[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 157 (Thursday, August 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49412-49414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17662]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2020-0032]


Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning 
Russia's Implementation of Its WTO Commitments

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will seek 
public comment to assist the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative (USTR) in the preparation of its annual report to 
Congress on Russia's

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implementation of its obligations as a Member of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO). Due to COVID-19, the TPSC will foster public 
participation via written submissions rather than an in-person hearing. 
This notice includes the schedule for submission of comments and 
responses to questions from the TPSC for the Russia WTO implementation 
report.

DATES: 
    September 21, 2020 (Monday) at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for 
submission of written comments on 2020 Russia WTO implementation 
report.
    September 30, 2020 (Wednesday) at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for the 
TPSC to pose questions on written comments.
    October 9, 2020 (Friday) at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for submission 
of responses to questions from the TPSC.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov 
(Regulations.gov). Follow the instructions for submitting comments in 
section III below. The docket number is USTR-2020-0032. For 
alternatives to online submissions, please contact Yvonne Jamison at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-3475 before transmitting a 
comment and in advance of the relevant deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning 
written comments, contact Yvonne Jamison at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-3475. Direct all other 
questions to Betsy Hafner, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative 
for Russia and Eurasia at [email protected] or (202) 395-
9124.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Russia became a Member of the WTO on August 22, 2012. On December 
21, 2012, following the termination of the application of the Jackson-
Vanik amendment to Russia and the extension of permanent normal trade 
relations to the products of Russia, the United States and Russia both 
filed letters with the WTO withdrawing their notices of non-application 
and consenting to have the WTO Agreement apply between them. In 
accordance with section 201(a) of the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik 
Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 
(Pub. L. 112-208), USTR annually is required to submit a report to 
Congress on the extent to which Russia is implementing the WTO 
Agreement, including the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of 
Intellectual Property Rights. The Russia WTO implementation report also 
must assess Russia's progress on acceding to and implementing the 
Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the Government Procurement 
Agreement (GPA). In addition, to the extent that USTR finds that Russia 
is not implementing fully any WTO agreement or is not making adequate 
progress in acceding to the ITA or the GPA, USTR must describe in the 
Russia WTO implementation report the actions it plans to take to 
encourage Russia to improve its implementation and/or increase its 
accession efforts. In accordance with section 201(a), and to assist it 
in preparing this year's report, the TPSC is soliciting public 
comments.
    The terms of Russia's accession to the WTO are contained in the 
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and the 
Protocol on the Accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO 
(including its annexes) (Protocol). The Report of the Working Party on 
the Accession of the Russian Federation (Working Party Report) provides 
detail and context to the commitments listed in the Protocol. You can 
find the Protocol and Working Party Report on USTR's website at https://ustr.gov/node/5887 or on the WTO website at http://docsonline.wto.org 
(document symbols: WT/ACC/RUS/70, WT/MIN(11)/2, WT/MIN(11)/24, WT/L/
839, WT/ACC/RUS/70/Add.1, WT/MIN(11)/2/Add.1, WT/ACC/RUS/70/Add.2, and 
WT/MIN(11)/2/Add.1.)

II. Public Participation

    Due to COVID-19, the TPSC will foster public participation via 
written submissions rather than an in-person hearing on Russia's 
implementation of its WTO commitments. USTR invites public comments on 
Russia's implementation according to the schedule set out in the Dates 
section above. Written comments should address Russia's implementation 
of the commitments made in connection with its accession to the WTO, 
including, but not limited to, commitments in the following areas:
    a. Import regulation (e.g., tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, quotas, 
import licenses).
    b. Export regulation.
    c. Subsidies.
    d. Standards and technical regulations.
    e. Sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
    f. Trade-related investment measures (including local content 
requirements).
    g. Taxes and charges levied on imports and exports.
    h. Other internal policies affecting trade.
    i. Intellectual property rights (including intellectual property 
rights enforcement).
    j. Services.
    k. Government procurement.
    l. Rule of law issues (e.g., transparency, judicial review, uniform 
administration of laws and regulations).
    m. Other WTO commitments.
    The TPSC will review comments and may ask clarifying questions to 
commenters. The TPSC will post the questions on the public docket, 
other than questions that include properly designated business 
confidential information (BCI). USTR will send questions that include 
properly designated BCI to the relevant commenters by email, and will 
not post these questions on the public docket. Replies to questions 
that contain BCI must follow the procedures in section IV below.

III. Requirements for Submissions

    To ensure consideration, interested parties must submit comments 
and responses to TPSC questions electronically via Regulations.gov by 
the applicable deadlines in the Dates section above. The docket number 
is USTR-2020-0032. All submissions must be in English. USTR will not 
accept hand-delivered submissions.
    To submit comments using Regulations.gov, enter docket number USTR-
2020-0032 in the `search for field on the home page and click `search.' 
The site will provide a search-results page listing all documents 
associated with this docket. Find a reference to this notice by 
selecting `notice' under `document type' in the `filter results by' 
section on the left side of the screen and click on the link entitled 
`comment now.' Regulations.gov offers the option of providing comments 
by filling in a `type comment' field or by attaching a document using 
the `upload file(s)' field. USTR prefers that you provide submissions 
in an attached document and, in such cases, that you write `see 
attached in the `type' comment field, on the online submission form. In 
addition, USTR prefers submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe 
Acrobat (.pdf). If the submission is in an application other than those 
two, please indicate the name of the application in the `type comment' 
field. At the beginning of the submission, include the following text: 
(1) 2020 Russia WTO Implementation Report, (2) your organization's 
name, and (3) whether the document is a comment or an answer to a TPSC 
question. Written comments should not exceed 30 single-spaced, standard 
letter-size pages in 12-point type, including attachments. Include any 
data

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attachments to the submission in the same file as the submission 
itself, and not as separate files.
    When you complete the submission procedure at Regulations.gov, you 
will receive a tracking number confirming successful transmission into 
Regulations.gov. For further information on using the 
www.regulations.gov website, please consult the resources provided on 
the website by clicking on `How to Use Regulations.gov' on the bottom 
of the home page. USTR is not able to provide technical assistance for 
Regulations.gov.

IV. Business Confidential (BCI) Submissions

    A commenter requesting that USTR treat information contained in a 
submission as BCI must certify that the information is business 
confidential and they would not customarily release it to the public. 
You must clearly designate BCI by marking the submission ``BUSINESS 
CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and bottom of the cover page and on each 
succeeding page, and indicating, via brackets, the specific information 
that is BCI. Additionally, you must include `business confidential' in 
the `type comment' field and add the designation BCI to the end of the 
file name for any attachments. For any submission containing BCI, you 
must separately submit a non-confidential version, i.e., not as part of 
the same submission with the BCI version, indicating where confidential 
information has been redacted. USTR will post the non-confidential 
version in the docket for public inspection.

V. Public Viewing of Review Submissions

    USTR will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except 
business confidential information. You can view comments at 
Regulations.gov by entering docket number USTR-2020-0032 in the search 
field on the home page. General information concerning USTR is 
available at www.ustr.gov.

Edward Gresser,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2020-17662 Filed 8-12-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F0-P