Notice2022-19896
Request for Comments on Significant Foreign Trade Barriers for the 2023 National Trade Estimate Report
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Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 15, 2022
Issuing agencies
Trade Representative, Office of United States
Abstract
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 foreign barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and services, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce 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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 178 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 178 (Thursday, September 15, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56741-56743]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-19896]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
[Docket Number USTR-2022-0013]
Request for Comments on Significant Foreign Trade Barriers for
the 2023 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 foreign barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. exports of
goods and services, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic
commerce 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 Friday, October 28,
2022, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through
the Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>
(<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>). The instructions for submitting comments are in
section IV below. The docket number is USTR-2022-0013. For alternatives
to online submissions, please contact Spencer Smith at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a1f2d1c4cfc2c4d38fed8ff2ccc8d5c993e1d4d2d5d38fc4ced18fc6ced7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="590a293c373a3c2b7715770a34302d316b192c2a2d2b773c3629773e362f">[email protected]</span></a> or (202) 395-2974 in advance of the
deadline.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Spencer Smith at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1645667378757364385a38457b7f627e2456636562643873796638717960"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5704273239343225791b79043a3e233f6517222423257932382779303821">[email protected]</span></a> 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 significant foreign barriers to, or distortions of, U.S.
exports of goods and services, including agricultural commodities and
U.S. intellectual property; 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 agreements and
strengthening the rules-based trading system. You can find the 2022 NTE
Report on USTR's website at <a href="https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/reports-and-publications/2022">https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/reports-and-publications/2022</a>. To ensure compliance with
the statutory mandate for the NTE Report and the Administration's
commitment to focus on significant foreign trade barriers, USTR will
take into account comments in response to this notice when deciding
which significant barriers 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 measures
relating to 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 supply of internet-enabled services, and
[[Page 56742]]
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, and fairness and
due process concerns by companies involved in competition investigatory
and enforcement proceedings in the country.
11. State-owned enterprises (SOEs). Examples include actions by
SOEs and by governments with respect to SOEs involved in the
manufacture or production of non-agricultural goods or in the supply of
services that constitute significant barriers to, or distortions of,
U.S. exports of goods and services, U.S. investments, or U.S.
electronic commerce, which may negatively affect U.S. firms and
workers, such as subsidies and non-commercial advantages provided to
and from SOEs; practices with respect to SOEs that discriminate against
U.S. goods or services; or actions by SOEs that are inconsistent with
commercial considerations in the purchase and sale of goods and
services.
12. Labor. Examples include concerns with failures by a government
to protect internationally recognized worker rights or 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 or workers.
14. Other barriers. Examples include significant barriers or
distortions that are not covered in any other category above or that
encompass more than one category, such as bribery and corruption, or
that affect a single sector.
Please provide, if available, the titles of relevant laws or
measures and a description of the concerns with which the laws or
measures relate to the significant foreign barriers or distortions
identified. 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 2022 NTE Report as well as information on new
barriers. If USTR does not include in the 2023 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.
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. Commenters may submit information related to
significant barriers or distortions in export markets other than those
listed in this paragraph.
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 and highlight both ongoing and emerging
barriers to U.S. telecommunication services and goods exports in the
2023 NTE Report.
III. Estimate of Increase in Exports
To the extent possible, each comment should include an estimate of
the potential increase in U.S. exports of goods or services, foreign
direct investment, or electronic commerce that would result from
removing any significant 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
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 2023 Reporting--[Name of country or countries discussed]'.
Commenters providing information on foreign trade barriers in more than
one country should, whenever possible, provide a separate attachment
for each country as part of the same submission. USTR strongly
encourages commenters to provide only one submission.
The submission deadline is Friday, October 28, 2022 at 11:59 p.m.
ET. USTR strongly encourages commenters to make online submissions,
using <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>. To submit comments via <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>, enter
docket number USTR-2022-0013 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.' For further information on using
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>, please consult the resources provided on the website
by clicking on `How to Use <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>' on the bottom of the home
page.
[[Page 56743]]
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> 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 that do not contain business
confidential information (BCI) should name their file using the name of
the person or entity submitting the comment, and the name of the
country or countries discussed. 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.
USTR will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except
properly designated BCI. You can view comments on <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a> by
entering docket number USTR-2022-0013 in the search field on the home
page. General information concerning USTR is available at <a href="https://www.ustr.gov">https://www.ustr.gov</a>.
William Shpiece,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2022-19896 Filed 9-14-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
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