[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