[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 6, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 718-719]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-213]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Identification of Countries Under Section 182 of the Trade Act of 
1974: Request for Public Comment

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for written submissions from the public.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 
2242) requires the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to 
identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of 
intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access 
to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. (Section 
182 is commonly referred to as the ``Special 301'' provisions of the 
Trade Act.) The USTR is required to determine which of these countries 
should be identified as Priority Foreign Countries. Acts, policies, or 
practices that are the basis of a country's identification as a 
priority foreign country are normally the subject of an investigation 
under the section 301 provisions of the Trade Act. Section 182 of the 
Trade Act also contains a special rule for the identification of 
actions by Canada affecting U.S. cultural industries.
    USTR requests written submissions from the public concerning 
foreign countries' acts, policies, and practices that are relevant to 
the decision whether particular trading partners should be identified 
under section 182 of the Trade Act.

DATES: Submissions must be received on or before 12:00 noon on Friday, 
February 13, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Mark Wu, Director for 
Intellectual Property, and/or Sybia Harrison, Special Assistant to the 
Section 301 Committee, at the following e-mail address: 
[email protected], with ``Special 301 Review: [Country Name]'' in the 
subject line. Only electronic submissions will be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Wu, Director for Intellectual 
Property, (202) 395-6864; Victoria Espinel or Daniel Mullaney, 
Assistant General Counsels, (202) 395-7305, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative. In the event that none of the above are 
available, questions should be directed to Claude Burcky, Deputy 
Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative, (202) 395-6864.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 182 of the Trade Act, 
the USTR must identify those countries that deny adequate and effective 
protection for intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable 
market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property 
protection. Those countries that have the most onerous or egregious 
acts, policies, or practices and whose acts, policies, or practices 
have the greatest adverse impact (actual or potential) on relevant U.S. 
products are to be identified as Priority Foreign Countries. Acts, 
policies, or practices that are the basis of a country's designation as 
a Priority Foreign Country are normally the subject of an investigation 
under the section 301 provisions of the Trade Act.
    USTR may not identify a country as a Priority Foreign Country if it 
is entering into good faith negotiations, or making significant 
progress in bilateral or multilateral negotiations, to provide adequate 
and effective protection of intellectual property rights.
    USTR requests that, where relevant, submissions mention particular 
regions, provinces, or states of a country whose act, policy, or 
practice deserve special highlighting in this year's report. Such 
mention may be positive or negative, so long as it deviates from the 
general norm in that country.
    Section 182 contains a special rule regarding actions of Canada 
affecting U.S. cultural industries. The USTR is obligated to identify 
any act, policy, or practice of Canada that affects cultural 
industries, is adopted or expanded after December 17, 1992, and is 
actionable under Article 2106 of the North American Free Trade 
Agreement (NAFTA). Any such act, policy, or practice so identified 
shall be treated the same as an act, policy, or practice that was the 
basis for a country's identification as a Priority Foreign Country 
under section 182(a)(2) of the Trade Act, unless the United States has 
already taken action pursuant to Article 2106 of the NAFTA.
    USTR must make the above-referenced identifications within 30 days 
after publication of the National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, i.e., no 
later than April 30, 2004.
    Requirements for comments: Comments should include a description of 
the problems experienced and the effect of the acts, policies, or 
practices on U.S. industry. Comments should be as detailed as possible 
and should provide all necessary information for assessing the effect 
of the acts, policies, or practices. Any comments that include 
quantitative loss claims should be accompanied by the methodology used 
in calculating such estimated losses.

[[Page 719]]

    Comments must be in English and may only be submitted 
electronically. No submissions will be accepted via postal service 
mail. Documents should be submitted as either WordPerfect, MS Word, or 
text (.TXT) files. Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets 
are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel files. A submitter requesting 
that information contained in a comment be treated as confidential 
business information must certify that such information is business 
confidential and would not customarily be released to the public by the 
submitter. A non-confidential version of the comment must also be 
provided. For any document containing business confidential 
information, 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. Submissions should not 
include 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.
    Comments should be sent to Mark Wu, Director for Intellectual 
Property, and Sybia Harrison, Special Assistant to the Section 301 
Committee, at the following e-mail address: [email protected], with 
``Special 301 Review: [Country Name]'' in the subject line. Only 
electronic submissions will be accepted.
    Public inspection of submissions: Within one business day of 
receipt, non-confidential submissions will be placed in a public file, 
open for inspection at the USTR reading room, Office of the United 
States Trade Representative, Annex Building, 1724 F Street, NW., Room 
1, Washington, DC. An appointment to review the file must be scheduled 
at least 48 hours in advance and may be made by calling (202) 395-6186. 
The USTR reading room is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Amber Cottle,
Acting Assistant United States Trade Representative for Services, 
Investment, and Intellectual Property.
[FR Doc. 04-213 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W3-P