[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 236 (Thursday, December 9, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71466-71468]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-27037]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Trade Policy Staff Committee: Public Comments Regarding the WTO 
Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and the WTO Dispute Settlement 
Understanding (DSU) Negotiations

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is requesting written 
public comments on general U.S. negotiating objectives as well as 
country-, product-, and service-specific priorities for the 
multilateral negotiations and work program in the Doha Development 
Agenda (DDA) negotiations conducted under the auspices of the World 
Trade

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Organization. The TPSC is seeking to supplement and refine positions in 
the light of progress to date in the negotiations, notably, the 
Decision Adopted by the WTO General Council on 1 August 2004 on the 
Doha Work Program. The TPSC is also seeking comments on proposals 
advanced in the WTO review of the Dispute Settlement Understanding.

DATES: Public comments are due by January 31, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: [email protected]. 
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: General inquiries should be made to 
the USTR Office of WTO and Multilateral Affairs at (202) 395-6843; 
calls on individual subjects will be transferred as appropriate. 
Procedural inquiries concerning the public comment process should be 
directed to Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff 
Committee, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), (202) 395-
3475. Further information on the WTO, including the declarations, 
decisions referred to in this notice or proposals tabled, can be 
obtained via the internet at the WTO Web site, http://www.wto.org, and/
or the USTR Web site, http://www.ustr.gov. The 2004 President's Annual 
Report on the Trade Agreements Program, which is available on the USTR 
website, contains extensive information on the WTO, the Fifth WTO 
Ministerial Meeting in Canc[uacute]n, Mexico, and the status of work in 
the WTO.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Doha Development Agenda: The next meeting of 
the WTO at the ministerial-level will be in December 2005. Work in 2005 
is expected to focus on the technical issues necessary to move the 
agenda forward, particularly in the light of the WTO General Council's 
Decision of 1 August 2004, which contained frameworks for the 
agriculture and non-agricultural market access negotiations, further 
directions for a number of areas in the negotiation including services, 
and the launch of negotiations on trade facilitation. Accordingly, the 
TPSC seeks to provide a new opportunity for public comment to help 
guide U.S. participation in the on-going negotiations.
    This request for comment supplements earlier requests for comments, 
and there is no need to resubmit comments previously provided to the 
TPSC. Submissions were received in response to notices seeking: (1) 
Public Comments Regarding the Doha Multilateral Trade Negotiations and 
Agenda in the World Trade Organization, published in 67 FR No. 53, 
March 19, 2002; (2) Public Comments on Preparations for the Fourth 
Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization, November 9-13, 
2001 in Doha, Qatar, published in 66 FR 18142, April 5, 2001; (3) 
Public Comments for Mandated Multilateral Trade Negotiations on 
Agriculture and Services in the WTO and Priorities for Future Market 
Access Negotiations on Non-Agricultural Products, published in 65 FR 
16450, March 28, 2000; and, (4) Public Comments on Institutional 
Improvements to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Particularly with 
Respect to the Transparency of its Operations and Outreach to Civil 
Society, which included a solicitation of comments regarding the 
dispute settlement operations of the WTO and was published in 65 FR 
36501, June 8, 2000. New or updated submissions are welcome. The TPSC 
will review supplemental or new comments, in conjunction with earlier 
submissions, in developing positions.
    The U.S. International Trade Commission has provided to the TPSC 
the public comments received on agricultural and non-agricultural 
products as part of its investigation No. 332-440, Probable Economic 
Effects on Reduction or Elimination of U.S. Tariffs, August 9, 2002 
(Confidential Report). Hence, these comments need not be resubmitted.
    Comments are invited with as much specificity as possible on such 
subjects as:
    (1) General, commodity or service-specific negotiating objectives;
    (2) Country, service or product-specific export interests;
    (3) Specific tariff or non-tariff barriers the respondent is facing 
in key export markets;
    (4) Experience with particular foreign measures that impede U.S. 
market access; and,
    (5) The methods to be used in negotiating market access 
improvements.
    Information should be as detailed as possible, including specific 
tariff numbers for products under the Harmonized System (HS) wherever 
possible, product or service descriptions, current tariff levels faced 
in key export markets, and the target tariff rate the respondent is 
requesting. Specific recommendations or suggestions on the type of 
tariff-cutting mechanism to be used in the negotiations are also 
welcome. To assure a thorough and orderly review, the TPSC has 
identified the following headings under which comments may be 
submitted. Submissions should identify the relevant subject area or 
areas to which comments apply. These include:
    (A) Agriculture--The framework for the agriculture negotiations is 
contained in Annex A of the 1 August WTO General Council Decision.
    (B) Non-agricultural or Industrial Market Access (NAMA)--The 
framework for the NAMA negotiations is contained in Annex B of the 1 
August WTO General Council Decision.
    (C) Services--Recommendations for the negotiations in services are 
contained in Annex C of the 1 August WTO General Council Decision.
    (D) Trade Facilitation--The 1 August 2004 Decision by the WTO 
General Council launched multilateral negotiations on Trade 
Facilitation, in accordance with modalities set forth in Annex D to the 
Decision.
    The 1 August 2004 Decision by the WTO General Council also 
addressed certain development elements of the Doha Work Program (e.g., 
special and differential treatment, trade-related technical assistance 
and implementation-related issues) and the work of other negotiating 
bodies (Rules, Trade and the Environment and Trade-Related Intellectual 
Property Rights). The TPSC welcomes comments on U.S. negotiating 
objectives on these elements of the Doha Work Program as well.
    Dispute Settlement--The TPSC also calls attention to the progress 
to date in the negotiations to clarify and improve the Dispute 
Settlement Understanding. Proposals related to the DSU can be found at 
http://www.wto.org in the document series ``TN/DS/W''. The two 
proposals of the United States, for example, are found in documents TN/
DS/W/46 (providing for public access to dispute settlement proceedings) 
and TN/DS/W/52 (a joint proposal with Chile on ensuring sufficient 
flexibility and Member control in the procedures to facilitate 
resolving disputes).
    In document TN/DS/W/52, the United States proposed, as item (f) of 
that proposal, ``providing some form of additional guidance to WTO 
adjudicative bodies concerning (i) the nature and scope of the task 
presented to them (for example when the exercise of judicial economy is 
most useful) and (ii) rules of interpretation of the WTO agreements.'' 
The TPSC would welcome comments on areas in which to provide such 
guidance and the form such guidance should take.

