§ 2017.2 Action following receipt of a petition.

(a) USTR will consider a petition received in accordance with the schedule published in the Federal Register for the annual (normal cycle) AGOA review process under section 111 of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 2466a) in conjunction with that annual review. (b) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, USTR will consider a petition received at any time other than the time described in paragraph (a) of this section, in accordance with the schedule published in the Federal Register for the next annual (normal cycle) AGOA review process. (c)(1) If a petition received at any time other than the time described in paragraph (a), requests an out-of-cycle review under section 111(d)(4) of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 2466a(d)(4)), within 60 days: (i) The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee will review the petition and report to the TPSC whether there are exceptional circumstances warranting an out-of-cycle review; (ii) The TPSC will conduct further review as necessary; (iii) The TPSC Chair will report the results of the TPSC review to the U.S. Trade Representative; and (iv) The U.S. Trade Representative may convene the TPRG or the TPC for further review of the TPSC recommendations and other decisions. (2) If the U.S. Trade Representative finds that there are exceptional circumstances warranting an out-of-cycle review, within 30 days of that determination USTR will announce a schedule for the review in the Federal Register. The schedule will include the deadline and guidelines for any party to submit written comments supporting, opposing or otherwise commenting on any proposed action. (3) For any out-of-cycle review initiated under this paragraph (c), the AGOA Implementation Subcommittee will consider public input received by the applicable deadline and any other relevant information and report to the TPSC. The TPSC will conduct further review as necessary and prepare recommendations for the U.S. Trade Representative. The U.S. Trade Representative may convene the TPRG or the TPC for further review of recommendations and other decisions. The U.S. Trade Representative will make recommendations to the President, which may include a recommendation that no action be taken.