[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 230 (Wednesday, November 29, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71197-71198]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-30386]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Trade Policy Staff Committee; Public Comments on Proposed United 
States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of intent to conduct negotiations, initiation of 
environmental review, and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This publication gives notice that the United States intends 
to conduct negotiations with the Republic of Singapore to conclude a 
free trade agreement. The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is 
requesting written comments from the public to assist the United States 
Trade Representative (USTR) in formulating negotiating objectives for 
the agreement and to provide advice on how specific goods and services 
and other matters should be treated under the agreement. This 
publication also provides notice that, pursuant to Executive Order 
13141 (64 FR 63169), USTR, through the TPSC, is initiating an 
environmental review of the agreement.
    The TPSC is requesting written comments from the public on what 
should be included in the scope of the environmental review, including 
the potential environmental effects that might flow from the free trade 
agreement and the potential implications for our environmental laws and 
regulations. Persons submitting written comments should provide as much 
detail as possible on the degree to which the subject matter they 
propose for inclusion in the review may raise significant environmental 
issues in the context of the negotiation.

DATES: Public comments should be received by noon, December 19, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning 
public comments, contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office 
of the USTR, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508 (202) 395-3475. 
All questions regarding the environmental review should be addressed to 
Mary Latimer, Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Environment 
and Natural Resources, Office of the USTR (202) 395-7320. All other 
questions regarding the negotiations should be addressed to Barbara 
Weisel, Deputy Assistant US Trade Representative for Bilateral Asian 
Affairs, Office of the USTR (202) 395-6813.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 16, 2000, President Clinton 
agreed with Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to negotiate a 
bilaterial free trade agreement. In the negotiations, the United States 
and Singapore will seek to eliminate duties and commercial barriers to 
bilateral trade in U.S.- and Singaporean-origin goods and also expect 
to address trade in services, investment, trade-related aspects of 
intellectual property rights, trade-related environmental and labor 
matters, and other issues. Two-way trade between the United States and 
Singapore totaled $34.4 billion in 1999. The free trade agreement will 
be modeled upon the recently signed free trade agreement between Jordan 
and the United States, but will recognize the substantial volume of 
trade between Singapore and the United States. USTR is requesting that 
the U.S. International Trade Commission conduct a study of the 
potential economic impacts of the free trade agreement.
    USTR, through the TPSC, will perform an environmental review of the

[[Page 71198]]

agreement pursuant to Executive Order 13141, 64 FR 63169.
    Written comments with as much specificity as possible, including 
data, views and recommendations, are invited on:
    (a) General and commodity-specific negotiating objectives for the 
agreement.
    (b) Economic costs and benefits to U.S. producers and consumers of 
removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to U.S.-Singapore trade.
    (c) Treatment of specific goods (described by Harmonized System 
tariff numbers) under the agreement, including comments on (1) product 
specific import or export interests or barriers, (2) experience with 
particular measures that should be addressed in the negotiations, and 
(3) in the case of articles for which immediate elimination of tariffs 
is not appropriate, recommended staging schedule for such elimination.
    (d) Adequacy of existing customs measures to ensure Singaporean 
origin of imported goods, and appropriate rules of origin for goods 
entering the United States under the agreement.
    (e) Proposals for service sectors to be addressed in the agreement, 
existing barriers to trade in those sectors, and economic costs and 
benefits of removing such barriers.
    (f) Relevant trade-related intellectual property rights issues that 
should be addressed in the negotiations.
    (g) Relevant investment issues that should be addressed in the 
negotiations.
    (h) Relevant environmental and labor issues that should be 
addressed in the negotiations.
    (i) Possible environmental effects of the agreement and the scope 
of the U.S. environmental review of the agreement.
    Comments identifying as present or potential trade barriers laws or 
regulations that are not primarily trade-related should address the 
economic, political and social objectives of such regulations and the 
degree to which they discriminate against producers of the other 
country. Comments on the scope of the environmental review should be as 
detailed as possible.

Written Comments

    Persons submitting written comments should provide twenty (20) 
copies no later than noon, December 19, 2000, to Gloria Blue at address 
listed above. If possible, comments should be submitted before this 
date. Where possible, please supplement written comments with a 
computer disk of the submission containing as much of the technical 
details as possible either in spreadsheet or word processing table 
format, with each tariff line/services sector in a separate cell. The 
disk should have a label identifying the software used and the 
submitter.
    Written comments submitted in connection with this request, except 
for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 
CFR 2003.6, will be available for public inspection in the USTR Reading 
Room (Room 101) at the address noted above. An appointment to review 
the file may be made by calling Brenda Webb at (202) 395-6186. The 
Reading Room is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
    Business confidential information, including any information 
submitted on disks, will be subject to the requirements of 15 CFR 
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. If the submission 
contains business confidential information, twenty copies of a public 
version that does not contain confidential information, must 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 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.''

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 00-30386 Filed 11-28-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P