Executive Office of the President 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to Section 205(b) of the Dominican RepublicCentral AmericaUnited States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the Act), the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of her determination that Guatemala is an eligible country for purposes of retroactive duty treatment as provided in Section 205 of the Act.

As required by the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (IG Act), this notice provides a list of Designated Federal Entities and Federal Entities.

The Federal Activities Inventory Reform (FAIR) Act, Public Law 105-270, requires agencies to develop inventories each year of activities performed by their employees that are not inherently governmentali.e., inventories of commercial activities. The FAIR Act further requires OMB to review the inventories in consultation with the agencies and publish a notice of public availability in the Federal Register after the consultation process is completed. In accordance with the FAIR Act, OMB is publishing this notice to announce the availability of inventories from the agencies listed below. These inventories identify both commercial activities and activities that are inherently governmental. Interested parties who disagree with an agency's initial judgment may challenge the inclusion or the omission of an activity on the list of activities that are not inherently governmental within 30 working days and, if not satisfied with this review, may appeal to a higher level within the agency. This is the second release of inventories for FY 2005. A notice of the first release of FY 2005 inventories was published in the Federal Register on March 14, 2006. See 71 FR 13188-13190. As indicated in OMB's March 2006 notice, the FY 2005 inventory prepared by the Department of Labor (DOL) was released in connection with the first notice of public availability. However, following the initial release of its inventory, DOL made a determination to reclassify certain activities. DOL is making the revisions to its inventory available pursuant to this notice. Since these reclassifications were not made in response to a challenge or appeal, they are considered to be an initial judgment of the agency. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy has made available a FAIR Act User's Guide through its Internet site: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ omb/procurement/fair-index.html. This User's Guide will help interested parties review FY 2005 FAIR Act inventories.

This notice announces the disposition of the product petitions accepted for review in the 2005 GSP Annual Product Review, the results of the 2005 Country Practices Review, the results of the 2005 De Minimis Waiver and Redesignation Reviews, the 2005 Competitive Need Limitation (CNL) removals, and certain previously-deferred country practice decisions.

This notice announces that the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will receive petitions in 2006 to modify the list of products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP program, and to modify the GSP status of certain GSP beneficiary developing countries because of country practices. This notice further determines that the deadline for submission of product petitions, other than those requesting competitive need limitation (CNL) waivers, and country practice petitions for the 2006 Annual GSP Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review is 5 p.m., July 20, 2006. The deadline for submission of product petitions requesting CNL waivers is 5 p.m., November 17, 2006. The list of product petitions and country practice petitions accepted for review will be announced in the Federal Register at later dates.

The Office of Management and Budget announces two meetings of the Acquisition Advisory Panel (AAP or ``Panel'') established in accordance with the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (``USTR'') is providing notice that on April 24, 2006, Thailand requested consultations with the United States under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (``WTO Agreement'') concerning certain issues relating to the imposition of antidumping measures on shrimp from Thailand. That request may be found at https:// www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS343/1. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.

The Office of Management and Budget is issuing this notice to cancel the May 31, 2006 public meeting of the Acquisition Advisory Panel (AAP or ``Panel'') established in accordance with the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003.

On March 27, 2006, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) renewed the charter of the Trade Advisory Committee on Africa (TACA), for a four-year term to expire on March 27, 2010. The TACA advises the USTR on trade and development policy matters with respect to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. There are currently opportunities for membership on this Committee.