[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51436-51438]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-19934]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2021-0016]


Request for Comments on Significant Foreign Trade Barriers for 
the National Trade Estimate Report

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: October 26, 2021 at midnight EST: Deadline for submission of 
comments.

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-2021-0016. 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 deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Spencer Smith at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-2974.

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 2021 NTE Report on USTR's 
website at https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/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

[[Page 51437]]

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 measures 
applied to protect food safety, or animal and plant life or health that 
are unnecessarily trade restrictive, discriminatory, or not based on 
scientific evidence.
    4. Government procurement restrictions. Examples include closed 
bidding and bidding processes that lack transparency.
    5. Intellectual property protection. Examples include inadequate 
patent, copyright, and trademark regimes, trade secret theft, and 
inadequate enforcement of intellectual property rights.
    6. Services. Examples include prohibitions or restrictions on 
foreign participation in the market, discriminatory licensing 
requirements or standards, local-presence requirements, and 
unreasonable restrictions on what services may be offered.
    7. 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.
    8. Investment. Examples include limitations on foreign equity 
participation and on access to foreign government-funded research and 
development programs, local content requirements, technology transfer 
requirements and export performance requirements, and restrictions on 
repatriation of earnings, capital, fees, and royalties.
    9. Subsidies, especially export subsidies and local content 
subsidies. Examples of export subsidies include subsidies contingent 
upon export 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.
    10. Competition. Examples include government-tolerated 
anticompetitive conduct of state-owned or private firms that restricts 
the sale or purchase of U.S. goods or services in the foreign country's 
markets or abuse of competition laws to inhibit trade; fairness and due 
process concerns by companies involved in competition investigatory and 
enforcement proceedings in the country.
    11. State-owned enterprises. Examples include subsidies to and from 
industrial state-owned enterprises involved in the manufacture or 
production of non-agricultural goods or in the provision of services, 
as well as industrial state-owned enterprises that could contribute to 
overcapacity, or discriminating against foreign goods or services, 
acting inconsistently with commercial considerations in the purchase 
and sale of goods and services in cases in which these polices 
constitute significant barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. exports of 
goods and services, U.S. investment, or U.S. electronic commerce, which 
may negatively affect U.S. firms and workers.
    12. Labor. Examples include concerns with failures by a government 
to protect internationally recognized worker rights, including through 
failures to eliminate forced labor, or failures to eliminate 
discrimination in respect of employment or occupation, in cases where 
these failures influence trade flows or investment decisions in ways 
that constitute significant barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. 
exports of goods and services, U.S. investment, or U.S. electronic 
commerce, which may negatively affect U.S. firms and workers. 
Internationally recognized worker rights include the right of 
association; the right to organize and bargain collectively; a 
prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory labor; a 
minimum age for the employment of children, and a prohibition on the 
worst forms of child labor; and acceptable conditions of work with 
respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and 
health.
    13. Environment. Examples include concerns with a government's 
levels of environmental protection, unsustainable stewardship of 
natural resources, and harmful environmental practices that constitute 
significant barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and 
services, U.S. investment, or U.S. electronic commerce, which may 
negatively affect U.S. firms and workers.
    14. 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, 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, 
Uruguay, and Vietnam.
    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 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 
2021 NTE Report as well as information on new barriers. If USTR does 
not include in the 2022 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, foreign direct investment, or electronic commerce 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 $25 million; $25 million to $100 
million; $100 million to $500 million; and over $500 million.

IV. Requirements for Submissions

    Persons submitting written comments must do so in English and must 
identify on the first page of the submission `Comments Regarding 
Foreign Trade

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Barriers to U.S. Exports for 2022 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 Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at midnight 
EST. USTR strongly encourages commenters to make online submissions, 
using Regulations.gov. To submit comments via Regulations.gov, enter 
docket number USTR-2021-0016 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 no business confidential 
information (BCI) should name their file using the name of the person 
or entity submitting the comments. For any comments submitted 
electronically containing 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 submissions through 
Regulations.gov. You must make any alternative arrangements with 
Spencer Smith at [email protected] or (202) 395-2974 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 the Regulations.gov 
by entering docket number USTR-2021-0016 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. 2021-19934 Filed 9-14-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F1-P