Notice2023-14418
Opportunity To Comment on the Modernization of the Export Promotion Services and Assistance Delivered by the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service
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Published
July 7, 2023
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
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.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 129 (Friday, July 7, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 129 (Friday, July 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43286-43288]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[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: <a href="https://trade.gov/cs-innovate">https://trade.gov/cs-innovate</a>. 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: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c5a6a4b7a9aab6ebaab7b1acbf85b1b7a4a1a0eba2aab3"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d2b1b3a0bebda1fcbda0a6bba892a6a0b3b6b7fcb5bda4">[email protected]</span></a>.
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:
<bullet> Resources that equip U.S. businesses with the knowledge to
achieve their export objectives, such as market research by industry or
country.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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.
<bullet> 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
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#44272536282b376a2b36302d3e0430362520216a232b32"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a2c1c3d0cecdd18ccdd0d6cbd8e2d6d0c3c6c78cc5cdd4">[email protected]</span></a>:
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. <a href="https://www.trade.gov/all-services:">https://www.trade.gov/all-services:</a> This site provides a listing
of the export and investment services available from the CS.
b. <a href="https://trade.gov/attend-event:">https://trade.gov/attend-event:</a> This site allows visitors to
search all CS events by type of event, industry, or location.
c. <a href="https://www.trade.gov/us-commercial-service-user-fees:">https://www.trade.gov/us-commercial-service-user-fees:</a> This site
provides a full listing of the CS user fee schedule for export and
investment promotion services.
d. <a href="https://trade.gov/export-solutions:">https://trade.gov/export-solutions:</a> 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.
[[Page 43288]]
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 <a href="http://www.trade.gov">www.trade.gov</a>.
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
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#dcacaebd9ca8aebdb8b9f2bbb3aa"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="09797b68497d7b686d6c276e667f">[email protected]</span></a> 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
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