[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 155 (Monday, August 16, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45797-45798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-17477]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2021-0014]


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) is seeking 
public comments to assist the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative (USTR) in the preparation of its annual report to 
Congress on Russia's 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 
report.

DATES: 
    September 22, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for submission of 
written comments for the 2021 Russia WTO Implementation Report.
    September 30, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for the TPSC to pose 
questions on written comments.
    October 20, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for submission of 
commenters' responses to questions from the TPSC.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov (REGS.GOV). 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments in section III below. 
The docket number is USTR-2021-0014. For alternatives to online 
submissions, please contact Spencer Smith at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-2974 before transmitting a 
comment and in advance of the relevant deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning 
written comments, contact Spencer Smith at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-2974. 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, and 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 is required annually 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 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 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.

[[Page 45798]]

III. Requirements for Submissions

    To ensure consideration, interested parties must submit comments 
and responses to TPSC questions electronically via REGS.GOV by the 
applicable deadlines in the DATES section above. The docket number is 
USTR-2021-0014. All submissions must be in English. USTR will not 
accept hand-delivered submissions.
    To submit comments using REGS.GOV, enter docket number USTR-2021-
0014 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. REGS.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) 2021 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 attachments to the submission in the same file as the submission 
itself, and not as separate files.
    When you complete the submission procedure at REGS.GOV you will 
receive a tracking number confirming successful transmission. For 
further information on using REGS.GOV, 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 REGS.GOV.

IV. Business Confidential Submissions

    An interested party requesting that USTR treat information 
contained in a submission as BCI must certify that the information is 
business confidential and would not customarily be released to the 
public by the submitter. 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 separately must submit a non-
confidential version, i.e., not as part of the same submission with the 
BCI version, indicating where BCI 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 
BCI. You can view comments at REGS.GOV by entering docket number USTR-
2021-0014 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. 2021-17477 Filed 8-13-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F1-P