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. 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. 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”).
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.