ITA Seeking Comments on Procedures for U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement

The International Trade Administration is seeking comments on the Commercial Availability Provision of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, it said in a Sept. 4 Federal Register notice. Comments are due by Nov. 4 to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230, or JJessup@doc.gov.

Under the agreement, interested entities from Korea or the U.S. can ask that a specific fiber, yarn, or fabric be added to, or removed from, the list of commercially unavailable fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Administering the provision was delegated to the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA), which issues procedures and acts on requests through the Office of Textiles and Apparel. For a fiber, yarn or fabric to be added to Appendix 4-B-1, an interested entity must submit to CITA a Request for a Commercial Availability Determination ("Request") which states that the subject product is not commercially available in the U.S. within a commercially reasonable timeframe. Potential suppliers from the U.S. may submit a Response with an Offer to Supply. If the submissions are accepted, the public submissions or public versions of submissions will be posted on the dedicated commercial availability section of the OTEXA's website.

Further information: Maria D'Andrea, 202-482-4058, or maria_dandrea@ita.doc.gov.