[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 190 (Monday, October 3, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-24363]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: October 3, 1994]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Public Comment With Respect To the Annual National
Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 303 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984,
as amended, USTR is required to publish annually the National Trade
Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). With this notice, the
Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is requesting interested parties to
assist it in identifying significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods,
services and overseas direct investment for inclusion in the NTE.
Particularly important are impediments materially affecting the actual
and potential financial performance of an industry sector. The TPSC
invites written comments which provide views relevant to the issues to
be examined in preparing the NTE.
DATES: Public comments are due at USTR not later than noon on November
1, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Carolyn Frank, Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the
United States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street NW., Room 501,
Washington, DC 20506.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
John Panulas, Assistant Director for Policy Coordination, Office of the
United States Trade Representative, (202) 395-9599.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Submissions should contain descriptions of
any or all of the following nine categories of foreign trade barriers:
(1) import policies (e.g., tariffs and other import charges,
quantitative restrictions, import licensing, and customs barriers);
(2) standards, testing, labeling, and certification (including
unnecessarily restrictive application of phytosanitary standards,
refusal to accept U.S. manufacturers' self-certification of conformance
to foreign product standards, and environmental restrictions);
(3) discriminatory government procurement practices (e.g., ``buy
national'' policies and closed bidding);
(4) export subsidies (e.g., export financing on preferential terms
and agricultural export subsidies that displace U.S. exports in third
country markets);
(5) lack of intellectual property protection (e.g., inadequate
patent, copyright, and trademark regimes);
(6) services barriers (e.g., limits on the range of financial
services offered by foreign financial institutions, regulation of
international data flows, restrictions on the use of data processing,
and quotas on imports of foreign films);
(7) investment barriers (e.g., limitations on foreign equity
participation and on access to foreign government-funded R&D consortia,
local content, technology transfer and export requirements, and
restrictions on repatriation of earnings, capital, fees and royalties);
(8) anticompetitive practices tolerated by foreign governments
(including anticompetitive activities of both state-owned and private
firms which apply to services or to goods and which restrict the sale
of U.S. products to any firm, not just to the foreign firms that
perpetuate the practices); and
(9) other barriers (i.e., barriers that encompass more than one
category listed above or that affect a single sector).
In comparison with last year's report, this year we are adding a
new category, anti-competitive practices, to the NTE. In addition, the
standards category will now encompass restrictive foreign environmental
practices, and the investment category will cover restrictions on U.S.
access to foreign government-funded research and development (R&D)
consortia.
Submissions should contain estimates of the potential increase in
exports that would result from the removal of the barrier, as well as a
clear discussion of the method(s) by which the estimates were computed.
Estimates should fall within the following value ranges: less than $5
million; $5 to $25 million; $25 million to $50 million; $50 million to
$100 million; $100 million to $500 million; or over $500 million.
Please note that interested parties discussing barriers in more
than one country should provide a separate submission for each country.
Written Comments
All written comments should be addressed to: Carolyn Frank, Trade
Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade
Representative, 600 17th Street NW., Room 501, Washington, DC 20506.
All submissions must be in English and should conform to the
information requirements of 15 CFR 2007.
A party must provide ten copies of its submission which must be
received at USTR no later than noon on November 1, 1994. If the
submission contains business confidential information, ten copies of a
non-confidential version must also be submitted. A justification as to
why the information contained in the submission should be treated
confidentially must be included in the submission. In addition, any
submissions containing business confidential information must be
clearly marked ``confidential'' at the top and bottom of the cover page
(or letter) and of each succeeding page of the submission. The version
that does not contain confidential information should also be clearly
marked, at the top and bottom of each page, ``public version'' or
``non-confidential.''
Written comments submitted in connection with this request, except
for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15
CFR 2007.7, will be available for public inspection shortly after the
filing deadline. Inspection is by appointment only with the staff of
the USTR Public Reading Room and can be arranged by calling (202) 295-
6186.
Frederick L. Montgomery,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 94-24363 Filed 9-30-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-M