African Growth and Opportunity Act: Notice of Initiation of an Out-of-Cycle Review of South Africa Eligibility for Benefits; Scheduling of Hearing, and Request for Public Comments, 43156-43157 [2015-17772]
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43156
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 139 / Tuesday, July 21, 2015 / Notices
proposed Singly-Listed Option fees in
Section III with the proposed non-Penny
Pilot Option fees in Section II of the
Pricing Schedule, as well as with other
exchanges. Despite these proposed fee
and rebate changes, the Exchange’s
proposal will allow it to continue to
incentivize market participants to bring
liquidity to the Exchange, as described
herein.
The Exchange operates in a highly
competitive market, comprised of
twelve exchanges, in which market
participants can easily and readily
direct order flow to competing venues if
they deem fee levels at a particular
venue to be excessive or rebates to be
inadequate. Accordingly, the fees that
are assessed and the rebates paid by the
Exchange, as described in the proposal,
are influenced by these robust market
forces and therefore must remain
competitive with fees charged and
rebates paid by other venues and
therefore must continue to be reasonable
and equitably allocated to those
members that opt to direct orders to the
Exchange rather than competing venues.
The proposed fees are designed to
ensure a fair and reasonable use of
Exchange resources by allowing the
Exchange to recoup costs while
continuing to attract liquidity and offer
connectivity at competitive rates to
Exchange members and member
organizations.
asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s
Statement on Comments on the
Proposed Rule Change Received From
Members, Participants, or Others
No written comments were either
solicited or received.
III. Date of Effectiveness of the
Proposed Rule Change and Timing for
Commission Action
The foregoing rule change has become
effective pursuant to Section
19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act.34 At any time
within 60 days of the filing of the
proposed rule change, the Commission
summarily may temporarily suspend
such rule change if it appears to the
Commission that such action is
necessary or appropriate in the public
interest, for the protection of investors,
or otherwise in furtherance of the
purposes of the Act. If the Commission
takes such action, the Commission shall
institute proceedings to determine
whether the proposed rule should be
approved or disapproved.
IV. Solicitation of Comments
Interested persons are invited to
submit written data, views, and
34 15
arguments concerning the foregoing,
including whether the proposed rule
change is consistent with the Act.
Comments may be submitted by any of
the following methods:
Electronic Comments
• Use the Commission’s Internet
comment form (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml); or
• Send an email to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File
Number SR–Phlx–2015–61 on the
subject line.
• Send paper comments in triplicate
to Brent J. Fields, Secretary, Securities
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street
NE., Washington, DC 20549–1090.
All submissions should refer to File
Number SR–Phlx–2015–61. This file
number should be included on the
subject line if email is used. To help the
Commission process and review your
comments more efficiently, please use
only one method. The Commission will
post all comments on the Commission’s
Internet Web site (https://www.sec.gov/
rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the
submission, all subsequent
amendments, all written statements
with respect to the proposed rule
change that are filed with the
Commission, and all written
communications relating to the
proposed rule change between the
Commission and any person, other than
those that may be withheld from the
public in accordance with the
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be
available for Web site viewing and
printing in the Commission’s Public
Reference Room, 100 F Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20549, on official
business days between the hours of
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the
filing also will be available for
inspection and copying at the principal
office of the Exchange. All comments
received will be posted without change;
the Commission does not edit personal
identifying information from
submissions. You should submit only
information that you wish to make
available publicly. All submissions
should refer to File Number SR–Phlx–
2015–61 and should be submitted on or
before August 11, 2015.
For the Commission, by the Division of
Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated
authority.35
Robert W. Errett,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015–17754 Filed 7–20–15; 8:45 am]
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African Growth and Opportunity Act:
Notice of Initiation of an Out-of-Cycle
Review of South Africa Eligibility for
Benefits; Scheduling of Hearing, and
Request for Public Comments
Office of the United States
Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice of initiation of review;
notice of hearing and request for
comments.
