[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 129 (Friday, July 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43286-43288]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14418]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration


Opportunity To Comment on the Modernization of the Export 
Promotion Services and Assistance Delivered by the U.S. and Foreign 
Commercial Service

AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade 
Administration (ITA) includes the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service 
(CS), which assists and advocates for U.S. businesses in international 
markets to foster U.S. economic prosperity. Utilizing its network of 
trade promotion and policy professionals located in 79 countries and 
106 U.S. locations, CS promotes U.S. exports, especially among small 
and medium-sized enterprises; advances and protects U.S. commercial 
interests overseas; and attracts inward investment into the United 
States. CS is seeking feedback from the general public--including 
businesses that are new to exporting or not currently exporting--on 
ways to modernize services for the 21st century. CS is reviewing its 
services to assess their effectiveness in meeting the needs of U.S. 
exporters and identify opportunities to innovate and enhance services 
offered, with the objective of driving U.S. innovation and global 
competitiveness by increasing U.S. exports and ensuring more U.S. 
regions benefit, as well as workers and businesses from underserved 
communities.

DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. EDT, 30 days from 
publication, for consideration in the immediate review.

ADDRESSES: Respondents are encouraged to provide feedback 
electronically at: https://trade.gov/cs-innovate. Respondents who do 
not wish to submit feedback via the website may submit written comments 
to the point of contact identified below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Carlos Ortiz, International Trade 
Administration, Global Markets, Office of Strategy & Engagement, 1401 
Constitution Avenue NW, Rm. 21022, Washington, DC 20230, Phone: (202) 
768-0821, Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: CS launched this review of the services it 
provides to ensure services are designed to meet the needs of the U.S. 
exporters

[[Page 43287]]

and the business community in the future. These services are intended 
to provide the resources and assistance that U.S. businesses need to 
successfully research, evaluate, and expand into global markets. Public 
feedback will help ITA to better understand what assistance is most 
helpful and to identify opportunities to innovate and enhance the types 
of services and delivery methods offered by CS (e.g., virtual versus 
in-person). The service review includes:
     Resources that equip U.S. businesses with the knowledge to 
achieve their export objectives, such as market research by industry or 
country.
     Fee-based services that provide businesses with 
standardized or customized assistance for attracting and connecting 
with foreign buyers. Fee-based services include business-to-business 
matchmaking, promotional events and campaigns, and individualized 
market research.
     Trade events such as trade missions and educational 
seminars; additional services offered at trade events and trade shows 
include business-to-business matchmaking and export counseling. CS 
Staff also recruit international buyer delegations to attend U.S. trade 
shows, and help businesses expand global sales at trade events.
     Other direct or indirect support provided by the CS.
    Please visit Export Solutions for a better understanding of all the 
services and assistance the CS provides to the U.S. business and export 
community.
    To submit feedback, complete the following questions (OMB Control 
Number 0625-0275, expiration date 31 December 2024) and submit them to 
[email protected]:
    1. What assistance would be most useful or important to your 
business?
    2. What assistance is most difficult to obtain?
    3. What assistance do you think we (the ITA/CS) need to provide?
    4. If you are a U.S. based company, what is your zip code?
    5. How would you describe your level of exporting experience?

