electronic (e-mail) submissions
in response to this notice. In the event
that an interested party cannot make a
submission by e-mail, it should send the
submission by facsimile. Facsimile
submissions should not exceed 20
pages.
E-mail submissions should be single
copy transmissions in English, and use
the appropriate subject line, ‘‘Chile FTA
Tariff Acceleration,’’ ‘‘Chile FTA Rules
of Origin,’’ or both, depending on the
nature of the submission. Documents
should be submitted as WordPerfect
(‘‘.WPD’’), MS Word (‘‘.DOC’’), or text
(‘‘.TXT’’) files. Documents should not be
submitted as electronic image files or
contain embedded images (for example,
‘‘.JPG’’, ‘‘.TIF’’, ‘‘.PDF’’, ‘‘.BMP’’, or
‘‘.GIF’’) as these files are often
excessively large. Supporting
documentation submitted as
spreadsheets are acceptable in
QuattroPro or Excel, pre-formatted for
printing on 81⁄2 x 11 inch paper. To the
extent possible, an interested party
should include any data attachments to
the submission in the same file as the
submission itself, and not as separate
files. E-mail submissions should not
include separate cover letters or
messages in the body of the e-mail. An
interested party should include
information that might appear in a cover
letter directly in the attached file
containing the submission itself,
including the identity of the submitter
and the submitter’s e-mail address.
Petitions will be available for public
inspection by appointment with the
staff of the USTR Public Reading Room,
except for information granted
‘‘business confidential’’ status pursuant
to 15 CFR 2003.6. If the submission
contains business confidential
information, the submitter must provide
a non-confidential version of the
E:\FR\FM\25MYN1.SGM
25MYN1
29356
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 101 / Friday, May 25, 2007 / Notices
submission that indicates where
confidential information was redacted
by inserting asterisks where material
was deleted. In addition, the submitter
must mark the confidential submission
as ‘‘Business Confidential’’ in large,
bold letters at the top and bottom of
every page of the document. The
submitter must clearly mark the public
version that does not contain business
confidential information as either
‘‘Public Version’’ or ‘‘Non-Confidential’’
in large, bold letters at the top and
bottom of every page. The file name of
any documents containing business
confidential information attached to an
e-mail transmission should begin with
the characters ‘‘BC-’’. The file name of
the public version should begin with the
characters ‘‘P-’’. The ‘‘P-’’ or ‘‘BC-’’
should be followed by the name of the
person or party submitting the petition.
Submissions by e-mail should not
include separate cover letters or
messages in the message area of the email; information that might appear in
any cover letter should be included
directly in the submission. The e-mail
address for submissions is
FR0712@ustr.eop.gov. USTR shall make
available for review public versions of
all documents relating to this review
shortly after the due date by
appointment in the USTR Public
Reading Room, 1724 F Street, NW.,
Washington, DC. Availability of
documents may be ascertained and
appointments may be made from 9:30
a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, by calling (202)
395–6186.
Everett Eissenstat,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the
Americas.
[FR Doc. E7–10150 Filed 5–24–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190–W7–P
PEACE CORPS
Proposed Information Collection
Requests
Peace Corps.
Notice of public use form
review request to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
AGENCY:
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
ACTION:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Paperwork
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C., chapter 3501
et seq.), the Peace Corps has submitted
to the Office of Management and Budget
a request for renewal of information
collections, OMB Control Number
0420–0529, the Peace Corps Week
Brochure Registration Form (formerly
called the Peace Corps Day Brochure
Registration Form). The purpose of this
VerDate Aug<31>2005
17:34 May 24, 2007
Jkt 211001
notice is to allow for public comments
on whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
Peace Corps, including whether their
information will have practical use; the
accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the
burden of the proposed collections
information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used;
ways to enhance the quality, utility and
the clarify of the information to be
collected; and, ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on those who are to respond, including
through the use of automated collection
techniques, when appropriate, and other
forms of information technology. A copy
of the information collection may be
obtained from Vivian Nguyen, Office of
Domestic Programs, Peace Corps, 1111
20th Street, NW., Room 2121,
Washington, DC 20526. Ms. Nguyen
may be contacted by telephone at 202–
692–1462 or 800–424–8580, Peace
Corps Headquarters, ext. 1462, or e-mail
at vnguyen@peacecorps.gov. Comments
on the form should also be addressed to
the attention of Ms. Nguyen and should
be received on or before July 24, 2007.
Information Collection Abstract
Title: Peace Corps Week Brochure
Registration Form.
