[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 134 (Thursday, July 11, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36606-36607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17661]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Trade Policy Staff Committee: Request for Comments Concerning 
Basic Telecommunications Services Negotiations Under World Trade 
Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is 
soliciting a second round of public comments on the requests made to 
U.S. negotiating partners in the Group of Basic Telecommunications 
(GBT) of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS is 
one of the Uruguay Round agreements administered by the World Trade 
Organization. Interested persons are invited to submit their comments 
on market-opening commitments that should be sought in the basic 
telecommunications services sector by August 1, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
William Corbett, Office of Services, Investment and Intellectual 
Property, Office of the United States Trade Representative, at (202) 
395-4510 or Laura B. Sherman, Office of the General Counsel, Office of 
the United States Trade Representative, at (202) 395-3150.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Group on Basic Telecommunications (GBT) 
was created in April 1996 by a Decision on Commitments on Basic 
Telecommunications of the WTO Council on Trade in Services. It is the 
successor to the Negotiating Group on Basic Telecommunications (NGBT), 
which was created in April 1994 by a Marrakesh Ministerial Decision 
with a mandate to conclude talks by April 30, 1996. The New group's 
charge is to continue negotiations on liberalization of trade in 
telecommunications transport networks and services within the framework 
of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The Decision set the 
date for entry into force of a prospective agreement as January 1, 1998 
and established the period of January 15 through February 15, 1997 
during which current negotiating offers could be modified or 
supplemented and MFN exceptions could be taken.
    These arrangements, sought by the United States, effectively 
extended the life of negotiations to obtain more and better offers and 
thereby the critical mass necessary for the United States to maintain 
its offer.
    The United States is in the process of refining requests for 
market-opening commitments from other countries participating in the 
GBT. These requests must be submitted by the end of September 1996. A 
list of countries participating in and observing the GBT is attached.
    The United States objective in the negotiations is to obtain levels 
of openness in the telecom markets of other participants equivalent to 
the level in the United States. Interested persons are invited to 
submit their comments on commitments the United States should seek in 
wire or wireless communications, satellite systems, regulatory schemes, 
interconnection issues, foreign ownership restrictions, and competition 
safeguards, among other things.
    Comments should be filed no later than August 1, 1996. Comments 
must be in English and provided in twenty copies to Mr. William 
Corbett, Office of Services, Investment and Intellectual Property, 
Office of the United States Trade Representative, Room 301, 600 17th 
Street, Washington D.C. 20508. Non-confidential information received 
will be available for public inspection by appointment, in the USTR 
Reading Room, Room 101, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon 
and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. For an appointment call Brenda Webb on 202-
395-6186. Business confidential information will be subject to the 
requirements of 15 CFR Sec. 2003.6. Any business confidential material 
must be clearly marked as such on the cover letter or page and each 
succeeding page, and must be accompanied by a non-confidential summary 
thereof.
Frederick L. Montgomery,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.

WTO Group on Basic Telecommunications

Participants in the NGBT
    Argentina
    Australia
    Barbados*
    Brazil
    Canada
    Chile
    Colombia
    Cote d'Ivoire
    Cuba*
    Cyprus*
    Czech Republic
    Dominican Republic
    Ecuador
    Egypt*
    European Union
    Austria
    Belgium
    Denmark
    Finland
    France
    Germany
    Greece
    Ireland
    Italy
    Luxembourg
    Netherlands
    Portugal
    Spain
    Sweden
    United Kingdom
    Hong Kong
    Hungary
    Iceland
    India
    Israel
    Japan
    Korea
    Mauritius
    Mexico
    Morocco
    New Zealand
    Norway
    Pakistan
    Peru
    Philippines
    Poland
    Singapore
    Slovak Republic
    Switzerland
    Thailand
    Tunisia*
    Turkey
    United States
    Venezuela
Observes in the NGBT
    Bolivia
    Brunei
    Bulgaria
    China
    Chinese Taipei
    Costa Rica
    El Salvador
    Guatemala
    Honduras
    Indonesia
    Ivory Coast
    Jamaica
    Latvia
    Madagascar
    Malaysia
    Myanmar
    Nicaragua
    Pakistan
    Panama
    Romania
    Russian Federation
    Slovenia
    South Africa
    Trinidad & Tobago
    United Arab Emirates
    Uruguay
Participants making offers = 48 governments

[[Page 36607]]

(*) Participants not making offers = 4 governments
[FR Doc. 96-17661 Filed 7-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-M