Executive Office of the President February 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On January 18, 2008, a public notice was published in the Federal Register on pages 3495-3496 requesting public comments by February 15, 2008, on whether each beneficiary country exporting certain hand-loomed carpets is taking steps to eliminate the worst forms of child labor, including the use of bonded child labor, in the production of certain carpets imported under the U.S. GSP program. The GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee has decided to extend the deadline to March 14, 2008, for receipt of public comments for this review.

This notice lists twenty-six counties designated as additions to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program by the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). These new counties are: Letcher County in Kentucky and Hamilton and Washington Counties in Tennessee as additions to the Appalachia HIDTA; Barrow, Bartow, Cherokee, Clayton, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth and Henry Counties in Georgia and Durham, Johnston, Wake, Wayne and Wilson Counties in North Carolina as additions to the Atlanta HIDTA; Shasta County, California as an addition to the Central Valley California HIDTA; Benton, Jefferson, Pulaski and Washington Counties in Arkansas as additions to the Gulf Coast HIDTA; Rock Island County, Illinois as an addition to the Midwest HIDTA; Chester and Delaware Counties in Pennsylvania as additions to the Philadelphia/Camden HIDTA; and Midland and Ector Counties in Texas as additions to the Southwest Border HIDTA West Texas Region. The new counties are designated pursuant to Office of National Drug Control Policy Reauthorization Act of 2006 codified at 21 USCS 1706 et seq, to promote more effective coordination of drug control efforts. In considering whether to designate an area under this section as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the Director considered, in addition to such other criteria the Director, ONDCP considers to be appropriate, the extent to which: (1) The area is a significant center of illegal drug production, manufacturing, importation, or distribution; (2) state and local law enforcement agencies have committed resources to respond to the drug trafficking problem in the area, thereby indicating a determination to respond aggressively to the problem; (3) drug-related activities in the area are having a significant harmful impact in the area, and in other areas of the country; and (4) a significant increase in allocation of Federal resources is necessary to respond adequately to drug-related activities in the area. This action will support local, state and Federal law enforcement officers in assessing regional drug threats, designing strategies to combat the threats, developing initiatives to implement the strategies, and evaluating the effectiveness of their coordinated efforts.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) seeks to negotiate an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement to strengthen international cooperation, enforcement practices, and participants' legal frameworks to address counterfeiting and piracy. USTR requests written comments from the public concerning specific matters that should be the focus of such an agreement.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is issuing a proposed rule to update its Freedom of Information Act regulations. USTR's last made changes to its FOIA regulations in 1975. Since that time the information relating to USTR has changed and there have been several changes to the Freedom of Information Act, which needed to be reflected in the regulations.

The Cost Accounting Standards Board (the Board), Office of Federal Procurement Policy, invites public comments on a staff discussion paper (SDP) addressing potential revisions to Cost Accounting Standard (CAS) 403, ``Allocation of Home Office Expenses to Segments.'' This SDP addresses whether the current thresholds that require use of the three factor formula for allocating residual home office expenses require revision.