[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-3173]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: February 10, 1994]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

 

Trade Policy Staff Committee; Public Comments on U.S. 
Negotiations With Saudi Arabia in the Context of That Country's 
Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(TPSC) is requesting written public comments on the announced intention 
of Saudi Arabia to accede to the GATT. Comments received will be 
considered by the Executive Branch in developing the U.S. position and 
objectives for the bilateral and multilateral negotiations that will 
determine Saudi Arabia's terms of accession to the General Agreement.

DATES: Public comments are due by 12 noon, March 4, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, 600 17th Street, 
NW., Washington, DC 20506.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Cecilia Leahy Klein, Director for GATT Affairs (telephone: 202-395-
3063), or Alex Terman, Deputy Director for the Middle East and 
Mediterranean, (telephone: 202-395-3074), Office of the U.S. Trade 
Representative, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20506.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Written Comments

    The Chairman of the Trade Policy Staff Committee invites written 
public comments on the issues that will be addressed in the course of 
negotiations with Saudi Arabia to determine the Protocol and tariff 
terms of Saudi Arabia's accession to the General Agreement. These terms 
will be negotiated in bilateral meetings with Saudi Arabia and in 
meetings of the Working Party established by the Contracting Parties to 
the GATT on July 21, 1993. The Committee is particularly interested in 
views on the possible impact of Saudi Arabia's accession to the GATT on 
U.S. trade, on any trade measures applied by Saudi Arabia that could be 
subject to the provisions of the General Agreement, on tariff levels 
currently applied by Saudi Arabia to imports of specific interest to 
U.S. exporters, and on the experiences of U.S. firms in trading with 
Saudi Arabia. The Committee is seeking information on the structure and 
conduct of Saudi Arabia's trade policies, on barriers to trade with 
that country, or on any other measure that inhibits imports or 
artificially stimulates exports.
    All comments will be considered by the Executive Branch in 
developing the U.S. position and objectives for GATT examination of 
Saudi Arabia's accession and for bilateral negotiations concerning both 
the substantive terms of the Protocol of Accession and the 
establishment of Saudi Arabia's GATT schedule of tariff concessions. 
Information on products or practices subject to these negotiations 
should include, whenever appropriate, the import tariff classification 
number used by Saudi Arabia for the product concerned.
    Persons wishing to submit written comments should provide a 
statement, in twenty copies, by noon, Friday, March 4, 1994, to Carolyn 
Frank, TPSC Secretary, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, room 
414, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20506. Non-confidential 
information received will be available for public inspection by 
appointment, in the USTR Reading Room, 600 17th Street, NW., room 101, 
Washington, DC, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 
4 p.m. For an appointment call Brenda Webb on 202-395-6186. Business 
confidential information will be subject to the requirements of 15 CFR 
2003.6. Any business confidential material must be clearly marked as 
such on each page, including any cover letter, and must be accompanied 
by a non-confidential summary thereof.

2. Background

    On July 21, 1993, the GATT Contracting Parties established a 
Working Party to examine a request by Saudi Arabia to accede to the 
General Agreement pursuant to Article XXXIII. This Working Party, 
composed of interested GATT members, will examine Saudi Arabia's 
foreign trade regime during several meetings and submit to the GATT 
Council recommendations that may include a draft Protocol of Accession. 
There is no established timetable for the accession process, and the 
Working Party will not initiate its discussions until Saudi Arabia 
submits a comprehensive Foreign Trade Memorandum detailing its foreign 
trade regime. The United States will be a major participant in these 
deliberations, and will engage in bilateral negotiations with Saudi 
Arabia to develop the terms of its accession to the General Agreement 
contained in the Protocol and in a schedule of tariff concessions. In 
the course of these negotiations, Saudi Arabia's willingness to adopt 
the results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations 
will also be explored, with a view to providing for Saudi Arabia's 
eventual membership in post-Uruguay Round GATT institutions.
    The Protocol of Accession that Saudi Arabia negotiates with the 
Contracting Parties will set forth the agreed terms of its GATT 
membership, including the relationship of its foreign trade regime to 
the Articles of the General Agreement. Aspects of the foreign trade 
regime that are normally examined in such negotiations include: 
Application of most-favored-nation treatment (including, e.g., the Arab 
Boycott) and national treatment to imports from other GATT contracting 
parties, licensing requirements, quantitative trade restrictions, 
subsidy practices as they affect trade, non-tariff charges and taxes, 
customs valuation and classification procedures, transparency in trade 
regulation and administration, and state trading practices and 
monopolies. The Working Party will want to receive information from 
Saudi Arabia concerning issues covered by the Uruguay Round, including 
trade in services, intellectual property protection, trade-related 
investment measures, agricultural supports and subsidies, and sanitary 
and phytosanitary requirements.
    In addition, as part of the accession process, Saudi Arabia will 
also conduct bilateral negotiations with interested GATT members to 
formulate a schedule of tariff concessions that will become part of its 
Protocol of Accession. These concessions will consist of Saudi Arabia's 
agreement to bind the tariffs applied to certain imports, restricting 
its ability to increase the tariff rate applied to those items without 
offering appropriate compensatory tariff concessions on other items. 
The rates of duty negotiated bilaterally, as well as all the other 
protections of GATT Articles, will apply to the trade of other GATT 
contracting parties with whom Saudi Arabia has GATT relations after its 
accession.
    As a GATT member, Saudi Arabia will enjoy a multilateral guarantee 
of unconditional most favored nation treatment from other GATT 
contracting parties that is more comprehensive than that available 
through bilateral agreements. The bindings on tariffs maintained in the 
tariff schedules of other GATT contracting parties that have GATT 
relations with Saudi Arabia will be extended to its exports as 
obligations under the GATT. Saudi Arabia will also have recourse to 
GATT procedures to protect itself from unfair or unreasonable trade 
actions by its GATT trading partners.
    In return for these benefits, Saudi Arabia will be expected to 
grant similar benefits to the trade of other GATT contracting parties, 
to conduct its trade policies in accordance with the rules set out in 
the General Agreement, and to establish its own schedule of tariff 
concessions.

(Authority: 15 CFR 2002.2)
Frederick L. Montgomery,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 94-3173 Filed 2-9-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-M