[Federal Register: July 21, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 139)]
[Notices]
[Page 43247-43248]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21jy03-142]
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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 its preparation of
its annual report to the Congress on China's compliance with the
commitments that it made in connection with its accession to the World
Trade Organization (WTO).
DATES: Persons wishing to testify orally at the hearing must provide
written notification of their intention, as well as a copy of their
testimony, by noon, Friday, September 5, 2003. Written comments are due
by noon, Wednesday, September 10, 2003. A hearing will be held in
Washington, DC, on Thursday, September 18, 2003.
ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail:
FR0082@ustr.gov (notice of intent to testify and written
testimony); and FR0083@ustr.gov (written comments).
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, Director of Monitoring and Enforcement for China,
(202) 395-3900, or David L. Weller, Assistant General Counsel, (202)
395-3581.
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/regions/china-hk-mongolia-taiwan.
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 Agreement. 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://www.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, trade-related investment measures, taxes and charges levied
on imports and exports); (e) intellectual property rights (including
intellectual property 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. Persons submitting written comments should identify the
commitments discussed therein by listing one or more of these
categories on the first page of the comments.
Written comments must be received no later than noon, Wednesday,
September 10, 2003.
A hearing will be held on Thursday, September 18, 2003, 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, Friday, September 5,
2003. 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 WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) files.
Supporting documentation submitted as 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
[[Page 43248]]
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. 03-18467 Filed 7-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P