AGENCY:
This notice announces the
initiation of an out-of-cycle review of
the eligibility of the Republic of South
Africa to receive the benefits of the
African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA), as required by the Trade
Preferences Extension Act of 2015
(TPEA). The AGOA Implementation
Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff
Committee (Subcommittee) is requesting
written public comments for this out-ofcycle review and will conduct a public
hearing on this matter. The
Subcommittee will consider the written
comments, written testimony, and oral
testimony in developing
recommendations for the President on
South Africa’s AGOA eligibility. This
notice identifies the eligibility criteria
under AGOA that will be considered in
the review.
DATES: August 5, 2015: Deadline for
filing requests to appear at the August
7 public hearing, and for filing prehearing briefs, statements, or comments
on the Republic of South Africa’s AGOA
eligibility.
August 7, 2015: AGOA
Implementation Subcommittee of the
TPSC will convene a public hearing on
the Republic of South Africa’s AGOA
eligibility.
August 12, 2015: Deadline for filing
post-hearing briefs, statements, or
comments on the Republic of South
Africa’s AGOA eligibility.
ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers
electronic submissions made at https://
www.regulations.gov, docket number
USTR–2015–0009. See ‘‘Requirements
for Submission,’’ below. If you are
unable to make a submission at
www.regulations.gov, please contact
Yvonne Jamison, Trade Policy Staff
Committee, at (202) 395–9666 to make
other arrangements.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
procedural questions, please contact
Yvonne Jamison, Office of the U.S.
Trade Representative, 600 17th Street
NW., Room F516, Washington, DC,
20508, at (202) 395–9666. All other
questions should be directed to Alan
Treat, Director, Office of African Affairs,
SUMMARY:
Paper Comments
U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii).
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
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asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 139 / Tuesday, July 21, 2015 / Notices
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative,
at (202) 395–1351.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: AGOA
(Title I of the Trade and Development
Act of 2000, Public Law 106–200) (19
U.S.C. 2466a et seq.), as amended,
authorizes the President to designate
sub-Saharan African countries as
beneficiary sub-Saharan African
countries eligible for duty-free treatment
for certain additional products not
included for duty-free treatment under
the Generalized System of Preferences
(GSP) (Title V of the Trade Act of 1974
(19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) (the ‘‘1974
Act’’)), as well as for the preferential
treatment for certain textile and apparel
articles.
The President may designate a
country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan
African country eligible for these
benefits of AGOA if he determines that
the country meets the eligibility criteria
set forth in: (1) section 104 of AGOA (19
U.S.C. 3703); and (2) section 502 of the
1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2462).
Section 104 of AGOA includes
requirements that the country has
established or is making continual
progress toward establishing, inter alia:
a market-based economy; the rule of
law, political pluralism, and the right to
due process; the elimination of barriers
to U.S. trade and investment; economic
policies to reduce poverty; a system to
combat corruption and bribery; and the
protection of internationally recognized
worker rights. In addition, the country
may not engage in activities that
undermine U.S. national security or
foreign policy interests or engage in
gross violations of internationally
recognized human rights. Please see
section 104 of AGOA and section 502 of
the 1974 Act for a complete list of the
AGOA eligibility criteria.
Recognizing that concerns have been
raised about the compliance with
section 104 of AGOA of certain
beneficiary sub-Saharan African
countries, Section 105(d)(4)(E) of the
TPEA (Pub. L. 114–27) requires the
President to initiate an out-of-cycle
review with respect to whether the
Republic of South Africa is meeting the
eligibility requirements set forth in
section 104 of AGOA and section 502 of
the 1974 Act, not later than 30 days after
the date of the enactment of the TPEA.
Section 506A of the 1974 Act requires
that, if the President determines that a
beneficiary sub-Saharan African country
is not making continual progress in
meeting the eligibility requirements, he
must terminate the designation of the
country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan
African country. As amended by TPEA,
the President may withdraw, suspend,
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17:58 Jul 20, 2015
Jkt 235001
or limit the application of duty-free
treatment with respect to articles from
the country if he determines that it
would be more effective in promoting
compliance with AGOA-eligibility
requirements than terminating the
designation of the country as a
beneficiary sub-Saharan African
country.
The Subcommittee is seeking public
comments in connection with this outof-cycle review of the Republic of South
Africa’s eligibility for AGOA’s benefits.
