[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 42 (Thursday, March 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11760-11762]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4862]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Request for Public Comments Concerning Regulatory Cooperation 
Activities That Would Help Eliminate or Reduce Unnecessary Regulatory 
Divergences in North America That Disrupt U.S. Exports

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Government recognizes that economic recovery and job 
creation will depend significantly on its ability to work 
collaboratively with key trading partners to promote free and open 
trade and investment. In our trade and investment relationships with 
Mexico and Canada, and within North America as a whole, the main 
impediments to greater trade and investment--and more open foreign 
markets for U.S. exporters and investors--are not tariffs or quotas, 
but rather unnecessary differences in product regulations that increase 
costs for producers and consumers in the United States, Canada, and 
Mexico. With this Notice, the Commerce Department, on behalf of the 
Administration, is seeking public input to help identify such 
divergences in North America, so that the U.S. Government can work 
cooperatively with Mexico and Canada to address them.
    President Obama explicitly linked trade to job creation when he 
announced the National Export Initiative in his 2010 State of the Union 
address, and set the ambitious goal of doubling U.S. exports in the 
next five years to support millions of jobs here at home. The President 
has focused particularly on efforts to remove unnecessary divergences 
in regulations with Canada and Mexico, our first and second largest 
export markets, respectively, and officials from the three countries 
have discussed strengthening regulatory cooperation to promote better 
regulation and facilitate trade, both bilaterally and trilaterally. 
President Obama met with President Felipe Calder[oacute]n of Mexico and 
Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada at the the North American 
Leaders' Summit on August 10, 2009, in Guadalajara, Mexico. In the 
joint statement they issued at the end of that meeting they noted the 
progress that each of their governments had made in reducing 
unnecessary regulatory differences and they instructed their respective 
governments, ``* * * to continue this work by building on the previous 
efforts, developing focused priorities and a specific timeline.'' The 
United States Government is working with both Mexico and Canada to 
reduce unnecessary regulatory differences and to explore further 
regulatory cooperation activities aimed at reducing or eliminating such 
differences where they hinder trade and reduce competitiveness. In 
order to do so, the United States has established a High-Level 
Regulatory Cooperation Council with Mexico and a Regulatory Cooperation 
Council with Canada. While these councils are bilateral, regulatory 
divergences exist that have consequences for firms in all three 
countries. Therefore, with this Notice, the Department of Commerce's 
International Trade Administration (ITA), in support of the National 
Export Initiative (NEI) and pursuant to the Secretary of Commerce's 
role as the chair of Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, is 
requesting stakeholders to assist the Administration to identify 
opportunities for cooperation between or among the United States, 
Canada, and Mexico to reduce or eliminate regulatory divergences that 
disrupt trade in goods in the region, as well as any existing or 
emerging sectors that may benefit from regulatory coordination between 
these countries. Canada has already solicited similar input from its 
stakeholders, and Mexico has committed to do the same.

DATES: The agency must receive comments on or before April 4, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submissions should be made via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov under docket ITA-2011-0003-0001. Please direct 
written submissions to Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230. The public is strongly encouraged to 
file submissions electronically rather than by mail.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding this notice should 
be directed to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In his January 2010 State of the Union 
address, President Obama announced the NEI to double U.S. exports over 
five years and support the creation of new jobs. As the President's 
Export Promotion Cabinet has undertaken to implement the NEI, regional 
and sectoral plans are being developed to tailor the U.S. Government's 
NEI efforts based on the realities of trade in certain regions. For 
example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created the 
world's largest free trade area, linking 444 million people and 
producing $17 trillion in goods and services. Trilateral trade among 
Canada, Mexico, and the United States was $944.6 billion in 2010. 
Despite this extensive trade among NAFTA partners, U.S. exporters 
indicate that they continue to encounter unnecessary divergences in 
regulatory measures in North America that disrupt trade.
    ITA has developed a Mature Markets Initiative (MMI) to evaluate how 
best to grow exports, create jobs, and support U.S. business growth in 
areas where trade is robust. Regulatory cooperation is a key component 
of the MMI. Accordingly, ITA has identified Canada and Mexico as mature 
markets and will seek ways to ease or eliminate regulatory differences 
that hinder competitiveness and negatively impact trade for U.S. firms, 
including new-to-market and new-to-export businesses, particularly 
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
    Trade may be impeded, for example, because countries apply 
different standards or technical requirements to address common 
environmental, health, safety, or other concerns with respect to 
certain products or product categories. In some instances, such 
divergences may be arbitrary and can lead to delays, additional costs, 
and burdens on U.S. suppliers, particularly SMEs, and, in some cases, 
can make it difficult or impossible for U.S. suppliers to penetrate 
foreign markets. These divergences can also increase regulatory burdens 
for governments and costs for consumers. In other cases, regulatory

