Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning the Annual Review of Country Eligibility for Benefits Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act for Calendar Year 2025, 42052-42054 [2024-10482]

Agencies

• Office of the United States Trade Representative

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 94 (Tuesday, May 14, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42052-42054]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-10482]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2024-0006]


Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning the 
Annual Review of Country Eligibility for Benefits Under the African 
Growth and Opportunity Act for Calendar Year 2025

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comments and notice of virtual public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is 
announcing the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of 
sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African 
Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee 
of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (AGOA TPSC Subcommittee) is 
requesting written public comments for this review and will conduct a 
virtual public hearing on this matter. In developing its 
recommendations on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2025, the 
AGOA TPSC Subcommittee will consider written comments, written 
testimony, and oral testimony.

DATES: 
    June 6, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for submission of pre 
hearing written comments, requests to testify, and written testimony, 
regarding the eligibility of countries to be designated as beneficiary 
sub-Saharan African countries.
    June 27, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EDT: The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee will 
convene a virtual public hearing to receive oral testimony related to 
sub-Saharan African countries' eligibility for AGOA benefits, via 
WebEx.
    July 11, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. EDT: Deadline for submission of post 
hearing written comments, briefs, supplementary materials, and written 
statements related to the virtual public hearing.

ADDRESSES: The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee strongly prefers electronic 
submissions made through the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov (Regulations.gov). Follow the instructions for 
submitting written comments and testimony and requests to testify in 
sections III and IV below, using Docket Number USTR-2024-0006. For 
alternatives to on-line submissions, please contact Jeremy Streatfeild, 
Director of African Affairs, Office of African Affairs, in advance of 
the relevant deadline at [email protected] or (202) 
395-8642.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeremy Streatfeild, Director of 
African Affairs, Office of African Affairs, at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-8642.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    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 beneficiaries 
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.) (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 AGOA benefits if 
he determines that the country meets the eligibility criteria set forth 
in section 104 of AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3703) and 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

[[Page 42053]]

progress toward establishing, among other things:

 a market-based economy
 the rule of law
 political pluralism
 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
 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. Section 
502 of the 1974 Act provides for country eligibility criteria under 
GSP. For a complete list of the AGOA eligibility criteria and a list of 
the GSP criteria, see section 104 of the AGOA and section 502 of the 
1974 Act.
    Section 506A of the 1974 Act requires the President to monitor and 
annually review the progress of each sub-Saharan African country in 
meeting the foregoing eligibility criteria in order to determine if a 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African country should continue to be eligible, 
and if a sub-Saharan African country that currently is not a 
beneficiary, should be designated as a beneficiary. If the President 
determines that a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country is not making 
continual progress in meeting the eligibility requirements, the 
President must terminate the designation of the country as a 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African country. The President also may 
withdraw, suspend or limit the application of duty-free treatment with 
respect to specific articles from a country if the President 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.
    For 2024, the President designated the following 32 countries as 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries:

1. Angola
2. Benin
3. Botswana
4. Cabo Verde
5. Chad
6. Comoros
7. Democratic Republic of Congo
8. Republic of Congo
9. Cote d'Ivoire
10. Djibouti
11. Eswatini
12. The Gambia
13. Ghana
14. Guinea-Bissau
15. Kenya
16. Lesotho
17. Liberia
18. Madagascar
19. Malawi
20. Mauritania
21. Mauritius
22. Mozambique
23. Namibia
24. Nigeria
25. Rwanda (AGOA apparel benefits suspended effective July 31, 2018)
26. Sao Tome & Principe
27. Senegal
28. Sierra Leone
29. South Africa
30. Tanzania
31. Togo
32. Zambia

    The President did not designate the following sub-Saharan African 
countries as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for 2024:

1. Burkina Faso
2. Burundi
3. Cameroon
4. Central African Republic
5. Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP)
6. Eritrea
7. Ethiopia
8. Gabon
9. Guinea
10. Mali
11. Niger
12. Seychelles (graduated from GSP)
13. Somalia
14. South Sudan
15. Sudan
16. Uganda
17. Zimbabwe

    The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee is requesting written public comments 
and will conduct a virtual public hearing for this review to develop 
recommendations in connection with the annual review of sub-Saharan 
African countries' eligibility for AGOA benefits. The Secretary of 
Labor may consider comments related to the child labor criteria to 
prepare the U.S. Department of Labor's report on child labor as 
required under section 504 of the 1974 Act.

