[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 176 (Thursday, September 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55925-55926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19985]



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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2020-0034]


Request for Comments To Compile the National Trade Estimate 
Report on Foreign Trade Barriers

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), 
through the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), publishes the National 
Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE Report) each year. 
USTR invites comments to assist it and the TPSC in identifying 
significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods and services, U.S. 
foreign direct investment, and the protection and enforcement of 
intellectual property rights for inclusion in the NTE Report. USTR also 
will consider responses to this notice as part of the annual review of 
the operation and effectiveness of all U.S. trade agreements regarding 
telecommunications products and services that are in force with respect 
to the United States.

DATES: The deadline for submission of comments is October 29, 2020 at 
midnight EST.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov 
(Regulations.gov). The instructions for submitting comments are in 
section IV below. The docket number is USTR-2020-0034. For alternatives 
to on-line submissions, please contact Yvonne Jamison at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-3475 before transmitting a 
comment and in advance of the deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne Jamison at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-3475.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Section 181 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2241), 
requires USTR annually to publish the NTE Report, which sets out an 
inventory of the most significant foreign barriers affecting U.S. 
exports of goods and services, including agricultural commodities, U.S. 
intellectual property, U.S. foreign direct investment by U.S. persons, 
especially if such investment has implications for trade in goods or 
services, and U.S. electronic commerce. The inventory facilitates U.S. 
negotiations aimed at reducing or eliminating these barriers and is a 
valuable tool in enforcing U.S. trade laws and strengthening the rules-
based trading system. You can find the 2020 NTE Report on USTR's 
website at https://www.ustr.gov under the tab `Reports and 
Publications.' To ensure compliance with the statutory mandate for the 
NTE Report and the Administration's commitment to focus on the most 
significant foreign trade barriers, USTR will take comments in response 
to this notice into account in deciding which restrictions to include 
in the NTE Report.

II. Topics on Which the TPSC Seeks Information

    To assist USTR in preparing the NTE Report, commenters should 
submit information related to one or more of the following categories 
of foreign trade barriers:
    1. Import policies. Examples include tariffs and other import 
charges, quantitative restrictions, import licensing, pre-shipment 
inspection, customs barriers and shortcomings in trade facilitation or 
in valuation practices, and other market access barriers.
    2. Technical barriers to trade. Examples include unnecessarily 
trade restrictive or discriminatory standards, conformity assessment 
procedures, labeling, or technical regulations, including unnecessary 
or discriminatory technical regulations or standards for 
telecommunications products.
    3. Sanitary and phytosanitary measures. Examples include trade 
restrictions implemented through unwarranted measures not based on 
scientific evidence.
    4. Subsidies, especially export subsidies and local content 
subsidies. Examples of export subsidies include all subsidies 
contingent upon export of performance and agricultural export subsidies 
that displace U.S. exports in third country markets. Examples of local 
content subsidies include subsidies contingent on the purchase or use 
of domestic rather than imported goods.
    5. Government procurement restrictions. Examples include `buy 
national policies' and closed bidding.
    6. Intellectual property protection. Examples include inadequate 
patent, copyright, and trademark regimes and inadequate enforcement of 
intellectual property rights.
    7. Services barriers. Examples include prohibitions or restrictions 
on foreign participation in the market, discriminatory licensing 
requirements or regulatory standards, local-presence requirements, and 
unreasonable restrictions on the types of services that providers may 
offer.
    8. Barriers to digital trade and electronic commerce. Examples 
include barriers to cross-border data flows, including data 
localization requirements, discriminatory practices affecting trade in 
digital products, restrictions on the provision of internet-enabled 
services, and other restrictive technology requirements.
    9. Investment barriers. Examples include limitations on foreign 
equity participation and on access to foreign government-funded 
research and development programs, local content requirements, 
technology transfer and export performance requirements, and 
restrictions on repatriation of earnings, capital, fees, and royalties.
    10. Competition. Examples include government-tolerated 
anticompetitive conduct of state-owned or private firms that restrict 
the sale or purchase of U.S. goods or services in the foreign country's 
markets, or abuse of competition laws to inhibit trade.
    11. Other barriers. Examples include barriers that encompass more 
than one category, such as bribery and corruption, or that affect a 
single sector.
    Commenters should submit information related to one or more of the 
following export markets to be covered in the report: Algeria, Angola, 
the Arab League, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, 
Brazil, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa 
Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, 
Ethiopia, the European Union, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, 
India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Laos, 
Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, 
Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, 
Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, 
Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (UK),\1\ 
Uruguay, and Vietnam.
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    \1\ Note: The UK formally left the European Union (EU) on 
January 31, 2020. However, under the terms of its Withdrawal 
Agreement, it remains subject to the EU trade policy regime, 
including the EU Customs Union and Single Market, until January 1, 
2021. During this time, the UK is developing its own domestic trade 
policy regime. USTR welcomes comments on existing trade barriers in 
the UK market (as a result of its relationship with the EU) or 
concerns regarding potential new trade barriers as the UK leaves the 
EU trade policy regime in 2021.
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    In addition, section 1377 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness 
Act of 1988 (19 U.S.C. 3106) (section 1377) requires USTR annually to 
review

