[Federal Register: July 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 145)]
[Notices]
[Page 42886-42887]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28jy06-110]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning
China's Compliance With WTO Commitments
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing concerning
China's compliance with its WTO commitments.
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SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will
convene a public hearing and seek public comment to assist the Office
of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in the preparation of
its annual report to the Congress on China's compliance with the
commitments made in connection with its accession to the World Trade
Organization (WTO).
DATES: Persons wishing to testify at the hearing must provide written
notification of their intention, as well as a copy of their testimony,
by noon, Wednesday, September 14, 2006. Written comments are due by
noon, Monday, September 18, 2006. A hearing will be held in Washington,
DC, on Wednesday, September 28, 2006.
ADDRESSES:
Submissions by electronic mail: fr0622@ustr.eop.gov.
Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade
Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade
Representative, (202) 395-6143.
The public is strongly encouraged to submit documents
electronically rather than by facsimile. (See requirements for
submissions below.)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning
written comments or participation in the public hearing, contact Gloria
Blue, (202) 395-3475. All other questions should be directed to
Terrence J. McCartin, Deputy Assistant United States Trade
Representative for China Enforcement, (202) 395-3900, or Stephen S.
Kho, Acting Chief Counsel for China Enforcement, (202) 395-3582.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Background
China became a Member of the WTO on December 11, 2001. In
accordance with section 421 of the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000
(Pub. L. 106-286), USTR is required to submit, by December 11 of each
year, a report to Congress on China's compliance with commitments made
in connection with its accession to the WTO, including both
multilateral commitments and any bilateral commitments made to the
United States. In accordance with section 421, and to assist it in
preparing this year's report, the TPSC is hereby soliciting public
comment. Last year's report is available on USTR's Internet Web site
(at http://www.ustr.gov/World_Regions/North_Asia/China/Section_Index.html
).
The terms of China's accession to the WTO are contained in the
Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China (including
its annexes) (Protocol), the Report of the Working Party on the
Accession of China (Working Party Report), and the WTO agreements. The
Protocol and Working Party Report can be found on the Department of
Commerce Web page, http://www.mac.doc.gov/China/WTOAccessionPackage.htm, or on the WTO Web site, http://
docsonline.wto.org (document symbols: WT/L/432, WT/MIN(01)/3, WT/
MIN(01)/3/Add.1, WT/MIN(01)/3/Add.2).
2. Public Comment and Hearing
USTR invites written comments and/or oral testimony of interested
persons on China's compliance with commitments made in connection with
its accession to the WTO, including, but not limited to, commitments in
the following areas: (a) Trading rights; (b) import regulation (e.g.,
tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, quotas, import licenses); (c) export
regulation; (d) internal policies affecting trade (e.g., subsidies,
standards and technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary
measures, government procurement, trade-related investment measures,
taxes and charges levied on imports and exports); (e) intellectual
property rights (including intellectual property rights enforcement);
(f) services; (g) rule of law issues (e.g., transparency, judicial
review, uniform administration of laws and regulations) and status of
legal reform; and (h) other WTO commitments. In addition, given the
Administration's view that China should be held accountable as a full
participant in, and beneficiary of, the international trading system
now that most of its WTO commitments should have been implemented (see
``U.S.-China Trade Relations: Entering a New Phase of Greater
Accountability and Enforcement,'' issued by USTR in February 2006,
http://www.ustr.gov/World_Regions/North_Asia/China/2006_Top-to-Bottom_Review/Section_Index.html
), USTR requests that interested
persons also specifically identify unresolved compliance issues that
warrant review and evaluation by USTR's newly created China Enforcement
Task Force.
Written comments must be received no later than noon, Monday,
September 18, 2006.
A hearing will be held on Thursday, September 28, 2006, in Room 1,
1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508. If necessary, the hearing
will continue on the next day.
Persons wishing to testify orally at the hearing must provide
written notification of their intention by noon, Wednesday, September
14, 2006. The notification should include: (1) The name, address, and
telephone number of the person presenting the testimony; and (2) a
short (one or two paragraph) summary of the presentation, including the
commitments at issue and, as applicable, the product(s) (with HTSUS
numbers), service sector(s), or other subjects to be discussed. A copy
of the testimony must accompany the notification. Remarks at the
hearing should be limited to no more than five minutes to allow for
possible questions from the TPSC.
All documents should be submitted in accordance with the
instructions in section 3 below.
3. Requirements for Submissions
In order to facilitate prompt processing of submissions, USTR
strongly urges and prefers electronic (e-mail) submissions in response
to this notice. In the event that an e-mail submission is impossible,
submissions should be made by facsimile.
Persons making submissions by e-mail should use the following
subject line: ``China WTO'' followed by (as appropriate) ``Written
Comments,'' ``Notice of Testimony,'' or ``Testimony.'' Documents should
be submitted as either Adobe PDF, WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT)
files. Supporting documentation submitted as
[[Page 42887]]
spreadsheets are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel. For any document
containing business confidential information submitted electronically,
the file name of the business confidential version should begin with
the characters ``BC-'', and the file name of the public version should
begin with the characters ``P-''. The ``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be
followed by the name of the submitter. Persons who make submissions by
e-mail should not provide separate cover letters; information that
might appear in a cover letter should be included in the submission
itself. Similarly, to the extent possible, any attachments to the
submission should be included in the same file as the submission
itself, and not as separate files.
Written comments, notices of testimony, and testimony will be
placed in a file open to public inspection pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.5,
except confidential business information exempt from public inspection
in accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6. Confidential business information
submitted in accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6 must be clearly marked
``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top of each page, including any cover
letter or cover page, and must be accompanied by a nonconfidential
summary of the confidential information. All public documents and
nonconfidential summaries shall be available for public inspection in
the USTR Reading Room. The USTR Reading Room is open to the public, by
appointment only, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday
through Friday. An appointment to review the file may be made by
calling (202) 395-6186. Appointments must be scheduled at least 48
hours in advance.
General information concerning USTR may be obtained by accessing
its Internet Web site (http://www.ustr.gov).
Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E6-12133 Filed 7-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-W6-P