The United States and Peru negotiated
the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (the "Agreement"), which
entered into force on February 1, 2009. Subject to the rules of
origin in Annex 4.1 of the Agreement, pursuant to the textile
provisions of the Agreement, a fabric, yarn, or fiber produced in
Peru or the United States and traded between the two countries is
entitled to duty-free tariff treatment. Annex 3-B of the Agreement
also lists specific fabrics, yarns, and fibers that the two
countries agreed are not available in commercial quantities in a
timely manner from producers in Peru or the United States. The
fabrics listed are commercially unavailable fabrics, yarns, and
fibers, which are also entitled to duty-free treatment despite not
being produced in Peru or the United States. The list of
commercially unavailable fabrics, yarns, and fibers may be changed
pursuant to the commercial availability provision in Chapter 3,
Article 3.3, Paragraphs 57 of the Agreement. Section 203(o) of the
Act implements the commercial availability provision of the
Agreement. Under this provision, interested entities from Peru or
the United States have the right to request that a specific fabric,
yarn, or fiber be added to, or removed from, the list of
commercially unavailable fabrics, yarns, and fibers in Annex 3-B.
Section 203(o) of the Act provides that the President may modify
the list of fabrics, yarns, and fibers in Annex 3-B by determining
whether additional fabrics, yarns, or fibers are not available in
commercial quantities in a timely manner in the United States or
Peru, and that the President will issue procedures governing the
submission of requests and providing an opportunity for interested
entities to submit comments. 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 U.S. Department of
Commerce, Office of Textiles and Apparel ("OTEXA") (See
Proclamation No. 8341, 74 FR 4105, Jan. 22, 2009). Interim
procedures to implement these responsibilities were published in
the Federal Register on August 14, 2009. See Interim Procedures for
Considering Requests Under the Commercial Availability Provision of
the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
and Estimate of Burden for Collection of Information, 74 FR 41111
(Aug. 14, 2009) (Commercial Availability Procedures). The intent of
the Commercial Availability Procedures is to foster the use of U.S.
and regional products by implementing procedures that allow
products to be placed on or removed from a product list, on a
timely basis, and in a manner that is consistent with normal
business practice. The procedures are intended to facilitate the
transmission of requests; allow the market to indicate the
availability of the supply of products that are the subject of
requests; make available promptly, to interested entities and the
public, information regarding the requests for products and offers
received for those products; ensure wide participation by
interested entities and parties; allow for careful review and
consideration of information provided to substantiate requests and
responses; and provide timely public dissemination of information
used by CITA in making commercial availability determinations. CITA
must collect certain information about fabric, yarn, or fiber
technical specifications and the production capabilities of
Peruvian and U.S. textile producers to determine whether certain
fabrics, yarns, or fibers are available in commercial quantities in
a timely manner in the United States or Peru, subject to Section
203(o) of the Act.
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.
0625.0265.Supprtg Stmnt.041013.doc
Rebuttal Comments to Response with Offer to Supply