[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 213 (Wednesday, November 4, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59619-59620]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-29506]


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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 that provide views relevant to the issues to 
be examined in preparing the NTE.

DATES: Public comments are due not later than December 4, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff 
Committee, Office of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th 
Street NW, Room 501, Washington, DC 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Gloria Blue, Office of Policy Coordination, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative, (202) 395-3475.


[[Page 59620]]


SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Last year's report may be found on USTR's 
Internet Home Page (www.ustr.gov) under the section on Reports. This 
year we have added the following African countries to the report: the 
Southern African Customs Union (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland 
(in addition to South Africa)); the West African Economic and Monetary 
Union (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Senegal and 
Togo); and the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (Cameroon, 
Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, 
and Gabon).
    In addition, the new Internet Tax Freedom Act has added a new 
section to the NTE relating to U.S. electronic commerce. Finally, in 
order to ensure compliance with the statutory mandate for reporting 
foreign trade barriers that are significant, we will focus particularly 
on those restrictions where there has been active private sector 
interest.
    The information submitted should relate to one or more of the 
following ten 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) government procurement (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, 
quotas on imports of foreign films, and barriers to the provision of 
services by professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, accountants, 
engineers, nurses, etc.));
    (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 performance requirements, 
and restrictions on repatriation of earnings, capital, fees and 
royalties);
    (8) anticompetitive practices with trade effects tolerated by 
foreign governments (including anticompetitive activities of both 
state-owned and private firms that apply to services or to goods and 
that restrict the sale of U.S. products to any firm, not just to 
foreign firms that perpetuate the practices;
    (9) trade restrictions affecting electronic commerce (e.g., tariff 
and non-tariff measures, burdensome and discriminatory regulations and 
standards, and discriminatory taxation; and
    (10) other barriers (i.e., barriers that encompass more than one 
category, e.g., bribery and corruption, or that affect a single 
sector).
    As in the case of last year's NTE, we are asking that particular 
emphasis be placed on any practices that may violate U.S. trade 
agreements. We are also interested in receiving any new or updated 
information pertinent to the barriers covered in last year's report as 
well as new information. Please note that the information not used in 
the NTE will be maintained for use in future negotiations.
    It is most important that your submission 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. Such assessments enhance USTR's ability to 
conduct meaningful comparative analyses of a barrier's effect over a 
range of industries.
    Please note that interested parties discussing barriers in more 
than one country should provide a separate submission (i.e., one that 
is self-contained) for each country.

Written Comments

    All written comments should be addressed to: Gloria Blue, Executive 
Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative, 600 17th Street NW, Room 501, Washington, DC 
20508.
    All submissions must be in English and should conform to the 
information requirements of 15 CFR 2003. A party must provide ten 
copies of its submission which must be received at USTR no later than 
December 4, 1998.
    If the submission contains business confidential information, ten 
copies of a 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 correction with this request, except 
for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 
CFR 2003.6, 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 Brenda Webb 
(202) 395-6186. The Reading Room is open to the public from 9:30 a.m. 
to 12 noon, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Frederick L. Montgomery,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 98-29506 Filed 11-3-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-M