[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 189 (Friday, September 29, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57585-57586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-15989]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Request for Public Comment on the Implications for U.S. 
Commercial Interests of the Accession to the European Union of Bulgaria 
and Romania

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for Comment.

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SUMMARY: The Trade Policy Staff Committee gives notice that the Office 
of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requests written 
submissions from the public concerning the implications for U.S. trade 
in goods and services of the anticipated enlargement of the European 
Union (EU) to include Bulgaria and Romania.
    USTR and other agencies are currently engaged in an assessment of 
the potential impact on U.S. goods and services trade of the 
anticipated enlargement of the EU and, in particular, any compensatory 
adjustments that may be due under WTO rules. Comments from the public 
in response to this notice will be incorporated into that assessment.

DATES: Submissions must be received on or before noon, October 30, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: [email protected]. 
Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade 
Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), Office of the USTR, 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 this review should be 
addressed to Laurie Molnar, Director for European and Mediterranean 
Trade Issues, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Telephone (202) 
395-3320.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. Background Information

    On April 25, 2005, Bulgaria and Romania signed a Treaty of 
Accession to the European Union. The European Commission announced on 
September 26, 2006, that Romania and Bulgaria will accede to the 
European Union on January 1, 2007.
    As part of the EU accession process, Bulgaria and Romania are 
required to adopt the EU's common body of law or acquis communautaire. 
This will entail, inter alia, adoption by Bulgaria and Romania of the 
EU's common external tariffs for goods imported from third countries, 
possible adoption or alteration by Bulgaria and Romania of tariff rate 
quotas (TRQs) on various products (to make them compatible with EU 
TRQs), and harmonization of Bulgarian and Romanian country regulatory 
requirements with EU regulations affecting the import of various goods 
and services.
    Under WTO rules, the EU must notify other WTO members of its intent 
to modify or withdraw market access commitments it has made on goods 
and services in order to expand the EU to include Bulgaria and Romania. 
To date, the EU has not sent such notifications to the WTO, though the 
United States expects these to be made shortly.

Goods

    Applicable GATT 1994 Procedures: If a WTO Member joining a customs 
union plans to modify the concessions bound in its WTO Schedule of 
Concessions (``bound concessions'')--for example, by raising duties or 
adjusting tariff rate quotas--it must negotiate with certain key 
trading partners under Articles XXIV:6 and XXVIII of the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (``GATT 1994''). Unless these 
negotiations result in agreement on compensatory adjustments to offset 
the Member's modification of concessions (for example, through 
reduction of duties on other products), the affected trading partners 
are entitled to withdraw substantially equivalent concessions that had 
previously been negotiated with the Member.
    Submissions: The public is encouraged to identify on a country-
specific basis where Bulgaria or Romania's adoption of the EU common 
external tariff will result in tariff increases or changes to tariff-
rate quotas (TRQs) affecting U.S. commercial interests in the accession 
countries.
    Current applied tariff rates for Bulgaria can be found on the 
following Web site: http://www.en.customs.bg/index_en.html. Current 
applied tariff rates for Romania can be obtained by calling the Trade 
Information Center at the Department of Commerce at: 1-800-USA-TRADE, 
selecting the option for

[[Page 57586]]

foreign tariff rates, and providing the harmonized system number. 
Current applied tariff rates for the EU can be accessed at: http://www.trade.gov/td/tic/tariff/eu_schedule/index.htm. (The public is 
being directed to sources of applied tariff rates for ease of finding 
such information. The assessment of compensation, as described above, 
will be done using bound rates.)

Services

    Applicable GATS Procedures: Article V, paragraph 5, of the General 
Agreement on Trade in Services (``GATS'') provides that if a WTO Member 
intends to modify or withdraw a specific GATS commitment as a result of 
joining an economic integration agreement such as a customs union, it 
must provide 90 days advance notice of such modification and follow the 
applicable procedures set out in GATS Article XXI. Paragraph 2 of 
Article XXI provides that WTO Members who believe they may be affected 
by the proposed modification of commitments can request negotiations 
with the modifying Member with the purpose of reaching an agreement on 
compensation for the proposed modification in the form of offsetting 
liberalization commitments in other services sectors. If the 
negotiation does not result in an agreement on compensation, the Member 
affected by the modification may request arbitration. If the modifying 
Member does not comply with the findings of the arbitration, the 
affected Member may withdraw substantially equivalent concessions.
    Bulgaria and Romania's entry into the EU may also entail 
modification of the exiting lists of MFN exemptions maintained by the 
EU or the accession countries under GATS Article II. The United States 
maintains that the EU must engage through a separate WTO process 
(namely a waiver process under Article IX of the Agreement Establishing 
the WTO) with its partners in cases where modifications to MFN 
exemption lists are contemplated. However, comments from the public on 
anticipated trade impacts implied by a consolidation of the existing 
accession country and EU MFN exemptions lists are also solicited 
through this notice.
    Submissions: The public is advised to examine the existing GATS 
schedules of specific commitments and lists of most-favored-nation 
exemptions of the EU in comparison with those of Bulgaria and Romania 
to determine whether changes that occur as a result of the 
consolidation of the schedules and lists would adversely impact U.S. 
commercial interests. The existing schedules and lists are accessible 
through the WTO's Services Database Web site, http://tsdb.wto.org/wto/WTOHomepublic.htm. From that site, click on ``Pre-defined Reports'' and 
then ``All Sectors in Each Country''.

Other Regulatory Measures

    Adoption of the EU acquis communautaire by Bulgaria and Romania 
will entail adoption of the EU's standards, regulations and conformity 
assessment procedures, including sanitary and phytosanitary 
requirements, testing, certification, labeling requirements, etc. The 
accession countries will also be obligated to impose import 
restrictions, quantitative restrictions and antidumping orders similar 
to those of the EU. The public is encouraged to comment where 
appropriate on how the introduction of these types of regulatory 
measures would affect U.S. commercial interests.

Supportive Data and Recommendations for Compensation

    All submissions should describe the product or service in question, 
and in the case of products, should include the Harmonized System 
tariff heading(s). Submissions should describe the current market 
access for the products or services, including value and quantity of 
exports, any existing problems, and should identify changes that are 
anticipated upon accession countries' entry into the EU. In the area of 
services, submissions should include, if possible, detailed information 
regarding conditions for market access over the period leading up to 
entry into the EU, because these countries may have made incremental 
changes over a long period of time to conform their practices and 
access to that of the European Union.
    Submissions may also include recommendations for appropriate 
compensatory adjustments the United States might seek for instances of 
diminished market access. These recommendations could include such 
items as reductions in the EU common external tariff on goods, 
improvements to EU market access commitments on goods and services, or 
other changes in the EU trade regime for goods and services.

2. Requirements for Submissions

    To ensure prompt and full consideration of responses, USTR strongly 
recommends that interested persons submit comments by electronic mail 
to the following e-mail address: [email protected]. Persons making 
submissions by e-mail should use the following subject line: 
``Enlargement: Romania and Bulgaria'' 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 submitted information. 
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 submissions 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 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 will 
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,
Chairperson, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E6-15989 Filed 9-28-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W6-P