[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 23, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3185-3186]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01156]


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INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Investigation No. 332-562 and Investigation No. 332-563]


Global Digital Trade 2: The Business-to-Business Market, Key 
Foreign Trade Restrictions, and U.S. Competitiveness; and Global 
Digital Trade 3: The Business-to-Consumer Market, Key Foreign Trade 
Restrictions, and U.S. Competitiveness; Scheduling of Hearing

AGENCY: United States International Trade Commission.

ACTION: Scheduling of public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Commission has scheduled a public hearing for March 6, 
2018, in connection with the second and third of three investigations 
on global digital trade: Investigation No. 332-562, Global Digital 
Trade 2: The Business-to-Business Market, Key Foreign Trade 
Restrictions, and U.S. Competitiveness; and investigation No. 332-563, 
Global Digital Trade 3: The Business-to-Consumer Market, Key Foreign 
Trade Restrictions, and U.S. Competitiveness. Procedures relating to 
participation are set forth below.

DATES: 
February 20, 2018: Deadline for filing request to appear at the public 
hearing
February 26, 2018: Deadline for filing pre-hearing briefs and 
statements
March 6, 2018: Public hearing
March 20, 2018: Deadline for filing post-hearing briefs and statements
April 6, 2018: Deadline for filing all other written submissions for 
investigation No. 332-362
August 15, 2018: Deadline for filing all other written submissions for 
investigation No. 332-563

ADDRESSES: All Commission offices, including the Commission's hearing 
rooms, are located in the United States International Trade Commission 
Building, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC. All written submissions 
should be addressed to the Secretary, United States International Trade 
Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436. The public file for 
these investigations may be reviewed on the Commission's electronic 
docket (EDIS) at https://edis.usitc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information relating to Global 
Digital Trade 2, contact co-Project Leaders Dan Kim (202-205-3234 or 
[email protected]) and Alissa Tafti (202-205-3244 or 
[email protected]); and for information relating to Global Digital 
Trade 3, contact Project Leader Ricky Ubee (202-205-3493 or 
[email protected]) or Deputy Project Leader Christopher Robinson 
(202-205-2602 or [email protected]). For information on 
the legal aspects of these investigations, contact William Gearhart in 
the Commission's Office of the General Counsel (202-205-3091 or 
[email protected]). The media should contact Margaret 
O'Laughlin, Office of External Relations (202-205-1819 or 
[email protected]). Hearing-impaired individuals may obtain 
information on this matter by contacting the Commission's TDD terminal 
at 202-205-1810. General information concerning the Commission may also 
be obtained by accessing its website (https://www.usitc.gov). Persons 
with mobility impairments who will need special assistance in gaining 
access to the Commission should contact the Office of the Secretary at 
202-205-2000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In his letter of January 13, 2017, the 
United States Trade Representative (USTR) requested that the Commission 
conduct three investigations and prepare three reports relating to 
global digital trade. The Commission delivered the first of these 
reports, Global Digital Trade 1: Market Opportunities and Key Foreign 
Trade Restrictions, on August 29, 2017 and released it to the public on 
September 28, 2017.
    The Commission invites members of the public with an interest in 
the matter to participate in a hearing for the second and third 
investigations in this series and provide information that relates to 
the reports that the Commission has been asked to prepare. For the 
second report (Global Digital Trade 2: The Business-to-Business Market, 
Key Foreign Trade Restrictions, and U.S. Competitiveness) the USTR 
requested that the Commission, based on available information, 
including a survey of U.S. firms in selected industries particularly 
involved in digital trade:
     Provide qualitative, and to the extent possible, 
quantitative analysis of measures in key foreign markets (identified in 
the first report) that affect the ability of U.S. firms to develop and/
or supply business-to-business digital products and services abroad; 
and

[[Page 3186]]