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the operation and effectiveness of U.S. telecommunications trade 
agreements that are in force with respect to the United States. The 
purpose of the review is to determine whether any foreign government 
that is a party to one of those agreements is failing to comply with 
that government's obligations or is otherwise denying, within the 
context of a relevant agreement, ``mutually advantageous market 
opportunities'' to U.S. telecommunication products or services 
suppliers. USTR will consider responses to this notice in the review 
called for in section 1377.
    Commenters should place particular emphasis on any practices that 
may violate U.S. trade agreements. USTR also is interested in receiving 
new or updated information pertinent to the barriers covered in the 
2020 NTE Report as well as information on new barriers. If USTR does 
not include in the 2021 NTE Report information that it receives 
pursuant to this notice, it will maintain the information for potential 
use in future discussions or negotiations with trading partners.

III. Estimate of Increase in Exports

    Each comment should include an estimate of the potential increase 
in U.S. exports that would result from removing any foreign trade 
barrier the comment identifies, as well as a description of the 
methodology the commenter used to derive the estimate. Commenters 
should express estimates within the following value ranges: Less than 
$10 million, $10 million to $25 million, $25 million to $100 million, 
$100 million to $500 million, and over $500 million. These estimates 
will help USTR conduct comparative analyses of a barrier's effect over 
a range of industries.

IV. Requirements for Submissions

    Comments must be in English and must identify on the first page of 
the submission `Comments Regarding Foreign Trade Barriers to U.S. 
Exports for 2021 Reporting.' Commenters providing information on 
foreign trade barriers in more than one country should, whenever 
possible, provide a separate submission for each country.
    The submission deadline is Thursday, October 29, 2020, at midnight 
EST. USTR strongly encourages commenters to make on-line submissions, 
using Regulations.gov. To submit comments via Regulations.gov, enter 
docket number USTR-2020-0034 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 and click 
on the link entitled `comment now.' For further information on using 
Regulations.gov, please consult the resources provided on the website 
by clicking on `How to Use Regulations.gov' on the bottom of the home 
page.
    Regulations.gov allows users to submit comments by filling in a 
`type comment' field, or by attaching a document using an `upload file' 
field. USTR prefers that you provide comments in an attached document. 
If you attach a document, please identify the name of the country to 
which the submission pertains in the `type comment' field, e.g., see 
attached comments with respect to (name of country). USTR prefers 
submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). If you 
use an application other than those two, please indicate the name of 
the application in the `type comment' field.
    Filers submitting comments containing that do not include business 
confidential information (BCI) should name their file using the name of 
the person or entity submitting the comments. For any comments 
submitted electronically that contain BCI, the file name of the 
business confidential version should begin with the characters `BCI.' 
Clearly mark any page containing BCI with `BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL' on 
the top of that page. Filers of submissions containing BCI also must 
submit a public version of their comments that USTR will place in the 
docket for public inspection. The file name of the public version 
should begin with the character `P.' Follow the `BCI' and `P' with 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.
    As noted, USTR strongly urges that you file comments through 
Regulations.gov. You must make any alternative arrangements with Yvonne 
Jamison at [email protected] or (202) 395-3475 before 
transmitting a comment and in advance of the deadline.
    USTR will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except 
properly designated BCI. You can view comments on Regulations.gov by 
entering docket number USTR-2020-0034 in the search field on the home 
page. General information concerning USTR is available at https://www.ustr.gov.

Edward Gresser,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2020-19985 Filed 9-9-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F0-P