[[Page 11761]]

measures, despite the burdens they impose, may be necessary in order to 
achieve legitimate objectives such as the protection of the 
environment, health, or safety.
    Regulatory cooperation with respect to regulatory measures can help 
reduce unjustified divergences and lower costs and burdens for 
businesses, especially SMEs, as well as for governments and consumers. 
For example, when regulators in different countries share data, 
studies, and other information on specific regulatory issues, they are 
more likely to reach similar conclusions, such as on the risks 
associated with a particular product, appropriate measures to mitigate 
those risks, and the costs and benefits associated with alternative 
regulatory approaches. This can lead regulators in these countries to 
adopt regulatory measures that are more aligned with each other, allow 
producers to develop economies of scale, reduce costs associated with 
complying with divergent regulatory measures, and pass on costs savings 
to consumers. It is critical for any alignment in regulatory approaches 
that results from cross-border cooperation between regulators in the 
United States and other countries, however, to be transparent and non-
discriminatory, reduce unnecessary costs and burdens on producers and 
consumers, and continue to fulfill each country's health, safety, 
environmental, and other legitimate policy objectives.
    Although cooperation on regulatory measures can lead to regulatory 
alignment, it can also result in other outcomes that help facilitate 
trade. For example, governments may elect to conclude mutual 
recognition agreements under which regulators in each country agree to 
allow products from the other country to be placed on the market based 
on tests or certifications carried out in that country, or equivalency 
agreements under which a regulator in one country agrees to recognize 
another country's standards as equivalent to its own, allowing products 
to be placed on its market that meet the other country's standards. The 
outcome of any such regulatory cooperation must ensure that each 
country can continue to meet its legitimate policy objectives.
    In addition, when regulators cooperate with regard to regulatory 
measures, their cooperation may serve not only to facilitate trade, but 
may also help to realize common public policy objectives. For example, 
when regulators in different countries coordinate their efforts in 
carrying out product recalls, it can help ensure that defective or 
unsafe products are promptly removed from the market, thereby 
increasing consumers' confidence in the products they buy and in the 
global trading system.
    Request for information. ITA invites public comment on the 
following possible types of cooperative regulatory activities between 
or among the United States, Mexico, and Canada: information-sharing 
agreements; technical assistance; memoranda of understanding, mutual 
recognition agreements; collaboration between regulators before 
initiating rulemaking proceedings; agreements to align particular 
regulatory measures; equivalency arrangements; and accreditation of 
testing laboratories or other conformity assessment bodies. ITA 
acknowledges that these types of cooperative agreements and activities 
are not appropriate in all cases, so interested parties are asked to 
provide a rationale for the proposed use of a particular cooperative 
approach or specific activity. ITA is also seeking recommendations for 
existing or emerging industry or product sectors that may benefit from 
regulatory coordination across North America.
    Submitters should be as specific as possible in describing the 
relevant product or product sector, and the country or countries in 
which they believe there is an opportunity to facilitate trade. In 
addition, each proposal should include, where appropriate: (a) A 
description of the specific measure or measures that the proposal would 
address (e.g., laws or regulations setting out safety or testing 
requirements for the relevant product or product sector); (b) an 
Internet link to or a copy of the measure in English and documentation 
that may assist ITA in understanding the measure; (c) identification of 
the key markets in North America for the product or product sector; (d) 
a description of how and to what degree the regulatory measures are 
affecting trade and its related costs; (e) information that may affect 
the proposal's feasibility (e.g., U.S. legal, regulatory, or policy 
constraints, or any response from stakeholders or U.S. trading partners 
the proposal may elicit); (f) estimates of the potential benefits that 
would result from more closely aligning the regulatory measure, as well 
as a description of the method by which the submitter has calculated 
the benefits; (g) contact information, if known, for key government and 
non-government stakeholders in the country or countries to which the 
proposal applies; and (h) any other information that may assist ITA in 
considering the proposal.
    ITA is interested in receiving proposals concerning any product 
sector that, due to the volume of trade in North America, is a 
justifiable focus of enhanced regulatory cooperation. Submitters are 
encouraged to work with counterparts and other interested stakeholders 
in Canada and/or Mexico to submit comments jointly. ITA will give 
positive consideration to proposals that demonstrate strong support 
from stakeholders across North America.
    Requirements for Submissions: In order to ensure the timely receipt 
and consideration of comments, ITA strongly encourages commenters to 
make on-line submissions, using the http://www.regulations.gov Web 
site. Comments should be submitted under docket number ITA-2011-0003-
0001. To find this docket, enter the docket number in the ``Enter 
Keyword or ID'' window at the http://www.regulations.gov home page and 
click ``Search.'' The site will provide a search-results page listing 
all documents associated with that docket number. Find a reference to 
this notice by selecting ``Notice'' under ``Document Type'' on the 
search-results page, and click on the link entitled ``Submit a 
Comment.'' The www.regulations.gov Web site provides the option of 
making submissions by filling in a comments field, or by attaching a 
document. ITA prefers submissions to be provided in an attached 
document. (For further information on using the www.regulations.gov Web 
site, please consult the resources provided on the website by clicking 
on the ``Help'' tab.)
    All comments and recommendations submitted in response to this 
notice will be made available to the public. For any comments submitted 
electronically containing business confidential information, the file 
name of the business confidential version should begin with the 
characters ``BC''. The top of any page containing business confidential 
information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL''. Any 
person filing comments that contain business confidential information 
must also file in a separate submission a public version of the 
comments. The file name of the public version of the comments should 
begin with the character ``P''. The ``BC'' and ``P'' should be followed 
by the name of the person or entity submitting the comments. If a 
comment contains no business confidential information, the file name 
should begin with the character ``P'', followed by the name of the 
person or entity submitting the comments.
    Please do not attach separate cover letters to electronic 
submissions; rather, include any information that might appear in a 
cover letter in the comments

[[Page 11762]]

themselves. Similarly, to the extent possible, please include any 
exhibits, annexes, or other attachments in the same file as the 
submission itself, not as separate files.

    Dated: February 28, 2011.
Michelle O'Neill,
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.
[FR Doc. 2011-4862 Filed 3-2-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DA-P