Designations of Developing and Least-Developed Countries Under the Countervailing Duty Law

Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Office of the United States Trade Representative AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The U.S. Trade Representative is designating World Trade Organization (WTO) Members that are eligible for special de minimis countervailable subsidy and negligible import volume standards under the countervailing duty (CVD) law. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register , the U.S. Trade Representative is removing the Office of the United States Trade Representative's rulesthat contain the designations superseded by this notice. DATES: The designations are applicable as of February 10, 2020. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David P. Lyons, Assistant General Counsel, at 202-395-9446, or Roy Malmrose, Director for Industrial Subsidies, at 202-395-9542. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A. General Background In the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA), Public Law 103-465, Congress amended the CVD law to conform to U.S. obligations under the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM Agreement). Under the SCM Agreement, WTO Members that have not yet reached the status of a developed country are entitled to special treatment for purposes of countervailing measures. Specifically, imports from such Members are subject to different thresholds for purposes of determining whether countervailable subsidies are de minimis and whether import volumes are negligible. Under section 771(36) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), 19 U.S.C. …