Notice2024-29422
Initiation of Section 301 Investigation, Hearing, and Request for Public Comments: Nicaragua's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Rule of Law
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Published
December 13, 2024
Issuing agencies
Trade Representative, Office of United States
Abstract
The U.S. Representative has initiated an investigation of Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related to labor rights, human rights, and the rule of law. The inter-agency Section 301 Committee is holding a public hearing and seeking public comments in connection with this investigation.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 240 (Friday, December 13, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 240 (Friday, December 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 101088-101090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29422]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
[Docket Nos. USTR-2024-0021 and USTR-2024-0022]
Initiation of Section 301 Investigation, Hearing, and Request for
Public Comments: Nicaragua's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to
Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Rule of Law
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
ACTION: Notice of initiation of investigation, hearing, and request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Representative has initiated an investigation of
Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related to labor rights,
human rights, and the rule of law. The inter-agency Section 301
Committee is holding a public hearing and seeking public comments in
connection with this investigation.
DATES:
December 10, 2024: The date the U.S. Trade Representative initiated
the investigation.
January 8, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST: Deadline for submitting written
comments and requests to appear at the hearing. The request to appear
must include a summary of testimony.
January 16, 2025: The Section 301 Committee will convene a public
hearing in the main hearing room of the U.S. International Trade
Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436, beginning at 10 a.m.
If necessary, the hearing may continue on the next business day.
January 23, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST: Deadline for submitting post-
hearing rebuttal comments.
ADDRESSES: Submit documents in response to this notice, including
written comments, hearing appearance requests, summaries of testimony,
and post-hearing rebuttal comments through the appropriate online USTR
portal at: <a href="https://comments.ustr.gov/s/">https://comments.ustr.gov/s/</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Grimball and Philip Butler,
Chairs of the Section 301 Committee; Leigh Bacon, Chief Counsel for
Negotiations, Legislation, and Administrative Law; or Henry Smith and
Erin Biel, Assistant General Counsels, at 202.395.5725.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Numerous credible reports by the U.S. Government and United Nations
bodies document that the Government of Nicaragua has engaged in
persistent attacks on labor rights, human rights, and the rule of law.
These actions include politically-motivated arrests and imprisonments,
repression of members of religious groups and non-governmental
organizations, extrajudicial killings, cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment, restrictions on freedom of expression and movement, violence
against members of marginalized groups, repression of freedom of
association and collective bargaining, forced labor, human trafficking,
eliminating legislative and judicial independence, spurious seizures of
property, arbitrary fines and rulings, and other harmful acts. The
Nicaraguan Government's increasing and pervasive labor and human rights
violations and dismantling of the rule of law may, directly or
indirectly, impact U.S. workers and companies, including through the
exploitation of workers, harming both Nicaraguans directly and U.S.
workers and businesses indirectly through unfair competition; by
negatively impacting the Nicaraguan economy and market, with lost sales
and exports for U.S. enterprises; and by lost investment and business
opportunities for U.S. workers and companies, including through the
creation of a high-risk environment to invest or conduct business.
II. Initiation of Section 301 Investigation
Section 302(b)(1)(A) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (Trade
Act), authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative to initiate an
investigation to determine whether an act, policy, or practice of a
foreign country is actionable under section 301 of the Trade Act.
Actionable matters under section 301 include acts, policies, and
practices of a foreign country that are unreasonable or discriminatory
and burden or restrict U.S. commerce. An act, policy, or practice is
unreasonable if, while not necessarily in violation of, or inconsistent
with, the international legal rights of the United States, it is
otherwise unfair and inequitable. Unreasonable acts, policies, and
practices include any act, policy, or practice, or combination thereof,
that constitutes a persistent pattern of conduct that denies workers
the right of association, denies workers the right to organize and
bargain collectively, permits any form of forced or
[[Page 101089]]
compulsory labor, fails to provide a minimum age for the employment of
children, or fails to provide standards for minimum wages, hours of
work, and occupational safety and health of workers.
On December 10, 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative initiated a
section 301 investigation to examine whether Nicaragua's acts,
policies, and practices related to labor rights, human rights, and the
rule of law are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict
U.S. commerce.