     Assess, using case studies or other qualitative and 
quantitative methods, the impact of these measures on the 
competitiveness of U.S. firms engaged in the sale of digital products 
and services, as well as on international trade and investment flows 
associated with digital products and services related to significant 
business-to-business technologies.
    The Commission expects to deliver this second report to the USTR by 
October 29, 2018.
    For the third report (Global Digital Trade 3: The Business-to-
Consumer Market, Key Foreign Trade Restrictions, and U.S. 
Competitiveness) the USTR requested that the Commission, based on 
available information, including a survey of U.S firms in selected 
industries particularly involved in digital trade:
     Provide qualitative, and to the extent possible, 
quantitative analysis of measures in key foreign markets (identified in 
the first report) that affect the ability of U.S. firms to develop and/
or supply business-to-consumer digital products and services abroad; 
and
     Assess, using case studies or other qualitative and 
quantitative methods, the impact of these measures on the 
competitiveness of U.S. firms engaged in the sale of digital products 
and services, as well as on international trade and investment flows 
associated with digital products and services related to significant 
business-to-consumer technologies.
    The Commission expects to deliver this third report to the USTR by 
March 29, 2019.
    Public Hearing: A public hearing in connection with the second and 
third investigations will be held at the U.S. International Trade 
Commission Building, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC, beginning at 9:30 
a.m. on March 6, 2018. Requests to appear at the public hearing should 
be filed with the Secretary, no later than 5:15 p.m. on February 20, 
2018, in accordance with the requirements in the ``Written 
Submissions'' section below. All pre-hearing briefs and statements 
should be filed no later than 5:15 p.m. on February 26, 2018; and all 
post-hearing briefs and statements responding to matters raised at the 
hearing should be filed no later than 5:15 p.m. on March 20, 2018. In 
the event that, as of the close of business on February 20, 2018, no 
witnesses are scheduled to appear at the hearing, the hearing will be 
canceled. Any person interested in attending the hearing as an observer 
or nonparticipant should contact the Office of the Secretary at 202-
205-2000 after February 20, 2018, for information concerning whether 
the hearing will be held.
    Written Submissions: In lieu of or in addition to participating in 
the hearing, interested parties are invited to file written submissions 
concerning these investigations. All written submissions should be 
addressed to the Secretary. Written submissions relating to 
investigation No. 332-562, or both investigation Nos. 332-562 and 332-
563, should be received no later than 5:15 p.m. on April 6, 2018. 
Written submissions relating only to investigation No. 332-563 should 
be received no later than 5:15 p.m. on August 15, 2018. All written 
submissions must conform with the provisions of section 201.8 of the 
Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (19 CFR 201.8). Section 
201.8 and the Commission's Handbook on Filing Procedures require that 
interested parties file documents electronically on or before the 
filing deadline and submit eight (8) true paper copies by 12:00 p.m. 
eastern time on the next business day. In the event that confidential 
treatment of a document is requested, interested parties must file, at 
the same time as the eight paper copies, at least four (4) additional 
true paper copies in which the confidential information must be deleted 
(see the following paragraphs for further information regarding 
confidential business information or ``CBI''). Persons with questions 
regarding electronic filing should contact the Office of the Secretary, 
Docket Services Division (202-205-1802).
    Confidential Business Information: Any submissions that contain CBI 
must also conform to the requirements of section 201.6 of the 
Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure (19 CFR 201.6). Section 
201.6 of the rules requires that the cover of the document and the 
individual pages be clearly marked as to whether they are the 
``confidential'' or ``non-confidential'' version, and that CBI is 
clearly identified by means of brackets. All written submissions, 
except for those containing CBI, will be made available for inspection 
by interested parties.
    All information, including CBI, submitted in these two 
investigations may be disclosed to and used: (i) By the Commission, its 
employees and Offices, and contract personnel (a) for developing or 
maintaining the records of this or a related proceeding, or (b) in 
internal investigations, audits, reviews, and evaluations relating to 
the programs, personnel, and operations of the Commission including 
under 5 U.S.C. Appendix 3; or (ii) by U.S. government employees and 
contract personnel (a) for cybersecurity purposes or (b) in monitoring 
user activity on U.S. government classified networks. The Commission 
will not otherwise disclose any CBI in a manner that would reveal the 
operations of the firm supplying the information.
    Reports To Be Classified and Privileged: In his request letter, the 
USTR said that, in accordance with USTR policy on implementing 
Executive Order 13526, as amended, he was directing the Commission to 
mark or identify as ``Confidential,'' for a period of ten years, such 
portions of the Commission's second and third reports and related 
working papers that contain the Commission's analysis of the impact of 
barriers to digital trade on (1) U.S. imports and exports of digital 
products and services and (2) the competitiveness of U.S. companies. 
The USTR also indicated that he intends to treat the Commission's 
second and third reports as interagency memoranda containing 
predecisional advice subject to the deliberative process privilege.
    Summaries of Written Submissions: The Commission intends to include 
summaries of the written submissions filed by interested persons in the 
second and third reports. Persons wishing to have a summary of their 
submission included in the reports should include a summary with their 
written submission. The summary may not exceed 500 words, should be in 
MSWord format or a format that can be easily converted to MSWord, and 
should not include any CBI. The summary will be included in the reports 
as provided if it meets requirements and is germane to the subject 
matter of the investigation. The Commission will identify the name of 
the organization furnishing the summary and will include a link to the 
Commission's Electronic Document Information System (EDIS) where the 
full written submission can be found.
    Notice of institution of the second and third investigations in 
this series was published in the Federal Register on May 8, 2017 (82 FR 
21404); notice of institution of the first investigation in this series 
was published in the Federal Register on February 10, 2017 (82 FR 
10397).

    By order of the Commission.

    Issued: January 18, 2018.
Lisa R. Barton,
Secretary to the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2018-01156 Filed 1-22-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7020-02-P