The emergency clearance request is granted in order to fulfill President ObamaÂs Proclamation 8783 of March 6, 2012, ÂTo Implement the United States-Korea Free Trade AgreementÂ, which is effective immediately; while also giving the public an opportunity to comment on the Department of CommerceÂs (DOC) interim procedures for considering requests under the Commercial Availability Provision of the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
table that charts list comparision
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
09/30/2012
6 Months From Approved
16
0
0
89
0
0
0
0
0
The President signed Proclamation No. 8783 on March 6, 2012 to honor its international obligations under the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act ('the Act').
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) of the International Trade Administration (ITA) must collect information in order to determine whether a domestic textile or apparel industry is being adversely impacted by imports of these products from Korea, thereby allowing CITA to take corrective action to protect the viability of the domestic textile and apparel industry, subject to section 332(b) of the Act.
The United States and Korea negotiated the US-Korea Free Trade Agreement
("the Agreement"), which was implemented into U.S. law pursuant to the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act ("the Act"). The Agreement entered into force on March 15, 2012. Under the provisions of the Act, textile and apparel goods must contain fibers, yarns, and fabrics produced in Korea or the United States to receive duty-free tariff treatment. The Agreement also provides for the establishment of a list of specific fibers, yarns, and fabrics that are not available in commercial quantities in a timely manner from producers in the United States. Articles containing these commercially unavailable fibers, yarns, and fabrics are also entitled to duty-free or preferential duty treatment despite not being produced in the United States. Thus, as mandated by the US-KOREA FTA, and the reason for this emergency review request, these procedures need to be published as soon as possible after March 15, 2012. The publication of the procedures will allow the U.S. to honor its international obligations and address the litigation risk it may face by not publishing these procedures as soon as possible.
The list of commercially unavailable fabrics, yarns, and fibers may be changed pursuant to the commercial availability provision of the Agreement and the Act. Under Section 202(o) of the Act ("the commercial availability provision"), interested entities from Korea or the United States have the right to request that a specific fiber, yarn, or fabric be added to, or removed from, the list of commercially unavailable fibers, yarns, and fabrics. This right becomes effective when the Agreement enters into force on March 15, 2012.
Section 202(o)(3)(F) of the Act requires that the President establish procedures for parties to follow when exercising the right to make these requests. The President delegated the responsibility for publishing the procedures and administering commercial availability requests to the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements ("CITA"), which issues procedures and acts on requests through the Office of Textiles and Apparel ("OTEXA"). See Proclamation No. 8783, 77 Fed. Reg. 14265 (March 9, 2012) (delegating to CITA responsibilities related to the textile provisions of the Act). Thus, as mandated by the US-KOREA FTA, these procedures need to be published by OTEXA promptly after March 15, 2012.
In accordance with the commercial availability provision, CITA will implement procedures to collect certain information about the technical specifications of certain fibers, yarns, or fabrics and the production capabilities of U.S. textile suppliers to determine whether certain fibers, yarns, or fabrics are available in commercial quantities in a timely manner in the United States.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
KORUS FTA - Interim Procedures for CA Proceedings March 2012.doc
Ltr to OMB.KORUS FTA.CommAvail.EmergRevReq.031312.pdf
Rebuttal Comments to Response with Offier to Supply