The Subcommittee will consider any
such comments in developing
recommendations to the President on
the Republic of South Africa’s
eligibility. Comments related to the
child labor criteria may also be
considered by the Secretary of Labor in
making the findings required under
section 504 of the 1974 Act.
Notice of Public Hearing
In addition to written comments from
the public on the matters listed above,
the Subcommittee of the TPSC will
convene a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. on
Friday, August 7, 2015, to receive
testimony related to South Africa’s
eligibility for AGOA’s benefits.
The hearing will be held at 1724 F
Street NW., Washington, DC 20508 and
will be open to the public and to the
press. A transcript of the hearing will be
made available on https://
www.regulations.gov within
approximately two weeks of the hearing.
All interested parties wishing to
present oral testimony 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 5 p.m., Wednesday,
August 5, 2015. Requests to present oral
testimony must be accompanied by a
written brief or summary statement and
also must be received by 5 p.m.,
Wednesday, August, 5, 2015. Oral
testimony before the Subcommittee will
be limited to five-minute presentations
that summarize or supplement
information contained in briefs or
statements submitted for the record.
Post-hearing briefs, statements, or
comments will be accepted if they
conform with the requirements set out
below and are submitted by 5 p.m.,
Tuesday, August 12, 2015. Parties not
wishing to appear at the public hearing
may submit pre-hearing and posthearing briefs or comments by the
aforementioned deadlines.
comments submitted in response to this
notice must be submitted electronically
by 5:00 p.m., August 5, 2015, using
www.regulations.gov, docket number
USTR–2015–0009. Instructions for
submitting business confidential
versions are provided below. Handdelivered submissions will not be
accepted. All written materials must be
submitted in English to the Chairman of
the AGOA Implementation
Subcommittee of the TPSC.
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
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.
Public Viewing of Review Submissions
Submissions in response to this
notice, except for information granted
‘‘business confidential’’ status under 15
CFR 2003.6, will be available for public
viewing pursuant to 15 CFR 2007.6 at
https://www.regulations.gov upon
completion of processing. Such
submissions may be viewed by entering
the country-specific docket number in
the search field at https://
www.regulations.gov.
Edward Gresser,
Acting Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 2015–17772 Filed 7–20–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290–F5–P
Requirements for Submissions
All written requests to appear at the
public hearing, briefs, statements, or
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 139 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43156-43157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-17772]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
African Growth and Opportunity Act: Notice of Initiation of an
Out-of-Cycle Review of South Africa Eligibility for Benefits;
Scheduling of Hearing, and Request for Public Comments
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice of initiation of review; notice of hearing and request
for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: This notice announces the initiation of an out-of-cycle review
of the eligibility of the Republic of South Africa to receive the
benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as required
by the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (TPEA). The AGOA
Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee
(Subcommittee) is requesting written public comments for this out-of-
cycle review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter. The
Subcommittee will consider the written comments, written testimony, and
oral testimony in developing recommendations for the President on South
Africa's AGOA eligibility. This notice identifies the eligibility
criteria under AGOA that will be considered in the review.
DATES: August 5, 2015: Deadline for filing requests to appear at the
August 7 public hearing, and for filing pre-hearing briefs, statements,
or comments on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA eligibility.
August 7, 2015: AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the TPSC will
convene a public hearing on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA
eligibility.
August 12, 2015: Deadline for filing post-hearing briefs,
statements, or comments on the Republic of South Africa's AGOA
eligibility.
ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made at https://www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0009. See ``Requirements
for Submission,'' below. If you are unable to make a submission at
www.regulations.gov, please contact Yvonne Jamison, Trade Policy Staff
Committee, at (202) 395-9666 to make other arrangements.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions, please
contact Yvonne Jamison, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600
17th Street NW., Room F516, Washington, DC, 20508, at (202) 395-9666.
All other questions should be directed to Alan Treat, Director, Office
of African Affairs,
[[Page 43157]]
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, at (202) 395-1351.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: AGOA (Title I of the Trade and Development
Act of 2000, Public Law 106-200) (19 U.S.C. 2466a et seq.), as amended,
authorizes the President to designate sub-Saharan African countries as
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries eligible for duty-free
treatment for certain additional products not included for duty-free
treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) (Title V of
the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) (the ``1974 Act'')), as
well as for the preferential treatment for certain textile and apparel
articles.