Pursuant to section 302(b)(1)(B), the U.S. Trade Representative
consulted with the appropriate advisory committees. The U.S. Trade
Representative also consulted with the inter-agency Section 301
Committee. Pursuant to section 303(a) of the Trade Act, the U.S. Trade
Representative has requested consultations with the Government of
Nicaragua.
Pursuant to section 304 of the Trade Act, the U.S. Trade
Representative must determine whether the act, policy, or practice
under investigation is actionable under section 301. If that
determination is affirmative, the U.S. Trade Representative must
determine what action to take.
The investigation initially will focus on the following issues:
(1) Evidence indicates that the Government of Nicaragua has
committed or allowed violations and abuses of internationally
recognized labor rights. Actions related to such abuses and violations
include: the ruling party's use of control over major unions to harass
and intimidate workers; repression of freedom of association;
elimination of workers' right to organize and join independent unions
of their choice; routine violations of collective bargaining and labor
laws with impunity; interference in worker and employer organizations;
seizure of assets and steps to remove the citizenship of members of
worker and employer organizations; dissolution of at least 19 labor
unions; arbitrary dismissals, arrests, and imprisonment of key union
leaders; child and forced labor; human trafficking; discrimination
against women and on the basis of political opinion; negligence in
protecting health in the workplace; wage deductions and theft; and
retaliation for claiming rights violations. The Government's arbitrary
closure of civil society organizations that provide services to prevent
child and forced labor and support victims exacerbates labor rights
violations and abuses.
(2) Evidence indicates that the Government of Nicaragua has
committed human rights violations against citizens of Nicaragua and
foreign residents, including through political imprisonments, arrests,
banishments, property expropriation (including property belonging to
U.S. citizens), and efforts to arbitrarily strip citizens of their
Nicaraguan nationality. The Government of Nicaragua systematically has
cancelled the legal status of, thereby closing, religious institutions
and faith-based humanitarian organizations, independent higher
education institutions, and thousands of non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) under spurious accusations. As a result of these arbitrary
closures, the Government of Nicaragua has expropriated the assets and
properties of these organizations and institutions. There is credible
reporting that the Government of Nicaragua has engaged in the cruel,
degrading, and inhuman treatment of political prisoners, extrajudicial
killings, and torture of its citizens and foreign residents. The
Government of Nicaragua also has severely restricted the exercise of
freedoms of expression, movement, and religion or belief (including by
taking steps to strip Nicaraguan clergy and religious actors of their
citizenships, hounding Nicaraguan and foreign resident religious actors
into exile, confiscating property, and punishing free expression of
religion or belief with unjust detention, reprisals, and threats). The
Government of Nicaragua has suppressed democracy, and committed
violence against members of minority groups, including members of
Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, primarily located in the
Caribbean Autonomous regions. The Government encourages illegal
encroachment on protected lands, including those belonging to
Indigenous communities, for mining and cattle ranching.
(3) Evidence indicates that the Government of Nicaragua has
dismantled rule of law in Nicaragua, including a radical rewriting of
the national constitution that centralizes power in the presidency and
nullifies the independence of the courts and the legislature. The
Government of Nicaragua engages in arbitrary or partial administration
of law; imposes arbitrary or incorrect fines, taxes, customs
inspections, and rulings; has revoked the legal status of at least 151
prominent business chambers and associations, including the American
Chamber of Commerce; and engages in indiscriminate seizures of
property. The regime has used inspections, re-registration fees, and
historical tax audits in a prejudicial manner towards U.S. and foreign
firms to benefit domestic competitors and has impeded the flow of
assets out of the country when these companies decide to exit the
market.
(4) Evidence indicates that Nicaragua's labor and human rights
violations and dismantling of rule of law, taken jointly or separately,
may, directly or indirectly, impact U.S. workers and companies,
including through the exploitation of workers, harming both Nicaraguans
directly and U.S. workers and businesses indirectly through unfair
competition; by negatively impacting the Nicaraguan economy and market,
with lost sales and exports for U.S. enterprises; and by lost
investment and business opportunities for U.S. workers and companies,
including through the creation of a high-risk environment to invest or
conduct business.
