[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 241 (Thursday, December 14, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78253-78254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-31774]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Trade Policy Staff Committee; Public Comments on Proposed United 
States-Chile 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: The United States intends to conduct negotiations with the 
Republic of Chile 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.
    Pursuant to Executive Order 13141 (64 FR 63169), USTR, through the 
TPSC, is initiating an environmental review of the agreement. The TPSC 
is also 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 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, January 29, 2001.

ADDRESS: Public comment should be submitted to: Gloria Blue, Executive 
Secretary, TPSC, Office of the USTR, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, 
DC 20508 Attention: U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement

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 USTR for Environment and Natural 
Resources, Office of the USTR (202) 395-7320. All other questions 
regarding the negotiations should be addressed to Susan Cronin, 
Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone, Office of the Western 
Hemisphere of the USTR (202) 395-5190.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 29, 2000, President Clinton 
agreed with Chile's President Ricardo Lagos to negotiate a bilateral 
free trade agreement. In the negotiations, the United States and the 
Republic of Chile will seek to eliminate duties and commercial barriers 
to bilateral trade in U.S.-and Chilean-origin goods and also expect to 
address trade in services, agricultural products, investment, trade-
related aspects of intellectual property rights, government 
procurement, trade-related environmental and labor matters, and other 
issues. Two-way trade between the United States and Republic of Chile 
approached $6 billion in 1999. 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 
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 
the removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to U.S.-Chile 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) 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.
    (e) Relevant trade-related intellectual property rights issues that 
should be addressed in the negotiations.
    (f) Relevant investment issues that should be addressed in the 
negotiations.
    (g) Relevant environmental and labor issues that should be 
addressed in the negotiations
    (h) Relevant government procurement issues that should be addressed 
in the negotiations.
    (i) Possible environmental effects of the proposed agreement and 
the scope of the U.S. environmental review of the proposed agreement.

[[Page 78254]]

    Comments identifying as present or potential trade barriers any 
laws or regulations that are not primarily trade-related should address 
the economic, political and social objectives of such laws and 
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, January 29, 2001, 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 or 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 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. 00-31774 Filed 12-13-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P