[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 135 (Monday, July 16, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38846-38847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-13734]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Request for Public Comment on the Negotiations for Compensatory 
Adjustments to U.S. Schedule of Services Commitments Under WTO General 
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in Response to Notice of the 
United States of Intent To Modify Its Schedule Under Article XXI of the 
GATS

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) gives notice that the 
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requests 
written submissions from the public concerning the negotiations for 
compensatory adjustments to U.S. Schedule of Services Commitments under 
WTO General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) in response to notice 
of the United States of intent to modify its schedule under Article XXI 
of the GATS.
    On May 4, 2007, the United States filed with the WTO a notification 
to the Council for Trade in Services (CTS) pursuant to Article XXI:1(b) 
of the GATS stating the intention of the United States to modify its 
commitment for ``other recreational services'' to explicitly exclude 
gambling and betting services. In accordance with the procedural 
schedule set out in the WTO ``Procedures for the Implementation of 
Article XXI of the GATS: Modification of Schedules'' (WTO Document S/L/
80) (``Article XXI Procedures''), on June 22 the United States received 
notice from eight WTO Members that they consider that their benefits 
under the GATS may be affected by the proposed modification. 
Consequently, consistent with Article XXI:2(a) of the GATS, the United 
States has entered into negotiations with these WTO Members with a view 
to reaching agreement on any necessary compensatory adjustment. The aim 
of such negotiations and agreement shall be to maintain a general level 
of mutually advantageous commitments not less favorable to trade than 
that provided for in the U.S. schedules of specific commitments prior 
to such negotiations.

DATES: Submissions must be received on or before noon, 30 days after 
publication.

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 Thomas Fine, Director of Services Trade Negotiations, 
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, telephone (202) 395-6875.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background Information

    In the course of a WTO dispute resolution proceeding originally 
filed by Antigua and Barbuda in 2003, the United States' GATS schedule 
was found to have included a market access commitment covering Internet 
gambling based outside of the United States. This finding was a result 
of imprecision in the drafting of the 1994 U.S. GATS schedule, combined 
with the application of formal treaty interpretation rules under which 
a country's intent is not determinative. In fact, as even the WTO panel 
and Appellate Body recognized, gambling or betting services are 
generally prohibited or highly restricted in the United States for 
reasons of public morality, law enforcement and protection of minors 
and other vulnerable groups, and the United States never intended to 
make a GATS commitment covering gambling.
    The dispute has now completed the compliance phase, and the report 
of the compliance panel was adopted by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body 
(DSB) on May 22, 2007.
    In light of these developments in the WTO dispute, the United 
States has decided to make use of the established WTO procedures to 
correct its schedule in order to reflect the original U.S. intent--that 
is, to exclude gambling from the scope of the U.S. commitments under 
the GATS. The GATS, Article XXI, provides that when a Member modifies 
its services schedule, other Members who allege they will be affected 
by this action may make a claim for a compensatory adjustment to other 
areas of the GATS schedule. Under the Article XXI procedures, WTO 
Members had until June 22, 2007 to make such claims.
    Prior to the applicable deadline, the following eight WTO Members 
notified the United States that they consider that their benefits under 
the GATS may be affected by the proposed modification and thus that the 
United States should enter into negotiations with a view to

[[Page 38847]]

reaching agreement on any necessary compensatory adjustment: Antigua 
and Barbuda, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, the European Communities, 
India, Japan and Macao.
    Consistent with these requests, the United States will begin 
consultations with these WTO Members. Under the Article XXI Procedures, 
the United States and those Members making claims have an initial 
period of three months to consult on any necessary compensatory 
adjustment. If these discussions are not successful in reaching a 
satisfactory conclusion for any claimant, that claimant may refer the 
issue to arbitration.

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: ``Services 
Article XXI Negotiations.'' 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 p.m.--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. E7-13734 Filed 7-13-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W7-P