The United States and Panama
negotiated the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement ("the
Agreement"), which was implemented into law by the U.S.-Panama
Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act ("the Act"). The
Agreement entered into force on October 31, 2012. Under the
provisions of the Act, textile and apparel goods must contain
fibers, yarns, and fabrics produced in Panama or the U.S. to
receive duty-free tariff treatment. The Agreement 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 U.S. or Panama. Articles containing these
commercially unavailable fibers, yarns, and fabrics are entitled to
duty-free or preferential duty treatment despite not being produced
in the U.S. or Panama. 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 203(o) of the Act ("the commercial availability
provision"), interested entities from Panama or the U.S. 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 became effective when the Agreement
entered into force on October 31, 2012. Section 203(o) 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"). 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. The intent of these
procedures is to foster trade in U.S. and Panamanian textile and
apparel articles by allowing non-originating fibers, yarns, and
fabrics to be placed on or removed from a list of items not
available in commercial quantities, on a timely basis, and in a
manner that is consistent with normal business practice. To this
end, these procedures are intended to facilitate the transmission,
on a timely basis, of requests for commercial availability
determinations and offers to supply the products that are the
subject of the requests; have the market indicate the availability
of the supply of the subject products; make available promptly, to
interested entities and parties, information received regarding the
requests for products and offers to supply; ensure wide
participation by interested entities and parties; provide careful
scrutiny of information provided to substantiate order requests and
responses of offers to supply; and provide timely public
dissemination of information used by CITA in making commercial
availability determinations. To date, no interested party has
exercised its right to request that a fiber, yarn, or fabric be
added to, or removed from Annex 3.25 of the Agreement. If an
interested party submits a request, however, CITA will be required
to make a determination as to whether the fiber, yarn, or fabric
should be added to or removed from the list pursuant to the
commercial availability provision of the Act. Without published
procedures in place, it will be more difficult for CITA to ensure
that all interested parties and the public are aware of the
commercial availability determination process afforded by the Act.
For example, interested parties may not know the exact nature of
the information required for CITA to make such a
determination.
PL:
Pub.L. 112 - 43 203(o) Name of Law: United States-Panama Trade
Promotion Agreement Implementation Act
PL: Pub.L. 112 - 43 203(o) Name of Law:
United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation
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.US.PanamaTPA.Commercial Availability.SuppStmt.031113.doc
Rebuttal Comments to Response with Offer to Supply