II. Hearing Participation

    The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee will convene a virtual public hearing to 
receive oral testimony related to sub-Saharan African countries' 
eligibility for AGOA benefits via WebEx on Monday, June 27, 2024, 
beginning at 10:00 a.m. EDT. If you want to observe the public hearing, 
you will find a link on USTR's web page for sub-Saharan Africa on the 
day of the hearing at https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa.
    To ensure participation, you must submit requests to present oral 
testimony at the hearing and written testimony by midnight on June 6, 
2024, via Regulations.gov, using Docket Number USTR-2024-0006. 
Instructions for submission are in sections III and IV below. Remarks 
at the hearing will be limited to no more than five minutes to allow 
for possible questions from the AGOA TPSC Subcommittee. Because the 
hearing will be public, testimony should not include any business 
confidential information (BCI). USTR will provide a link in advance of 
the virtual hearing to persons who have submitted requests to testify.
    The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee requests small businesses (generally 
defined by the Small Business Administration as firms with fewer than 
500 employees) or organizations representing small business members 
that submit comments to self-identify as such, so that AGOA TPSC 
Subcommittee may be aware of issues of particular interest to small 
businesses.

III. Procedures for Written Submissions

    To be assured of consideration, submit your pre hearing written 
comments, requests to testify, and written testimony by the June 6, 
2024, 11:59 p.m. EDT deadline, and submit post hearing written comments 
by the July 11, 2024, 5:00 p.m. EDT deadline. All submission must be in 
English. The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee strongly encourages submissions via 
Regulations.gov, using Docket Number USTR-2024-0006.
    To make a submission via Regulations.gov, enter Docket Number USTR-
2024-0006 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 ``refine 
documents results'' section on the left side of the screen and click on 
the link entitled ``comment.''
    Regulations.gov allows users to make submissions by filling in a 
``type comment'' field or by attaching a document using the ``upload 
file'' field. The AGOA TPSC Subcommittee prefers that you provide 
submissions in an attached document and note ``see attached'' in the 
``comment'' field on the online submission form. The AGOA TPSC 
Subcommittee prefers submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe 
Acrobat (.pdf). If you use an application other than those two, please 
indicate the name of the application in the ``type comment'' field.
    At the beginning of your submission or on the first page (if an 
attachment), include the following text: (1) 2025 AGOA Eligibility 
Review; (2) the relevant country or countries; and (3) whether the 
submission is a comment,

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request to testify, or written testimony. Submissions should not exceed 
30 single-spaced, standard letter-size pages in 12-point type, 
including attachments. Please do not attach separate cover letters to 
electronic submissions; rather, include any information that might 
appear in a cover letter in the submission itself. Similarly, to the 
extent possible, please include any exhibits, annexes, or other 
attachments in the same file as the submission itself, not as separate 
files. You will receive a tracking number upon completion of the 
submission procedure at Regulations.gov. The tracking number is 
confirmation that Regulations.gov received your submission. Keep the 
confirmation for your records. USTR is not able to provide technical 
assistance for Regulations.gov.
    For further information on using Regulations.gov, please consult 
the resources provided on the website by clicking on ``How to Use 
Regulations.gov'' on the bottom of the home page. The AGOA TPSC 
Subcommittee may not consider submissions that you do not make in 
accordance with these instructions.
    If you are unable to provide submissions as requested, please 
contact Jeremy Streatfeild, Director of African Affairs, Office of 
African Affairs, in advance of the deadline at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-8642, to arrange for an 
alternative method of transmission. USTR will not accept hand-delivered 
submissions. General information concerning USTR is available at 
www.ustr.gov.

IV. Business Confidential Information (BCI) Submissions

    If you ask the AGOA TPSC Subcommittee to treat information you 
submit as BCI, you must certify that the information is business 
confidential and you would not customarily release it to the public. 
For any comments submitted electronically that contain BCI, the file 
name of the business confidential version should begin with the 
characters ``BCI.'' You must clearly mark any page containing BCI with 
``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top of that page. Filers of 
submissions containing BCI also must submit a public version of their 
submission that will be placed in the docket for public inspection. The 
file name of the public version should begin with the character ``P.''

V. Public Viewing of Review Submissions

    USTR will post written submissions in the docket for public 
inspection, except properly designated BCI. You can view submissions at 
Regulations.gov by entering Docket Number USTR-2024-XXXX in the search 
field on the home page.

Laura Buffo,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2024-10482 Filed 5-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3390-F4-P