[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 185 (Wednesday, September 24, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55287-55289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-24176]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No.: 030908225-3225-01]


Request for Technical Input on Standards Issues and Foreign 
Markets

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of inquiry.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce requests industry comments on 
pressing standards issues and priority foreign markets. As part of the 
Department's Secretarial Initiative to Enhance Commerce Department 
Standards Activities, the Department is currently conducting a series 
of industry roundtables, seeking comment on barriers in export markets 
caused by foreign governments' policies on standards and technical 
regulatory requirements. The Department is supplementing these 
roundtables with a general solicitation of comments from industry 
representatives via this notice.
    The Department has also scheduled an open roundtable standards 
discussion, to be held on October 23 at the Department of Commerce and 
invites interested parties to indicate their interest in participating 
in this roundtable.

DATES: Written comments on standards issues and foreign markets must be 
submitted to NIST no later than November 1, 2003.
    The Department also invites industry to attend an open roundtable 
standards discussion, to be held on October 23 at the Department of 
Commerce. Participants in the discussion will be asked for their 
individual input and advice, and will not be asked to furnish group 
consensus advice.
    A request to attend the open roundtable standards discussion should

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be submitted to ITA no later than September 30, 2003.

ADDRESSES: The public is strongly encouraged to submit comments 
electronically rather than by facsimile or by mail.
    All comments on standards issues and foreign markets should be 
addressed to: Dr. Belinda Collins, Deputy Director, Technology 
Services, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau 
Drive, MS 2000, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, fax (301) 975-2183. E-mail: 
[email protected].
    Those wishing to attend the open roundtable discussion should 
contact: Ms. Lisa Handy, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Trade 
Development, International Trade Administration, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230. E-mail: [email protected]. The 
October 23 roundtable discussion will be held at the U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230.
    The full text of the Initiative is available at: http://www.commerce.gov/opa/press/2003_Releases/March/19_Standards.htm.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on submitting 
input on standards issues and barriers in export markets, contact Dr. 
Belinda Collins, Deputy Director, Technology Services, National 
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Tel: 301-975-4500 or Ms. 
Christine DeVaux, Technology Services, NIST, Tel: 301-975-4679.
    For further information on the open roundtable, contact Ms. Lisa 
Handy, International Trade Administration, Tel: 202-482-2788.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On March 19, 2003, Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans announced an 
eight-point Standards Initiative to help break down trade barriers. The 
initiative is in response to industry concerns that foreign standards 
and technical regulation issues are becoming among the greatest 
challenges to expanding exports.
    Foreign standards and methods used to assess conformity to 
standards can facilitate efficient international trade and its 
benefits, or they also can be used intentionally or unintentionally to 
impede access to foreign markets. Many in industry view foreign 
standards and technical regulation as a principal non-tariff barrier in 
markets around the world. Divergent standards, redundant testing and 
compliance procedures, and unilateral and non-transparent standard 
setting exercises are now recognized as major impediments to free 
trade--estimated to affect 80 percent of world commodity trade.
    Over the course of the last several months, a number of industry 
associations and companies have highlighted foreign standards 
development and technical regulations as an issue of increasing 
importance for U.S. exports. There is a sense from industry that the 
U.S. Government, specifically the Commerce Department, could do more to 
reduce the barriers to export markets caused by foreign governments' 
adverse policies on standards and technical regulatory requirements.
    In response to industry concerns, the Commerce Department has 
developed an eight-point initiative to augment current activities as an 
effective framework to address the relationship between foreign 
standards and the international competitiveness of U.S. companies. The 
outputs of the Initiative will be used to determine recommendations to 
the Secretary by January 2004 for future action.

Initiative

    The full text of the Initiative may be found at http://www.commerce.gov/opa/press/2003_Releases/March/19_Standards.htm.
    Under the Initiative, the Department will carry out the following 
activities:
    (1) Conduct a standards activity assessment of all existing 
Commerce Department programs and efforts to reduce standards-related 
barriers in foreign markets; recommendations will be made to the 
Secretary for future action.
    (2) Reinforce expertise in key markets through a new, redesigned, 
intensive training program for standards liaisons posted abroad.
    (3) Devise an effective standards training and outreach program for 
all Commerce Department Foreign Commercial Service Officers.
    (4) Develop and create a ``best practices'' database in addressing 
standards issues in foreign markets.
    (5) Expand the early warning system to disseminate market 
intelligence and information on standards developments in key priority 
foreign markets in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
    (6) Support the development of a dialogue on standards within the 
proposed President's Export Council subcommittee on technology and 
competitiveness.
    (7) Reach out to U.S. industry by hosting a series of industry-
specific roundtables to gather input from industry on the most pressing 
standards issues and priority foreign markets. Summaries of the 
industry roundtables will be made publicly available by December 31, 
2003.
    (8) Appoint a liaison at the International Trade Administration to 
ensure that industry's priorities on standards are promoted through the 
Department's international policies and programs.

Industry Roundtables

    As part of the Initiative, the Department of Commerce is conducting 
a series of standards roundtables in order to gain U.S. industry's 
insight into how foreign standards and related technical regulations 
affect their competitiveness overseas. The Department is also 
interested in industry's views on national standards issues. Industry 
input will be used for the following:
    (1) Outlining a roadmap for future action by DOC, based on some of 
the major concerns and issues raised by industry and based on areas 
where the Department's efforts are either supporting or not supporting 
industry's most important needs;
    (2) Determining standards-related programs and strategies for 
Department activities; and,
    (3) Informing Commerce offices on the current status of industry 
issues and on industry perspectives, and ensuring that their concerns 
are heard by a broad cross-section of the Department, including at 
senior levels.
    Any advice will be provided by the participants acting as 
individuals and not as a group.

Submissions

    Input directed to the Department of Commerce should focus on the 
following questions (additional comments are also welcome):
    1. What are the highest priority standards issues facing your 
industry?
    2. Are there adequate national and/or international standards to 
satisfy your industry's trade/export-related needs?
    3. Does your industry experience standards-related problems in 
specific countries or regions, or do these problems affect multiple 
regions?
    4. Do your industry's problems result primarily from the technical 
requirements contained in standards or technical regulations that adopt 
such standards? Please describe specific examples where the technical 
requirements resulted in market entry problems in your industry.
    5. Do your industry's problems result from how compliance with 
technical requirements is assessed? Do you have examples of cases where 
either the

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technical requirements or the assessment process resulted in market 
entry problems for your industry?
    6. Has your industry been able to take an effective approach to 
address international standards issues? What steps have produced the 
most benefit? Could other industrial sectors benefit from using these 
approaches?
    7. Has your industry been able to take an effective approach to 
address national standards issues? What steps have produced the most 
benefit? Could other industrial sectors benefit from using these 
approaches?
    8. Do you have examples of a problem experienced by your industry 
where the federal government has been effective in resolving the 
issues? What steps taken by federal government officials were effective 
in resolving the issue, and why were they effective? Would such steps 
or approaches be applicable in other cases or were their successes 
unique to a specific problem? What steps were ineffective or less 
effective, and why do you think that this was so? Was it the unique 
nature of the problem, or would such steps have been equally 
ineffective in most cases?
    9. What actions would you recommend the Department undertake 
following this and similar roundtables? Would your industry be willing 
to help to improve the situation encountered with respect to problems 
associated with standards and conformity assessment?
    All comments must be submitted no later than November 1, 2003.

    Dated: September 16, 2003.
Arden L. Bement, Jr.,
Director.
[FR Doc. 03-24176 Filed 9-23-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-13-P