The President may designate a country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan
African country eligible for these benefits of AGOA if he determines
that the country meets the eligibility criteria set forth in: (1)
section 104 of AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3703); and (2) section 502 of the 1974
Act (19 U.S.C. 2462).
Section 104 of AGOA includes requirements that the country has
established or is making continual progress toward establishing, inter
alia: a market-based economy; the rule of law, political pluralism, and
the right to due process; the elimination of barriers to U.S. trade and
investment; economic policies to reduce poverty; a system to combat
corruption and bribery; and the protection of internationally
recognized worker rights. In addition, the country may not engage in
activities that undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy
interests or engage in gross violations of internationally recognized
human rights. Please see section 104 of AGOA and section 502 of the
1974 Act for a complete list of the AGOA eligibility criteria.
Recognizing that concerns have been raised about the compliance
with section 104 of AGOA of certain beneficiary sub-Saharan African
countries, Section 105(d)(4)(E) of the TPEA (Pub. L. 114-27) requires
the President to initiate an out-of-cycle review with respect to
whether the Republic of South Africa is meeting the eligibility
requirements set forth in section 104 of AGOA and section 502 of the
1974 Act, not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of the
TPEA.
Section 506A of the 1974 Act requires that, if the President
determines that a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country is not making
continual progress in meeting the eligibility requirements, he must
terminate the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan
African country. As amended by TPEA, the President may withdraw,
suspend, or limit the application of duty-free treatment with respect
to articles from the country if he determines that it would be more
effective in promoting compliance with AGOA-eligibility requirements
than terminating the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-
Saharan African country.
The Subcommittee is seeking public comments in connection with this
out-of-cycle review of the Republic of South Africa's eligibility for
AGOA's benefits. The Subcommittee will consider any such comments in
developing recommendations to the President on the Republic of South
Africa's eligibility. Comments related to the child labor criteria may
also be considered by the Secretary of Labor in making the findings
required under section 504 of the 1974 Act.
Notice of Public Hearing
In addition to written comments from the public on the matters
listed above, the Subcommittee of the TPSC will convene a public
hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, August 7, 2015, to receive testimony
related to South Africa's eligibility for AGOA's benefits.
The hearing will be held at 1724 F Street NW., Washington, DC 20508
and will be open to the public and to the press. A transcript of the
hearing will be made available on https://www.regulations.gov within
approximately two weeks of the hearing.
All interested parties wishing to present oral testimony 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 5
p.m., Wednesday, August 5, 2015. Requests to present oral testimony
must be accompanied by a written brief or summary statement and also
must be received by 5 p.m., Wednesday, August, 5, 2015. Oral testimony
before the Subcommittee will be limited to five-minute presentations
that summarize or supplement information contained in briefs or
statements submitted for the record. Post-hearing briefs, statements,
or comments will be accepted if they conform with the requirements set
out below and are submitted by 5 p.m., Tuesday, August 12, 2015.
Parties not wishing to appear at the public hearing may submit pre-
hearing and post-hearing briefs or comments by the aforementioned
deadlines.
Requirements for Submissions
All written requests to appear at the public hearing, briefs,
statements, or comments submitted in response to this notice must be
submitted electronically by 5:00 p.m., August 5, 2015, using
www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2015-0009. Instructions for
submitting business confidential versions are provided below. Hand-
delivered submissions will not be accepted. All written materials must
be submitted in English to the Chairman of the AGOA Implementation
Subcommittee of the TPSC.
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 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.
Public Viewing of Review Submissions
Submissions in response to this notice, except for information
granted ``business confidential'' status under 15 CFR 2003.6, will be
available for public viewing pursuant to 15 CFR 2007.6 at https://www.regulations.gov upon completion of processing. Such submissions may
be viewed by entering the country-specific docket number in the search
field at https://www.regulations.gov.
Edward Gresser,
Acting Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 2015-17772 Filed 7-20-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F5-P