[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 203 (Monday, October 21, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64693-64694]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-26732]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Request for Public Comment on Review of Employment Impact of 
United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative, Department of 
Labor.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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[[Page 64694]]

SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) gives 
notice that the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) 
and the Department of Labor (Labor) are initiating a review of the 
impact of the proposed U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on 
United States employment, including labor markets. This notice seeks 
written public comment on potentially significant sectoral or regional 
employment impacts (both positive and negative) in the United States as 
well as other likely labor market impacts of the FTA.

DATES: USTR and Labor will accept any comments received during the 
course of the negotiations of the FTA. However, comments should be 
received by 5 p.m., November 8, 2002 to be assured of timely 
consideration in the preparation of the report.

ADDRESSES:
    Submissions by electronic mail: [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 
public comments, contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office 
of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20508, telephone (202) 
395-3475. Substantive questions concerning the employment impact review 
should be addressed to Jorge Perez-Lopez, Director, Office of 
International Economic Affairs, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20210, telephone (202) 693-4883, or William Clatanoff, Assistant U.S. 
Trade Representative for Labor, telephone (202) 395-6120.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On November 29, 2000, USTR issued a public 
notice of intent to conduct negotiations, initiation of an 
environmental review under Executive Order 13141, ``Environmental 
Review of Trade Agreements'' (64 FR 63169, Nov. 16, 1999) and request 
for comments on a proposed U.S.-Singapore FTA (65 FR 71197, Nov. 29, 
2000). Negotiations on the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement were 
launched in December 2000. The negotiations have made substantial 
progress and are expected to conclude in the coming months.
    On August 8, 2002, USTR, on behalf of the Trade Policy Staff 
Committee (TPSC), published and sought comments on a draft 
environmental review of the proposed FTA (67 FR 53035, Aug. 14, 2002). 
The draft environmental review was conducted pursuant to Executive 
Order 13141 and its accompanying guidelines (65 FR 79442, Dec. 19, 
2000). Persons seeking to submit comments concerning the review of the 
FTA's employment impact are referred to the draft environmental review, 
which contains information on the potential trade and economic effects 
and a summary of each chapter of the proposed FTA. The draft report is 
available on the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/environment/2002signapore.pdf.
    Section 2102(c)(5) of the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Act of 2002, 
19 U.S.C. 3802(c)(5), directs the President to ``review the impact of 
future trade agreements on United States employment, including labor 
markets, modeled after Executive Order 13141 to the extent appropriate 
in establishing procedures and criteria, report to the Committee on 
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Finance of the Senate on such review, and make that report available to 
the public.'' USTR and the Department of Labor will be conducting the 
employment review through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee 
(TPSC).
    The employment impact review initiated by this Federal Register 
notice will be based on the following elements, which are modeled, to 
the extent appropriate, after those in Executive Order 13141. The 
review will be: (1) Written; (2) made available to the public in draft 
form for public comment, to the extent practicable; and (3) made 
available to the public in final form.
    Comments may be submitted on potentially significant sectoral or 
regional employment impacts (both positive and negative) in the United 
States as well as other likely U.S. labor market impacts of the FTA. 
Persons submitting comments should provide as much detail as possible 
in support of their submissions.
    Submitting Comments: To ensure prompt and full consideration of 
responses, the TPSC strongly recommends that interested persons submit 
comments by electronic mail to the following e-mail address: 
[email protected]. Persons making submissions by e-mail should use the 
following subject line: ``Singapore Employment Review.'' Documents 
should be submitted as either WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) 
files. Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets is 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 character 
``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. Similarly, 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 will be placed in a file open to public inspection 
pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.5, except confidential business information 
exempt from public inspection in accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6. 
Confidential business 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 non-confidential summary of the confidential 
information. All public documents and non-confidential summaries shall 
be available for public inspection in the USTR Reading Room in Room 3 
of the annex of the Office of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW, Washington, 
DC 20508. An appointment to review the file may be made by calling 
(202) 395-6186. The USTR Reading Room is generally open to the public 
from 10 p.m-12 p.m. and 1 p.m-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. 
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. 02-26732 Filed 10-16-02; 3:46 pm]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P