[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 147 (Wednesday, July 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49732-49733]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-19372]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning 
Market Access in the Free Trade Area of the Americas Negotiations

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing concerning 
market access and other issues in the Free Trade Area of the Americas 
negotiations.

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SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will 
convene a public hearing and seeks public comment on the effects of the 
elimination of tariffs and nontariff barriers to trade and other market 
liberalization among Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) 
participating countries and on any other matter relevant to the FTAA 
agreement.

DATES: Persons wishing to testify orally at the hearing must provide 
written notification of their intention, as well as their testimony, by 
August 21, 2002. A hearing will be held in Washington, DC, beginning on 
September 9, 2002, and will continue as necessary on subsequent days. 
Written comments are due by noon, September 23, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail:

[email protected] (notice of intent to testify and written testimony);
[email protected] (written comments).
Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade 
Policy Staff Committee, at 202/395-6143.

The public is strongly encouraged to submit documents electronically 
rather than by facsimile. (See requirements for submissions below.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning 
written comments or participation in the public hearing, contact Gloria 
Blue, (202) 395-3475. All other questions should be directed to Karen 
Lezny, Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for the Free 
Trade Area of the Americas, (202) 395-5190, or William Busis, Associate 
General Counsel, (202) 395-3150.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Background

    On December 11, 1994, the 34 democratically-elected leaders in the 
Western Hemisphere met in Miami, Florida for the first Summit of the 
Americas. They agreed to conclude negotiations on the Free Trade Area 
of the Americas by the year 2005, and to achieve concrete progress 
toward that objective by the end of the 20th century. Since that time, 
the 34 Western Hemisphere ministers responsible for trade have met on 
several occasions.
    At a meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica in March of 1998, the trade 
ministers recommended that the Western Hemisphere leaders initiate the 
negotiations and provided them recommendations on the structure, 
objectives, principles, and venues of the negotiations. A month later 
the 34 leaders initiated the Free Trade Area of the Americas 
negotiations at the Summit of the Americas meeting in Santiago, Chile. 
The leaders agreed to the general framework proposed by the 34 trade 
ministers, which included the establishment initially of nine 
negotiating groups to be guided by general principles and objectives 
and specific objectives as agreed by the ministers in March 1998.
    The work of the negotiating groups began in September 1998. In 
anticipation of that activity, the TPSC published a notice in the 
Federal Register requesting public comments (63 FR 128, July 6, 1998) 
on what should be the U.S. positions and objectives with respect to 
each of the negotiating groups. This notice also stated that USTR would 
seek additional public comment separately on other issues related to 
the FTAA, including the economic effects of the elimination of tariffs 
and nontariff barriers to trade among FTAA participating countries.
    In April 2001, the 34 trade ministers met in Buenos Aires, 
Argentina and mandated that the market access negotiations be initiated 
no later than May 15, 2002. The ministers also decided to make public 
the FTAA preliminary draft consolidated text, which has been posted on 
the FTAA website at http://www.ftaa-alca.org. The TPSC subsequently 
issued a notice inviting public comments on the draft text (66 FR 
36,614, July 12, 2001).
    On April 22, 2001, the 34 leaders at the Summit of the Americas 
meeting in Quebec City, Quebec confirmed that the negotiation of the 
FTAA Agreement would conclude no later than January of 2005.
    In May of 2002 the Vice-Ministers Responsible for Trade in the FTAA 
countries established methods and modalities for the market access 
negotiations. Additional details can be found at http://www.ftaa-alca.org/tn20e.doc. Initial offers on the elimination of tariff, 
services, investment and government procurement barriers to trade and 
investment among FTAA participating countries will be presented between 
December 15, 2002 and February 15, 2003. Requests for improvements to 
offers will be presented between February 16 and June 15, 2003. The 
process for exchanging revised offers will be initiated on July 15, 
2003. In addition, the parties are in the process of negotiating 
commitments concerning intellectual property rights.