In addition to these issues, interested parties may submit for
consideration information on other acts, policies, and practices of
Nicaragua related to labor rights, human rights, and rule of law that
might be included in this investigation.
III. Request for Public Comments
Interested persons are invited to submit written comments or oral
testimony on any issue covered by the investigation. In particular,
USTR invites comments with respect to:
<bullet> Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related to labor
rights, human rights, and rule of law.
<bullet> Whether Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related
to labor rights, human rights, and rule of law are unreasonable or
discriminatory.
<bullet> Whether Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related
to labor rights, human rights, and rule of law burden or restrict U.S.
commerce, and if so, the nature and level of the burden or restriction.
Such comments may include economic assessments of the burden or
restriction on any sector or industry, as well as assessments of the
burden or restriction on labor in the United States related to the
acts, policies, and practices under investigation.
<bullet> The determinations required under section 304 of the Trade
Act, that is, whether actionable conduct exists under section 301(b)
and what action, if any, should be taken.
To be assured of consideration, USTR must receive written comments
by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 8, 2025, in accordance with the
instructions in section IV below.
The Section 301 Committee will convene a public hearing on January
16, 2025, in the main hearing room of the
[[Page 101090]]
U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington DC
20436, beginning at 10 a.m. Persons wishing to appear at the hearing
must provide written notification of their intention and a summary of
the proposed testimony by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 8, 2025, in
accordance with the instructions in section IV below. Remarks at the
hearing are limited to five minutes to allow for possible questions
from the Section 301 Committee.
Post-hearing rebuttal comments, which should be limited to
rebutting or supplementing testimony at the hearing, are due by 11:59
p.m. EST on January 23, 2025, in accordance with the instructions in
section IV below.
IV. Submission Instructions
Interested persons must submit written comments, requests to appear
at the hearing, summaries of testimony, and post-hearing rebuttal
comments using the appropriate docket on the portal at <a href="https://comments.ustr.gov/s/">https://comments.ustr.gov/s/</a>. To submit written comments, including post-
hearing rebuttal comments, use the docket on the portal entitled
`Request for Comments on the Section 301 Investigation of Nicaragua's
Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Labor Rights, Human Rights,
and Rule of Law,' docket number USTR-2024-0021.
Interested persons wishing to provide testimony at the hearing must
submit a notification of intent and summary of testimony using the
docket entitled `Request to Appear at the Hearing on the Section 301
Investigation of Nicaragua's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to
Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Rule of Law,' docket number USTR-2024-
0022.
You do not need to establish an account to submit comments or a
notification of intent to testify. The first screen allows you to enter
identification and contact information. Third party organizations such
as law firms, trade associations, or customs brokers should identify
the full legal name of the organization they represent and identify the
primary point of contact for the submission. Information fields are
optional, however, your comment or request may not be considered if
insufficient information is provided.
Fields with a gray Business Confidential Information (BCI) notation
are for BCI information that will not be made publicly available.
Fields with a green (Public) notation will be viewable by the public.
After entering the identification and contact information, you can
complete the remainder of the comment, or any portion of it, by
clicking `Next.' You may upload documents at the end of the form and
indicate whether USTR should treat the documents as business
confidential or public information.
Any page containing BCI must be clearly marked `BUSINESS
CONFIDENTIAL' on the top of that page and the submission should clearly
indicate, via brackets, highlighting, or other means, the specific
information that is BCI. If you request business confidential
treatment, you must certify in writing that the information would not
customarily be released to the public.
Parties uploading attachments containing BCI also must submit a
public version of their comments. If these procedures are not
sufficient to protect BCI or otherwise protect business interests,
please contact the USTR section 301 support line at 202.395.5725 to
discuss whether alternative arrangements are possible.
USTR will post attachments uploaded to the docket for public
inspection, except for properly designated BCI. You can view
submissions on USTR's electronic portal at <a href="https://comments.ustr.gov/s/">https://comments.ustr.gov/s/</a>.
Juan Millan,
Acting General Counsel, Office of the United States Trade
Representative.
[FR Doc. 2024-29422 Filed 12-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3390-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 13, 2024.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.