Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 226 / Wednesday, November 24, 2004 / Notices 68439

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Request for Comments Concerning 

Compliance with Telecommunications 

Trade Agreements

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of request for public 

comment and reply comment. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 1377 of 

the Omnibus Trade and 

Competitiveness Act of 1988 (19 U.S.C. 

3106) (‘‘section 1377’’), the Office of the 

United States Trade Representative 

(‘‘USTR’’) is reviewing, and requests 

comments on: the operation and 

effectiveness of and the implementation 

of and compliance with the World 

Trade Organization (‘‘WTO’’) Basic 

Telecommunications Agreement; other 

WTO agreements affecting market 

opportunities for telecommunications 

products and services of the United 

States; the telecommunications 

provisions of the North American Free 

Trade Agreement (‘‘NAFTA’’); the Chile 

and Singapore Free Trade Agreements 

(FTA) and any other FTAs coming into 

force on or before January 1, 2005; and 

other telecommunications trade 

agreements. The USTR will conclude 

the review by March 31, 2005.

DATES: Comments are due by noon on 

December 17, 2004 and Reply 

Comments are due by noon on January 

17, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Gloria Blue, Executive 

Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, 

ATTN: Section 1377 Comments, Office 

of the United States Trade 

Representative, 1724 F Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kenneth Schagrin, Office of Industry 

and Telecommunications (202) 395–

5663; or Jim Kelleher, Office of the 

General Counsel (202) 395–3858.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 

1377 requires the USTR to review 

annually the operation and effectiveness 

of all U.S. trade agreements regarding 

telecommunications products and 

services of the United States that are in 

force with respect to the United States. 

The purpose of the review is to 

determine whether any act, policy, or 

practice of a country that has entered 

into a telecommunications trade 

agreement with the United States is 

inconsistent with the terms of such 

agreement, or otherwise denies to U.S. 

firms, within the context of the terms of 

such agreements, mutually 

advantageous market opportunities. For 

the current review, the USTR seeks 

comments on: 

(1) Whether any WTO member is 

acting in a manner that is inconsistent 

with its commitments under the WTO 

Basic Telecommunications Agreement 

or with other WTO obligations, e.g., the 

WTO General Agreement on Trade in 

Services (‘‘GATS’’), including the 

Annex on Telecommunications and the 

Reference Paper on Pro-Competitive 

Regulatory Principles, that affect market 

opportunities for U.S. 

telecommunications products and 

services; 

(2) Whether Canada or Mexico has 

failed to comply with their 

telecommunications commitments or 

obligations under NAFTA;

(3) Whether Chile or Singapore or any 

other FTA partner with an Agreement 

that comes into force on or before 

January 1, 2005 has failed to comply 

with their telecommunications 

commitments or obligations under the 

respective FTAs between the United 

States and those countries; 

(4) Whether other countries have 

failed to comply with their 

commitments under additional 

telecommunications agreements with 

the United States, e.g., Mutual 

Recognition Agreements (MRAs) for 

Conformity Assessment of 

Telecommunications Equipment. A 

collection of all trade agreements, 

including ones related to 

telecommunications, can be found at 

http://www.tcc.mac.doc.gov.

(5) Whether there remain outstanding 

issues from previous Section 1377 

reviews on those countries or issues 

previously cited. Last year’s review can 

be found at http://www.ustr.gov/

Trade_Sectors/Manufacturing/Telecom/

Section_Index.html.

Public Comment and Reply Comment: 

Requirements For Submissions 

All comments must be in English, 

identify on the first page of the 

comments the telecommunications trade 

agreement(s) discussed therein, and be 

submitted by noon on December 17, 

2004. Reply Comments must be 

submitted by noon on January 17, 2005. 

Reply comments should only address 

issues raised by the comments. 

In order to ensure the most timely and 

expeditious receipt and consideration of 

comments and reply comments, USTR 

has arranged to accept submissions in 

electronic format (e-mail). Comments 

should be submitted electronically to 

FR0502@USTR.EOP.GOV. An automatic 

reply confirming receipt of e-mail 

submission will be sent. E-mail 

submissions in Microsoft Word or Corel 

WordPerfect are preferred. If a word 

processing application other than those 

two is used, please include in your 

submission the specific application 

used. For any document containing 

business confidential information 

submitted electronically, the file name 

of the business confidential version 

should begin with the characters ‘‘BC.’’

Any page containing business 

confidential information must be clearly 

marked ‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’

on the top of that page. Filers must also 

submit a public version of their 

comments. The file name of the public 

version should begin with the character 

‘‘P.’’ The ‘‘BC’’ and ‘‘P’’ should be 

followed by the name of the person or 

entity submitting the comments or reply 

comments. Interested persons who make 

submissions electronically should not 

provide separate cover letters; rather, 

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. All nonconfidential comments and reply 

comments will be placed on the USTR 

Web site, http://www.USTR.gov and in 

the USTR Reading Room for inspection 

shortly after the filing deadline, except 

business confidential information 

exempt from public inspection in 

accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6. 

We strongly urge people to avail 

themselves of the electronic filing, if at 

all possible. If an e-mail submission is 

impossible, 15 copies of both the 

business confidential and public 

versions must be delivered via private 

commercial courier, and arrangements 

must be made with Ms. Blue prior to 

delivery for their receipt. Ms. Blue 

should be contacted at (202) 395–3475. 

Since comments and reply comments 

will be posted on USTR’s Web site, 

those persons not availing themselves of 

electronic filing must submit their 15 

copies with a diskette. 

An appointment to review the 

comments may be made by calling the 

USTR Reading Room at (202) 395–6186. 

The USTR Reading Room is open to the 

public from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon, and 

from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, and is located in Room 3 of 1724 

F Street., NW.

Carmen Suro-Bredie, 

Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.

[FR Doc. 04–26033 Filed 11–23–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–W4–P