[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24860-24862]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-10713]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Request for Public Comments Concerning Regulatory Cooperation 
Between the United States and the European Union That Would Help 
Eliminate or Reduce Unnecessary Divergences in Regulation and in 
Standards Used in Regulation That Impede 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 while also protecting public health and safety, 
the environment, intellectual property, and consumers' rights. In our 
trade and investment relationship with the European Union, 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 differences in regulatory measures. These regulatory 
measures--which include standards developed by a government and used in 
regulation, standards developed by other bodies at the request or 
direction of a regulator for use in regulation, or proposals to provide 
a presumption of compliance to technical requirements developed by a 
government--may be unnecessary and may increase costs for producers and 
consumers.
    With this Notice, the Department of Commerce's International Trade 
Administration (ITA), in support of the National Export Initiative 
(NEI) and the U.S.-EU High Level Regulatory Cooperation Forum (HLRCF), 
and pursuant to the Secretary of Commerce's role as the chair of Trade 
Promotion Coordinating Committee, is requesting stakeholders assist the 
Administration identify opportunities for cooperation between the 
United States and the European Union to reduce or eliminate divergences 
in regulatory measures that impede trade in goods in the transatlantic 
marketplace, in ways that may be unnecessary, as well as any existing 
or emerging sectors that may benefit from transatlantic regulatory 
cooperation.
    For more information on U.S.-EU regulatory cooperation, see the Web 
site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/oira_irc_europe.

DATES: The agency must receive comments on or before June 2, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submissions should be made via the internet at http://www.regulations.gov under docket ITA-2011-0006. Please direct written 
submissions to Lori Cooper, Office of the European Union, Department of 
Commerce, Room 3513, 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: With this notice, the Commerce Department, 
on behalf of the Administration, is seeking public input to help 
identify divergences in regulatory measures in the transatlantic 
marketplace, so that the U.S. Government can work cooperatively with 
the European Union to address them.
    President Obama linked trade to job creation when he announced the 
National Export Initiative (NEI) 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. To help achieve this 
goal, the U.S. Government is working to remove unnecessary divergences 
in regulations and in standards used in regulation between the United 
States and the European Union. The European Union, with its 27 member 
countries, is our largest trading partner, accounting for 19 percent of 
U.S. merchandise exports in 2010.
    Since 2005, the U.S. Government has worked with officials from the 
European Commission, within the framework of the U.S.-EU High Level 
Regulatory Cooperation Forum (HLRCF), to strengthen regulatory 
cooperation, to promote better regulation, and to reduce or eliminate 
unnecessary regulatory differences that hinder trade and reduce 
competitiveness, when doing so does not compromise those protections 
Americans expect from their government. In addition, at the conclusion 
of its December 2010 meeting, the Transatlantic Economic Council, 
comprised of Cabinet-level officials from the United States and the 
European Union, endorsed several initiatives aimed at further promoting 
U.S.-EU regulatory cooperation, including directing the HLRCF to 
develop a process for identifying, with stakeholder input, sectors in 
which the United States and the European Union could pursue upstream 
regulatory cooperation.
    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 with key trading partners. For example, 
bilateral trade between the United States and the European Union was 
$559.4 billion in 2010. Despite this extensive trade between the United 
States and the European Union, U.S. exporters indicate that they 
continue to encounter unnecessary transatlantic divergences in 
regulatory measures that impede 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 the European Union as a 
mature market and will seek ways to ease or eliminate unnecessary 
differences in regulation and in standards used in regulation that 
hinder competitiveness and negatively impact trade for U.S. firms, 
including new-to-market and new-to-export businesses, and particularly 
for 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,

[[Page 24861]]

additional costs, and burdens on U.S. suppliers, particularly SMEs, 
and, in some cases, can make it difficult for U.S. suppliers to 
penetrate foreign markets. These divergences can also increase 
regulatory burdens for governments and costs for consumers. In other 
cases, divergences in regulation and in standards used in regulation, 
despite the burdens they impose, may be necessary to achieve legitimate 
objectives such as the protection of the environment and public health 
and safety.
    Cooperation with respect to regulation and standards used in 
regulation 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 are 
allowed legally to share full 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 compliance costs associated with divergent regulatory 
measures, and pass on cost savings to consumers. It is important for 
regulatory cooperation to be transparent and non-discriminatory, reduce 
unnecessary costs and burdens on producers and consumers, and continue 
to fulfill each government's public health, safety, environmental, and 
other legitimate policy objectives.
    Regulatory cooperation may include, e.g., 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, or 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. The outcome of 
any such regulatory cooperation must ensure that each government can 
continue to meet its legitimate policy objectives and advance consumer 
interests.
    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 
the United States and the European Union: 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, and that many already exist between 
certain regulatory agencies of the U.S. government and their 
counterparts in the European Union, 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 cooperation between the United States and the European 
Union.
    Submitters should be as specific as possible in describing the 
relevant product or product sector in which they believe there is an 
opportunity to facilitate trade without undermining U.S. public health, 
safety, environmental, and other legitimate policy objectives. In 
addition, each comment should include, where appropriate: (a) A 
description of the specific measure or measures that the recommendation 
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 the European Union for the product or product 
sector; (d) a description of how and to what degree the regulatory 
measures are affecting trade and their related costs, including for 
SMEs; (e) information that may affect the recommendation's feasibility 
(e.g., U.S. legal, regulatory, confidentiality, or policy constraints, 
or any response from stakeholders or U.S. trading partners the 
recommendation may elicit); (f) estimates of the potential benefits, 
including for SMEs, 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 the relevant government and non-government stakeholders in 
the United States or the European Union; and (h) any other information 
that may assist ITA in considering the recommendation.
    ITA is interested in receiving recommendations concerning any 
product sector that, due to the volume of trade between the United 
States and the European Union, is a justifiable focus of enhanced 
regulatory cooperation. Submitters are encouraged to work with 
counterparts and other interested stakeholders in the United States and 
the European Union to submit comments jointly. ITA will give positive 
consideration to recommendations that demonstrate strong support from 
stakeholders in both the United States and the European Union.
    Requirements for Submissions: In order to ensure the timely receipt 
and consideration of comments, ITA strongly encourages commenters to 
make online submissions, using the http://www.regulations.gov Web site. 
Comments should be submitted under ITA-2011-0006. 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 http://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 http://www.regulations.gov Web site, please 
consult the resources provided on the Web site 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

[[Page 24862]]

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 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: April 27, 2011.
Michael C. Camu[ntilde]ez,
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Market Access and Compliance.
[FR Doc. 2011-10713 Filed 5-2-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DA-P