[cir] Not Yet Exporting
[cir] New to Export
[cir] Experienced Exporter
[cir] N/A

    6. Is your company . . . (check all that apply)

[cir] Woman-owned
[cir] Veteran-owned
[cir] Minority-owned
[cir] Disabled-owned

    For additional information about current CS services and 
assistance, please see the following resources.
    a. https://www.trade.gov/all-services: This site provides a listing 
of the export and investment services available from the CS.
    b. https://trade.gov/attend-event: This site allows visitors to 
search all CS events by type of event, industry, or location.
    c. https://www.trade.gov/us-commercial-service-user-fees: This site 
provides a full listing of the CS user fee schedule for export and 
investment promotion services.
    d. https://trade.gov/export-solutions: This site provides practical 
advice and business tools to help U.S. companies expand in global 
markets.
    For reference, CS currently provides the following fee-based export 
assistance and services:
    e. Business Service Provider: The Business Service Provider is an 
online program to help U.S. exporters identify professional export 
service providers to support them in the assessment, financing, or 
completion of an export transaction.
    f. Certified Trade Mission: The Certified Trade Mission program 
offers services to support overseas events that are planned, organized, 
recruited, and led by private and public sector export-oriented groups 
outside of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
    g. Conference: Conferences are events organized by CS to provide 
U.S. firms with export knowledge and/or market intelligence from 
experts located around the globe or to advertise the opportunities for 
investment promotion to foreign companies.
    h. Contact List: The Contact List service provides U.S. firms with 
a contact list of five (5) to ten (10) potential agents, distributors, 
and partners in a foreign market.
    i. Customized Market Research: The Customized Market Research 
service provides answers beyond general counseling/market research to 
client questions specific to their products/services in a market.
    j. Featured U.S. Exporter: The Featured U.S. Exporters Listing 
service provides U.S. companies with an opportunity to enhance their 
international marketing efforts through improved search engine 
optimization.
    k. Foreign Buyer Delegation: The Foreign Buyer Delegation service 
offers resources to foreign buyer delegates to U.S. trade events 
seeking U.S. suppliers of goods/services.
    l. Gold Key Service: The Gold Key Service provides U.S. firms 
traveling to a foreign market with appointments to establish 
relationships with pre-screened potential overseas agents, 
distributors, sales representatives, business partners, and other local 
entities in-country.
    m. Initial Market Check: The Initial Market Check service is an 
initial assessment of the market potential of a client's product or 
service in a targeted market.
    n. International Company Profile: The International Company Profile 
service provides U.S. companies with in-depth background check 
information on a specific foreign company to help determine its 
suitability as a potential business partner.
    o. International Partner Search: The International Partner Search 
service provides U.S. companies with a list of up to five (5) potential 
agents, partners, or distributors that have expressed an interest in 
the client's product or service.
    p. International Partner Search + Virtual Introductions: The 
International Partner Search + Virtual Introductions service provides 
the same as the International Partner Search service listed above, but 
also includes virtual introductions via conference calls with up to 
five of the contacts identified.
    q. Official Letter: The Official Letter service issues official 
letters to U.S. businesses when necessary for businesses to comply with 
local regulatory requirements to conduct business in these local 
markets.
    r. Other Services/Events: The Other Service and Event offering 
provides clients with export or investment promotion assistance within 
the scope of CS authorities that is not within the scope of one of the 
CS standard service offerings.
    s. Seminar: Seminars are events organized by CS offices to provide 
U.S. firms with export knowledge and/or market intelligence from 
experts located around the globe or to advertise the opportunities for 
investment promotion to foreign companies.
    t. Single Company Promotion: The Single Company Promotion service 
provides U.S. companies with promotional services to help increase the 
awareness of their product/service in a specific market.
    u. Trade Event: Trade events are events organized by CS offices to 
help U.S. businesses navigate the increasingly complex global 
marketplace.
    v. Trade Show Representation: The Trade Show Representation service 
provides U.S. companies and economic development organizations with the 
ability to increase their marketing exposure at an overseas trade show 
when they are unable to attend in person.

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    w. Virtual Introduction: The Virtual Introduction service provides 
U.S. companies with a virtual introduction via conference call or email 
to a foreign buyer/partner that they have pre-identified.
    x. Virtual Fair: The Virtual Fair service provides a group of U.S. 
entities with an opportunity to promote their products/services to 
potential partners in a foreign market live via a webinar platform.
    y. Webinar: Webinars are events organized by CS offices to provide 
U.S. firms with export knowledge and/or market intelligence from 
experts located around the globe or to advertise the opportunities for 
investment promotion to foreign companies.
    z. Website Globalization: The website Globalization Review Gap 
Analysis service provides technical and strategic assessment of a 
business's eCommerce sales channel efforts.
    The Department of Commerce will utilize the input received to 
determine opportunities for updating ITA/CS's export promotion service 
and assistance. Once finalized, proposed updates to ITA/CS's export 
promotion services and assistance will be shared with the public 
through the Federal Register Portal and on www.trade.gov.
    OMB Number: 0625-0275.
    Expiration Date: 12/31/2024.
    A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 
required to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for 
failure to comply with an information collection subject to the 
requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 unless the 
information collection has a currently valid OMB Control Number. The 
approved OMB Control Number for this information collection is 0625-
0275. Without this approval, we could not conduct this survey. Public 
reporting for this information collection is estimated to be 
approximately five minutes per response, including the time for 
reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and 
maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the 
information collection. All responses to this information collection 
are voluntary. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any 
other aspect of this information collection, including suggestions for 
reducing this burden to the ITA Paperwork Reduction Act Program at 
[email protected] if desired.

Carlos Ortiz,
Director, Customer Experience & Services/Events Management.
[FR Doc. 2023-14418 Filed 7-6-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-FP-P