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    In addition, proposals have spanned a broad range of topics from a 
wide spectrum of Members, both those that are frequent users of the 
dispute settlement system and those who have less experience with it. 
Proposals have been submitted on almost every phase of the dispute 
settlement process. For example, in addition to the U.S. proposals, a 
number of proposals have been made to require that a compliance panel 
must first review any measures taken to comply before a complaining 
party could request authorization to suspend equivalent concessions. 
Proposals have also been made to provide for a remand from the 
Appellate Body to a panel where there were insufficient factual 
findings to allow the Appellate Body to make a legal finding on a 
claim. Some of the proposals would result in a significant lengthening 
of the dispute settlement process. Proposals have also included ways in 
which to use time in the process more efficiently. The TPSC would 
welcome comments on any of the proposals made.
    Written Submissions: Comments should state clearly the objective(s) 
and should contain detailed information supporting the objective(s). 
Submissions should clearly indicate the general topic (e.g., 
agriculture, services, non-agricultural market access, etc.). As noted 
in the sections on services, agriculture and industrial market access, 
the provision of supplemental technical information would be helpful. 
This information should be provided in an attachment containing a 
spreadsheet or table in Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Excel, Quatro Pro 
or MS Access.
    Persons submitting comments may either send one copy by fax to 
Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, at 
(202) 395-6143 or transmit a copy electronically to 
[email protected], with ``Doha Work Program'' in the subject line. 
For documents sent by fax, USTR requests that the submitter provide a 
confirmation copy electronically. The public is strongly encouraged to 
submit documents electronically rather than by facsimile. USTR 
encourages the use of Adobe PDF format to submit attachments to an 
electronic mail. Interested persons who make submissions by electronic 
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.
    Comments should be submitted electronically no later than January 
31, 2005.
    Business confidential information will be subject to the 
requirements of 15 CFR 2003.6. Any business confidential material must 
be clearly marked as such and must be accompanied by a non-confidential 
summary thereof. A justification as to why the information contained in 
the submission should be treated confidentially should also be 
contained in the submission. In addition, any submissions containing 
business confidential information must clearly be marked ``Business 
Confidential'' at the top and bottom of the cover page (or letter) and 
each succeeding page of the submission. The version that does not 
contain business confidential information should also be clearly marked 
at the top and bottom of each page, ``Public Version'' or ``Non-
Confidential.''
    Written comments submitted in connection with this request, except 
for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 
CFR 2003.6 will be available for public inspection in the USTR Reading 
Room, Office of the United States Trade Representative. An appointment 
to review the file can be made by calling (202) 395-6186. The 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.

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 04-27037 Filed 12-8-04; 8:45 am]
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