[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 53 (Wednesday, March 19, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13358-13359]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-6499]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Trade Policy Staff Committee; Request for Public Comment on 
Review of Employment Impact of Proposed United States--Central America 
Free Trade Agreement

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

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The 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.-Central America 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 April 25, 2003, to be assured of timely consideration in 
the preparation of the report.

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: [email protected]. Submissions 
by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office of the 
USTR, at (202) 395-6143.

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:

1. Background Information

    On October 1, 2002, in accordance with section 2104(a)(1) of the 
Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, 19 U.S.C. 3804(a)(1), 
the United States Trade Representative notified the Congress of the 
President's intent to enter into trade negotiations with the five 
members of the Central American Economic Integration System (Costa 
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, hereinafter 
``Central America''). The notification letters to the Congress can be 
found on the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/10/2002-10-01-centralamerica-house.PDF and http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/10/2002-10-01-centralamerica-senate.PDF, respectively. The TPSC 
invited the public to provide written comments and/or oral testimony at 
a public hearing conducted on November 19, 2002, to assist USTR in 
formulating positions and proposals with respect to all aspects of the 
negotiations (67 FR 63954) (Oct. 16, 2002). The formal launch of the 
negotiations occurred on January 8, 2003 in Washington, D.C. The first 
round of negotiations took place January 27-31, 2003, in San Jose, 
Costa Rica, and the second round of negotiations was held February 24-
28, 2003, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
    The FTA will build on the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). Since 
1985, the U.S. trade relationship with Central America has been driven 
by U.S. unilateral trade preferences through the CBI. By moving from 
unilateral trade preferences to a reciprocal trade agreement, the FTA 
will seek to eliminate duties and unjustified barriers to trade in both 
U.S.- and Central American-origin goods and also address trade in 
services, trade in agricultural products, investment, trade-related 
aspects of intellectual property rights, government procurement, trade-
related environmental and labor matters, and other issues. The FTA is 
expected to contribute to stronger economies, the rule of law, 
sustainable development, and more accountable institutions of 
governance, complementing ongoing domestic, bilateral, and multilateral 
efforts in the region. Finally, the FTA will lend momentum to 
concluding the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations by January 
2005.
    Two-way trade in goods between the United States and Central 
America totaled $20 billion in 2001, consisting of $9 billion in U.S. 
exports and $11 billion in U.S. imports. Leading U.S. exports to 
Central America include textiles, machinery, electrical

[[Page 13359]]

machinery and equipment, and plastics. Leading U.S. imports from 
Central America include apparel products and edible fruits.

2. Employment Impact Review

    Section 2102(c)(5) of the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority 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 
conduct the employment reviews through the TPSC.
    The employment impact review will be based on the following 
elements, which are modeled to the extent appropriate after those in EO 
13141. The review will be: (1) Written; (2) initiated through a Federal 
Register notice soliciting public comment and information on the 
employment impact of the FTA in the United States; (3) made available 
to the public in draft form for public comment, to the extent 
practicable; and (4) 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 labor market impacts of the FTA. Persons 
submitting comments should provide as much detail as possible in 
support of their submissions.

3. Requirements for Submissions

    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: ``Central America Employment Review.'' Documents should be 
submitted in WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) files. Supporting 
documentation submitted as spreadsheets is acceptable in Quattro Pro or 
Excel format. 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. 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 will 
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 a.m.-12 noon and 1-4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Appointments 
must be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance.

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 03-6499 Filed 3-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P