Need For and Use of This
Information: This collection of
information is necessary because the
Peace Corps’ Office of Domestic
Programs builds awareness of the
continuing benefits that former
Volunteers bring back to the United
States after their service through its
Coverdell World Wise Schools program,
the Fellows/USA graduate fellowship
program, Returned Volunteers Services
program, and through the Peace Corps
Week program. The Peace Corps Week
program is in support of the third goal
of the Peace Corps. For more than 13
years, programs and publications have
aimed to harness the cross-cultural
experiences of returned Peace Corps
Volunteers (RPCVs) to foster better
global understanding among Americans,
and particularly students, throughout
the United States.
The information is used by the Office
of Domestic Programs to send
presentation and education materials to
RPCVs, which enhances the quality of
the presentations carried out by RPCVs
to people in their home communities.
Information is also used by Public
Affairs Specialists to promote Peace
Corps Week regionally, broadly raising
awareness for the Peace Corps and
augmenting recruiting efforts. Parents of
currently serving Volunteers may also
PO 00000
Frm 00064
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
receive Peace Corps Week presentation
kits.
Respondents: Returned Peace Corps
Volunteers.
Respondents Obligation to Reply:
Voluntary.
Burden on the Public:
a. Annual reporting burden: 500
hours.
b. Annual record keeping burden: 0.
c. Estimated average burden per
response: 3 minutes.
d. Frequency of response: one time.
e. Estimated number of likely
respondents: 10,000.
f. Estimated cost to respondents:
$1.15.
Responses will be returned by
postage-paid business reply card, fax, email, and downloaded from the Peace
Corps Week Web site
(www.peacecorps.gov).
Dated: May 18, 2007.
Wilbert Bryant,
Associate Director for Management.
[FR Doc. 07–2601 Filed 5–24–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6051–01–M
PEACE CORPS
Proposed Information Collection
Requests
Peace Corps.
Notice to re-new public use
form review request to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB Control
Number 0420–001).
AGENCY:
ACTION:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1981 (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35), the Peace Corps has
submitted to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) a request to approve
the re-newel of a information collection,
OMB Control Number 0420–0001, the
National Agency Check (NAC)
Questionnaire for Peace Corps
Volunteer Background Investigation.
This is a renewal of an active
information collection. The purpose of
this information collection is necessary
to perform a background investigation of
people in the Peace Corps Volunteer
programs. The Peace Corps Volunteer
Background Investigation is used to
obtain information from Federal sources
about Peace Corps applicants who meet
the minimum qualifications for service
and have been invited to train for
specific programs in host countries
overseas. Information provided by the
investigation will be used by the Peace
Corps’ Office of Placement in order to
make a final determination as to an
applicant’s/trainee’s suitability for
service. The purpose of this notice is to
allow for public comment on whether
E:\FR\FM\25MYN1.SGM
25MYN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 101 (Friday, May 25, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29355-29356]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-10150]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Petitions To Accelerate Tariff Elimination and Modify
the Rules of Origin Under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice of opportunity to file petitions requesting accelerated
tariff elimination and changes to the rules of origin under the U.S.-
Chile Free Trade Agreement (``the Agreement'' or ``USCFTA'').
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice solicits petitions requesting accelerated tariff
elimination under the USCFTA and describes the procedures for filing
petitions. This notice also solicits proposals on appropriate changes
that USTR should consider for liberalizing the USCFTA's rules of
origin.
DATES: Public comments are due at USTR by close of business, July 20,
2007.
ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: FR0712@ustr.eop.gov.
Submissions by facsimile: Kent Shigetomi, Office of the Americas, at
(202) 395-9675. USTR strongly encourages the public to submit documents
electronically rather than by facsimile. See requirements for
submissions below.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kent Shigetomi, Office of the
Americas, Office of the United States Trade Representative, Room 523,
600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508; telephone: (202) 395-3412;
facsimile: (202) 395-9675; e-mail: FR0712@ustr.eop.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 5, 2005, the U.S-Chile Free
Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``the Commission''), the bilateral body
responsible for supervising the implementation of the USCFTA, decided
to launch negotiations to accelerate the elimination of tariffs under
the Agreement. Article 3.3(4) of the USCFTA provides that Parties may
agree to accelerate the elimination of customs duties set out in their
tariff schedules. Section 201(b) of the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act (``the FTA Act'' or ``the Act'') authorizes the
President to proclaim modifications in the staging of duty treatment
set out in the Agreement, subject to the Act's consultation and layover
requirements.
