[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 1 (Monday, January 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Page 134]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-28705]



[[Page 134]]

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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.

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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'' provision of the 
Trade Act.) In addition, USTR is required to determine which of those 
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 contains a special rule for the 
identification of actions by Canada affecting United States cultural 
industries.
    USTR requests written submissions from the public concerning 
foreign countries' acts, policies, and practices that are relevant to 
the decision whether to identify particular trading partners under 
Section 182 of the Trade Act.

DATES: Submissions must be received on or before 5 p.m. on Friday, 
February 11, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to Sybia Harrison, Special 
Assistant to the Section 301 Committee, and sent (i) electronically, to 
[email protected], with ``Special 301 Review'' in the subject line, 
or (ii) by fax, to (202) 395-9458, with a confirmation copy sent 
electronically to the e-mail address above.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Choe, Director for 
Intellectual Property (202) 395-6864, Brian Peck, Senior Director for 
Intellectual Property (202) 395-6864, or Stanford McCoy, Assistant 
General Counsel (202) 395-3581, Office of the United States Trade 
Representative. In the event that none of the above are available, 
questions should then be directed to Victoria Espinel, Deputy Assistant 
U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property, at (202) 395-6864.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act, 
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, states, or other subdivisions of a country in which 
an act, policy, or practice deserves special attention in this year's 
report. Such mention may be positive or negative, so long as it 
deviates from the general norm in that country. In addition, USTR is 
considering issuance of a further notice requesting information 
concerning individual businesses that have been found to have infringed 
intellectual property rights.
    Section 182 contains a special rule regarding actions of Canada 
affecting United States cultural industries. The USTR must 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 
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, 2005.
    Requirements for comments: Comments should include a description of 
the problems experienced and the effect of the acts, policies, and 
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, and practices. Any comments that include 
quantitative loss claims should be accompanied by the methodology used 
in calculating such estimated losses.
    Comments must be in English. 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 is 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.
    All comments should be addressed to Sybia Harrison, Special 
Assistant to the Section 301 Committee, and sent (i) electronically, to 
[email protected], with ``Special 301 Review'' in the subject line, 
or (ii) by fax, to (202) 395-9458, with a confirmation copy sent 
electronically to the email address above.
    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 Jacqueline 
Caldwell at (202) 395-6186. The USTR reading room is open to the public 
from 10 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Victoria Espinel,
Acting Assistant, U.S. Trade Representative for Services, Investment, 
and Intellectual Property.
[FR Doc. 04-28705 Filed 12-30-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W5-P