Interim Procedures for Considering Requests under the Commercial Availability Provision of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement

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, and 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. Articles containing these commercially unavailable fibers, yarns, and fabrics are entitled to duty-free or preferential duty treatment despite containing inputs not produced in the United States or Peru. 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 5–7 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, in a timely fashion, 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.

The latest form for Interim Procedures for Considering Requests under the Commercial Availability Provision of the United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement expires 2022-07-31 and can be found here.

Request for Commercial Availability Determination

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