Further, on January 24, 2007, the Commission agreed to consider
liberalizing the rules of origin established in the Agreement,
particularly in light of more recent free trade agreements. The USCFTA
requires each government to provide preferential tariff treatment to
goods that meet the Agreement's origin rules. In the United States,
those rules are implemented through the FTA Act. Under the Act, goods
imported into the United States qualify for preferential treatment if
they meet the requirements of the general USCFTA rules of origin set
out in section 202 of the Act and the USCFTA product-specific rules set
out in the HTS. The Agreement allows the Parties to amend the
Agreement's origin rules as they deem appropriate. Section 202(o)(2) of
the USCFTA Act authorizes the President to proclaim modifications to
the USCFTA's product-specific origin rules set forth in the HTS,
subject to the consultation and layover provisions of section 103(a) of
the Act.
Additional Information
The United States and Chile have not yet decided whether to
accelerate the elimination of tariffs or to make further changes to the
Agreement's rules of origin and, if such changes were made, what the
scope or extent of such changes should be. The United States and Chile
expect to take into account several factors in considering whether to
make such changes, including (1) the extent that any such changes may
reduce transaction and manufacturing costs or increase trade between
Chile and the United States; (2) the feasibility of devising,
implementing, and monitoring new rules of origin; and (3) the level and
breadth of interest that manufacturers, processors, traders, and
consumers in the United States and Chile express for making particular
changes. The United States and Chile expect to make only those changes
that are broadly supported by stakeholders in both countries.
Requirements for Comments/Proposals
Submitters should indicate whether they have discussed their
proposals with representatives of the relevant sector in Chile and, if
such discussions have taken place, what the result of those discussions
was. Submissions should indicate if representatives of the relevant
sector in Chile do not support the proposal. USTR encourages interested
parties to consider submitting proposals jointly with interested
parties in Chile.
Scope and Coverage of Proposals: USTR encourages interested parties
to review the broadest appropriate range of items and to submit
proposals that reflect a consensus reached after such a broad-based
review. A single proposal can thus include requests covering multiple
tariff headings. Proposals should cover entire 8-digit tariff
subheadings, and may also be submitted at the 6, 4, or 2 digit level
where the intent is to cover all subsidiary duties.
Requirements for Submissions: In order to facilitate prompt
processing of submissions, USTR strongly urges and prefers electronic
(e-mail) submissions in response to this notice. In the event that an
interested party cannot make a submission by e-mail, it should send the
submission by facsimile. Facsimile submissions should not exceed 20
pages.
E-mail submissions should be single copy transmissions in English,
and use the appropriate subject line, ``Chile FTA Tariff
Acceleration,'' ``Chile FTA Rules of Origin,'' or both, depending on
the nature of the submission. Documents should be submitted as
WordPerfect (``.WPD''), MS Word (``.DOC''), or text (``.TXT'') files.
Documents should not be submitted as electronic image files or contain
embedded images (for example, ``.JPG'', ``.TIF'', ``.PDF'', ``.BMP'',
or ``.GIF'') as these files are often excessively large. Supporting
documentation submitted as spreadsheets are acceptable in QuattroPro or
Excel, pre-formatted for printing on 8\1/2\ x 11 inch paper. To the
extent possible, an interested party should include any data
attachments to the submission in the same file as the submission
itself, and not as separate files. E-mail submissions should not
include separate cover letters or messages in the body of the e-mail.
An interested party should include information that might appear in a
cover letter directly in the attached file containing the submission
itself, including the identity of the submitter and the submitter's e-
mail address.
Petitions will be available for public inspection by appointment
with the staff of the USTR Public Reading Room, except for information
granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.6. If
the submission contains business confidential information, the
submitter must provide a non-confidential version of the
[[Page 29356]]
submission that indicates where confidential information was redacted
by inserting asterisks where material was deleted. In addition, the
submitter must mark the confidential submission as ``Business
Confidential'' in large, bold letters at the top and bottom of every
page of the document. The submitter must clearly mark the public
version that does not contain business confidential information as
either ``Public Version'' or ``Non-Confidential'' in large, bold
letters at the top and bottom of every page. The file name of any
documents containing business confidential information attached to an
e-mail transmission should begin with the characters ``BC-''. The file
name of the public version should begin with the characters ``P-''. The
``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be followed by the name of the person or party
submitting the petition. Submissions by e-mail should not include
separate cover letters or messages in the message area of the e-mail;
information that might appear in any cover letter should be included
directly in the submission. The e-mail address for submissions is
FR0712@ustr.eop.gov. USTR shall make available for review public
versions of all documents relating to this review shortly after the due
date by appointment in the USTR Public Reading Room, 1724 F Street,
NW., Washington, DC. Availability of documents may be ascertained and
appointments may be made from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, by calling (202) 395-6186.
Everett Eissenstat,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for the Americas.
[FR Doc. E7-10150 Filed 5-24-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W7-P
