[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 237 (Friday, December 10, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71781-71782]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27181]
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COMMITTEE FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEXTILE AGREEMENTS
Solicitation of Public Comments on Request for Textile and
Apparel Safeguard Action on Imports from China
December 6, 2004.
AGENCY: The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (the
Committee)
ACTION: Solicitation of public comments concerning a request for
safeguard action on imports from China of men's and boys' wool trousers
(Category 447).
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SUMMARY: The Committee has received a request from the National Council
of Textile Organizations, the National Textile Association, the
American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, SEAMS, and UNITE HERE!
(Requestors) asking the Committee to limit imports from China of men's
and boys' wool trousers in accordance with the textile
[[Page 71782]]
and apparel safeguard provision of the Working Party on the Accession
of China to the World Trade Organization (the Accession Agreement). The
Committee hereby solicits public comments on this request.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jay Dowling, Office of Textiles and
Apparel, U.S. Department of Commerce, (202) 482-4058.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Authority: Section 204 of the Agriculture Act of 1956, as
amended; Executive Order 11651, as amended.
Background
The textile and apparel safeguard provision of the Accession
Agreement provides for the United States and other members of the World
Trade Organization that believe imports of Chinese origin textile and
apparel products are, due to market disruption, threatening to impede
the orderly development of trade in these products to request
consultations with China with a view to easing or avoiding the
disruption. Pursuant to this provision, if the United States requests
consultations with China, it must, at the time of the request, provide
China with a detailed factual statement showing ``(1) the existence or
threat of market disruption; and (2) the role of products of Chinese
origin in that disruption.'' Beginning on the date that it receives
such a request, China must restrict its shipments to the United States
to a level no greater than 7.5 percent (6 percent for wool product
categories) above the amount entered during the first 12 months of the
most recent 14 months preceding the request. If exports from China
exceed that amount, the United States may enforce the restriction.
The Committee has published procedures (the Procedures) it follows
in considering requests for Accession Agreement textile and apparel
safeguard actions (68 FR 27787, May 21, 2003; 68 FR 49440, August 18,
2003), including the information that must be included in such requests
in order for the Committee to consider them.
On November 12, 2004, the Requestors asked the Committee to impose
an Accession Agreement textile and apparel safeguard action on imports
from China of men's and boys' wool trousers (Category 447) on the
ground that an anticipated increase in imports of men's and boys' wool
trousers after January 1, 2005, threatens to disrupt the U.S. market
for men's and boys' wool trousers. The request is available at http://otexa.ita.doc.gov/Safeguard_intro.htm. In light of the considerations
set forth in the Procedures, the Committee has determined that the
Requestors have provided the information necessary for the Committee to
consider the request.
The Committee is soliciting public comments on the request, in
particular with regard to whether there is a threat of disruption to
the U.S. market for men's and boys' wool trousers and, if so, the role
of Chinese-origin men's and boys' wool trousers in that disruption. To
this end, the Committee seeks relevant information addressing factors
such as the following, which may be relevant in the particular
circumstances of this case, involving a product under a quota that will
be removed on January 1, 2005: (1) Whether imports of men's and boys'
wool trousers from China are entering, or are expected to enter, the
United States at prices that are substantially below prices of the like
or directly competitive U.S. product, and whether those imports are
likely to have a significant depressing or suppressing effect on
domestic prices of the like or directly competitive U.S. product or are
likely to increase demand for further imports from China; (2) Whether
exports of Chinese-origin men's and boys' wool trousers to the United
States are likely to increase substantially and imminently (due to
existing unused production capacity, to capacity that can easily be
shifted from the production of other products to the production of
men's and boys' wool trousers, or to an imminent and substantial
increase in production capacity or investment in production capacity),
taking into account the availability of other markets to absorb any
additional exports; (3) Whether Chinese-origin men's and boys' wool
trousers that are presently sold in the Chinese market or in third-
country markets will be diverted to the U.S. market in the imminent
future (for example, due to more favorable pricing in the U.S. market
or to existing or imminent import restraints into third country
markets); (4) The level and the extent of any recent change in
inventories of men's and boys' wool trousers in China or in U.S. bonded
warehouses; (5) Whether conditions of the domestic industry of the like
or directly competitive product demonstrate that m!arket disruption is
likely (as may be evident from any anticipated factory closures or
decline in investment in the production of men's and boys' wool
trousers, and whether actual or anticipated imports of Chinese-origin
men's and boys' wool trousers are likely to affect the development and
production efforts of the U.S. men's and boys' wool trousers industry;
and (6) Whether U.S. managers, retailers, purchasers, importers, or
other market participants have recognized Chinese producers of men's
and boys' wool trousers as potential suppliers (for example, through
pre-qualification procedures or framework agreements).
Comments may be submitted by any interested person. Comments must
be received no later than January 10, 2005. Interested persons are
invited to submit ten copies of such comments to the Chairman,
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, Room 3001A,
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution Avenue N.W.,
Washington, DC 20230.
The Committee will protect any business confidential information
that is marked ``business confidential'' from disclosure to the full
extent permitted by law. To the extent that business confidential
information is provided, two copies of a non-confidential version must
also be provided in which business confidential information is
summarized or, if necessary, deleted. Comments received, with the
exception of information marked ``business confidential'', will be
available for inspection between Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m and 5:30 p.m
in the Trade Reference and Assistance Center Help Desk, Suite 800M, USA
Trade Information Center, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, (202) 482-3433.
The Committee will make a determination within 60 calendar days of
the close of the comment period as to whether the United States will
request consultations with China. If the Committee is unable to make a
determination within 60 calendar days, it will cause to be published a
notice in the Federal Register, including the date by which it will
make a determination. If the Committee makes a negative determination,
it will cause this determination and the reasons therefore to be
published in the Federal Register. If the Committee makes an
affirmative determination that imports of Chinese-origin men's and
boys' wool trousers threaten to disrupt the U.S. market, the United
States will request consultations with China with a view to easing or
avoiding the disruption.
James C. Leonard III,
Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements.
[FR Doc. 04-27181 Filed 12-9-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS