[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 31, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16824-16828]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06627]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2021-0003]


Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of India's Digital 
Services Tax

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) 
requests written comments regarding a potential trade action in 
connection with the Section 301 investigation of India's Digital 
Services Tax (DST). USTR also will convene virtual public hearings and 
accept rebuttal comments in relation to the potential action.

DATES: 
    April 21, 2021: To be assured of consideration, submit requests to 
appear at a hearing, along with a summary of the testimony, by this 
date.
    April 30, 2021: To be assured of consideration, submit written 
comments by this date.
    May 3, 2021: Multi-jurisdictional virtual hearing on proposed 
actions.
    May 10, 2021: To be assured of consideration, submit multi-
jurisdictional hearing rebuttal comments by this date.

[[Page 16825]]

    May 10, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.: Virtual hearing on India DST proposed 
action.
    May 17, 2021: To be assured of consideration, submit India DST 
hearing rebuttal comments by this date.

ADDRESSES: Submit documents in response to this notice, including 
written comments and hearing appearance requests, through the online 
USTR portal: https://comments.ustr.gov/s/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions concerning the 
investigation, please contact Ben Allen or Patrick Childress, Assistant 
General Counsels at (202) 395-9439 and (202) 395-9531, respectively; 
Robert Tanner, Director, Services and Investment at (202) 395-6125; or 
Brendan Lynch, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South and 
Central Asian Affairs at (202) 395-2851. For issues with on-line 
submissions, please contact the USTR Section 301 line at (202) 395-
5725.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Proceedings in the Investigation

    India has adopted a DST that imposes a two percent tax on revenue 
generated from a broad range of digital services offered in India, 
including digital platform services, digital content sales, digital 
sales of a company's own goods, data-related services, software-as-a-
service, and several other categories of digital services. India's DST 
only applies to ``non-resident'' companies.
    On June 2, 2020, the U.S. Trade Representative initiated an 
investigation of India's DST pursuant to section 302(b)(1)(A) of the 
Trade Act of 1974, as amended (Trade Act). See 85 FR 34709 (June 5, 
2020) (notice of initiation). The notice of initiation solicited 
written comments on, inter alia, the following aspects of India's DST: 
Discrimination against U.S. companies; retroactivity; and possibly 
unreasonable tax policy. With respect to tax policy, USTR solicited 
comments on, inter alia, whether the DST diverged from principles 
reflected in the U.S. and international tax systems including 
extraterritoriality; taxing revenue not income; and a purpose of 
penalizing particular technology companies for their commercial 
success. Interested persons filed over 380 written submissions in 
response. The public submissions are available on www.regulations.gov 
in docket number USTR-2020-0022.
    Under section 303 of the Trade Act, the U.S. Trade Representative 
requested consultations with the government of India regarding the 
issues involved in the investigation. Consultations were held on 
November 5, 2020.
    Based on information obtained during the investigation, USTR 
prepared a comprehensive report on India's DST (India DST Report). The 
India DST Report is posted on the USTR website at https://ustr.gov/issue-areas/enforcement/section-301-investigations/section-301-digital-services-taxes. The report includes a full description of India's DST, 
and supports findings that India's DST is unreasonable and 
discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S commerce.
    On January 6, 2021, based on the information obtained during the 
investigation and the advice of the Section 301 Committee, the U.S. 
Trade Representative determined that India's DST is unreasonable or 
discriminatory and burdens or restricts U.S. commerce, and therefore is 
actionable under sections 301(b) and 304(a) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 
2411(b) and 2414(a)). See 86 FR 2478 (January 12, 2021).

II. Proposed Action

    Section 301(b) provides that upon determining that the acts, 
policies, and practices under investigation are actionable and that 
action is appropriate, the U.S. Trade Representative shall take all 
appropriate and feasible action authorized under section 301(c), 
subject to the specific direction, if any, of the President regarding 
such action, and all other appropriate and feasible action within the 
power of the President that the President may direct the U.S. Trade 
Representative to take under section 301(b), to obtain the elimination 
of that act, policy, or practice.
    Section 301(c)(1)(B) of the Trade Act authorizes the U.S. Trade 
Representative to impose duties on the goods of the foreign country 
subject to the investigation. Pursuant to sections 301(b) and (c), USTR 
proposes that the U.S. Trade Representative should determine that 
action is appropriate and that appropriate action would include the 
imposition of additional ad valorem tariffs on certain products of 
India.
    In particular, USTR proposes to impose additional tariffs of up to 
25 percent ad valorem on an aggregate level of trade that would collect 
duties on goods of India in the range of the amount of DST that India 
is expected to collect from U.S. companies. Initial estimates indicate 
that the value of the DST payable by U.S.-based company groups to India 
will be up to approximately $55 million per year.
    USTR further proposes that the goods of India subject to additional 
tariffs would be drawn from the preliminary list of products in the 
Annex to this notice, as specified by the listed eight-digit tariff 
subheadings.

III. Request for Public Comments

    In accordance with section 304(b) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 
2414(b)), USTR invites comments from interested persons with respect to 
whether action is appropriate, and if so, the appropriate action to be 
taken.
    USTR requests comments with respect to any issue related to the 
action to be taken in this investigation. With respect to the proposed 
tariff action outlined above, USTR specifically invites comments 
regarding:
     The level of the burden or restriction on U.S. commerce 
resulting from India's DST, including the amount of DST payments owed 
by U.S. companies, the annual growth rate of such payments, and other 
effects, such as compliance costs.
     The appropriate aggregate level of trade to be covered by 
additional duties.
     The level of the increase, if any, in the rate of duty.
     The specific products to be subject to increased duties, 
including whether the tariff subheadings listed in the Annex should be 
retained or removed, or whether tariff subheadings not currently on the 
list should be added.
    In commenting on the inclusion or removal of particular products on 
the preliminary list of products subject to the proposed additional 
duties, USTR requests that commenters specifically address whether 
imposing increased duties on a particular product would be practicable 
or effective to obtain the elimination of India's acts, policies, and 
practices, and whether imposing additional duties on a particular 
product would cause disproportionate economic harm to U.S. interests, 
including small- or medium-size businesses and consumers.
    Simultaneously with this notice, USTR also is requesting public 
comments on proposed trade actions in five other DST investigations 
initiated at the same time as the India DST investigation. Certain 
interested persons may wish to provide written comments or oral 
testimony on multi-jurisdictional issues common to two or more 
investigations. To avoid duplication, the USTR portal will have a 
separate docket for multi-jurisdictional submissions, and USTR will 
hold a separate multi-jurisdictional hearing.
    To be assured of consideration, you must submit written comments on 
the proposed action by April 30, 2021, and post-hearing rebuttal 
comments by May 10, 2021 for the multi-jurisdictional hearing, and by 
May 17, 2021 for the India DST hearing.

[[Page 16826]]

IV. Hearing Participation

    The Section 301 Committee will convene a virtual public hearing for 
comments pertaining to the India DST proposed action on May 10, 2021, 
beginning at 9:30 a.m. Those requesting to appear at this hearing 
should have comments applicable only to the India DST proposed action.
    The Section 301 Committee will convene a virtual public hearing for 
comments pertaining to multiple jurisdictions on May 3, 2021, beginning 
at 9:30 a.m. Those requesting to appear at the multi-jurisdictional 
hearing should have comments that are applicable to two or more DST 
investigations.
    For either hearing, you must submit a request to appear at the 
specific hearing using the electronic portal at https://comments.ustr.gov/s/. You will be able to view a docket entitled 
`Request to Appear at Hearing on Proposed Action in Section 301 
Investigation of India's Digital Services Tax.' Requests to appear must 
include a summary of testimony, and may be accompanied by a pre-hearing 
submission. Remarks at the hearing are limited to five minutes to allow 
for possible questions from the Section 301 Committee. All submissions 
must be in English. To be assured of consideration, USTR must receive 
your request to appear by April 21, 2021.

V. Procedures for Written Submissions

    You must submit written comments, rebuttal comments, and requests 
to appear at the hearing using the electronic portal at https://comments.ustr.gov/s. You will be able to view a docket entitled 
`Comments Concerning Proposed Action in Section 301 Investigation of 
India's Digital Services Tax' on the portal, docket number USTR-2021-
0003.
    You do not need to establish an account to submit comments. Fields 
with a gray (BCI) notation are for Business Confidential Information 
and the information entered will not be publicly available. Required 
fields are marked `Required' and will have a red asterisk (*). Fields 
with a green (Public) notation will be viewable by the public.
    The first screen of the portal requires you to enter identification 
and contact information. Third party organizations such as law firms, 
trade associations, or customs brokers should identify the full legal 
name of the organization they represent, and identify the primary point 
of contact for the submission. The remaining fields of the form are 
optional.
    After entering the identification and contact information, you can 
complete the remainder of the questionnaire, or any portion of it by 
clicking `Next.' You can comment on multiple products in a single 
entry, or submit multiple comments. You will be able to navigate 
through each screen of the form by clicking `Next,' with or without 
entering a response to each field on an individual screen or page. 
Additionally, you will be able to upload documents at the end of the 
form and designate whether USTR should treat the documents as business 
confidential or public information.
    For uploads containing BCI, the file name of the business 
confidential version should begin with the characters `BCI'. Any page 
containing BCI must be clearly marked `BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL' on the 
top of that page and the submission should clearly indicate, via 
brackets, highlighting, or other means, the specific information that 
is BCI. If you request business confidential treatment, you must 
certify in writing that disclosure of the information would endanger 
trade secrets or profitability, and that the information would not 
customarily be released to the public. Parties uploading attachments 
containing BCI also must submit a public version of their comments. The 
file name of the public version, which must be uploaded on https://comments.ustr.gov/s/, should begin with the character `P'. The `BCI' 
and `P' should be followed by the name of the person or entity 
submitting the comments or rebuttal comments. If these procedures are 
not sufficient to protect BCI or otherwise protect business interests, 
please contact the USTR Section Hotline 301 line at (202) 395-5725 to 
discuss whether alternative arrangements are possible. USTR will post 
attachments uploaded to the docket for public inspection, except for 
attachments marked as business confidential.
    You can view all public submissions on the USTR portal at https://comments.ustr.gov/s.

Greta Peisch,
General Counsel, Office of the United States Trade Representative.
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[FR Doc. 2021-06627 Filed 3-30-21; 8:45 am]
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