[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 171 (Thursday, September 4, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52622-52623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-22527]


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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 United States-Bahrain Free Trade 
Agreement

AGENCIES: 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.-Bahrain 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 noon, October 1, 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, Trade Policy Staff 
Committee, 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, 
D.C. 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 August 4, 2003, in accordance with section 2104(a)(1) of the 
Trade Act of 2002, the United States Trade Representative notified the 
Congress of the President's intent to initiate a free trade agreement 
with Bahrain. The notification letters to the Congress can be found on 
the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/Bahrain/2003-08-04-notification-house.pdf and http://www.ustr.gov/new/fta/Bahrain/2003-08-04-notification-senate.pdf respectively. On August 13, 2003 the USTR 
requested the ITC provide advice on the probable economic effects. The 
ITC intends to provide this advice within four months of receipt of the 
request. We intend to launch negotiations in January 2004.
    The FTA will build on the Middle East Free Trade Area, which 
includes the Jordan and Morocco FTAs. 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 
Bahrain-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 building a Middle 
East Free Trade Area.

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:

[[Page 52623]]

[email protected]. Persons making submissions by e-mail should use the 
following subject line: Bahrain 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 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 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. 03-22527 Filed 9-3-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P