2. Public Comments and Testimony

    As provided in the regulations of the Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(15 CFR part 2003), the Chairman of the TPSC invites written comments 
and/or oral testimony of interested parties at a public hearing. 
Comments and testimony may address the reduction or elimination of 
tariffs or non-tariff barriers on any articles provided for in the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) that are 
products of an FTAA country, any concession which should be sought by 
the United States, or any other matter relevant to the FTAA. The TPSC 
invites comments and testimony on all of these matters, and in light of 
the schedule for presenting market access offers, in particular seeks 
comments and testimony addressed to:
    (a) Economic benefits and costs to U.S. producers and consumers of 
the elimination of tariffs on trade between the United States and the 
33 other FTAA countries, and in the case of articles for which 
immediate elimination of tariffs is not recommended, the recommended 
staging schedule for such elimination.
    (b) Existing nontariff barriers to trade in goods between United 
States and the 33 other FTAA countries and the economic benefits and 
costs of removing those barriers.
    (c) Existing barriers to trade in services and government 
procurement between the United States and the 33 other FTAA countries 
and the economic benefits and costs of removing such barriers.
    (d) Economic benefits and costs to U.S. producers and consumers of 
strengthening the protection and enforcement of intellectual property 
rights (IPR) in FTAA countries and improving market access for products 
subject to IPR protection.
    (e) Existing restrictions on investment flows between United States 
and the 33

[[Page 49733]]

other FTAA countries and the economic benefits and costs of eliminating 
any such restrictions.
    Persons who submitted comments pursuant to a previous request for 
public comments concerning the FTAA should not resubmit those comments 
in response to this notice.
    A hearing will be held on September 9, 2002, in Rooms 1 and 2, 1724 
F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20508. If necessary, the hearing will 
continue on subsequent days.
    Persons wishing to testify at the hearing must provide written 
notification of their intention by August 21, 2002. The notification 
should include: (1) The name, address, and telephone number of the 
person presenting the testimony; and (2) a short (one or two paragraph) 
summary of the presentation, including the subject matter and, as 
applicable, the product(s) (with HTSUS numbers), service sector(s), or 
other subjects (such as investment, intellectual property and/or 
government procurement) to be discussed. A copy of the testimony must 
accompany the notification. Remarks at the hearing should be limited to 
no more than five minutes to allow for possible questions from the 
TPSC. Persons with mobility impairments who will need special 
assistance in gaining access to the hearing should contact Gloria Blue.
    Interested persons, including persons who participate in the 
hearing, may submit written comments by noon, September 23, 2002. 
Written comments may include rebuttal points demonstrating errors of 
fact or analysis not pointed out in the hearing. All written comments 
must state clearly the position taken, describe with particularity the 
supporting rationale, and be in English. The first page of written 
comments must specify the subject matter including, as applicable, the 
product(s) (with HTSUS numbers) or service sector(s).

3. Requirements for Submissions

    In order to facilitate prompt processing of submissions, the Office 
of the United States Trade Representative strongly urges and prefers 
electronic (e-mail) submissions in response to this notice. In the 
event that an e-mail submission is impossible, submissions should be 
made by facsimile.
    Persons making submissions by e-mail should use the following 
subject line: ``Free Trade Area of the Americas'' followed by (as 
appropriate) ``Notice of Intent to Testify'', ``Testimony'', or 
``Written Comments.'' Documents should be submitted as either 
WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) files. Supporting documentation 
submitted as spreadsheets are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel. For 
any document containing business confidential information submitted 
electronically, the file name of the business confidential version 
should begin with the characters ``BC-'', and the file name of the 
public version should begin with the characters ``P-''. The 
``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be followed by the name of the submitter. 
Persons who make submissions by e-mail should not provide separate 
cover letters; information that might appear in a cover letter should 
be included in the submission itself. To the extent possible, any 
attachments to the submission should be included in the same file as 
the submission itself, and not as separate files.
    Written comments, notice of testimony, and testimony will be placed 
in a file open to public inspection pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.5, except 
business confidential information exempt from public inspection in 
accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6. Business confidential information 
submitted in accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6 must be clearly marked 
``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top of each page, including any cover 
letter or cover page, and must be accompanied by a nonconfidential 
summary of the confidential information. All public documents and 
nonconfidential summaries shall be available for public inspection in 
the USTR Reading Room. The USTR Reading Room is open to the public, by 
appointment only, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday 
through Friday. An appointment to review the file may be made by 
calling (202) 395-6186. Appointments must be scheduled at least 48 
hours in advance.
    General information concerning the Office of the United States 
Trade Representative may be obtained by accessing its Internet server 
(http://www.ustr.gov).

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 02-19372 Filed 7-26-02; 4:30 pm]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P