Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 241 / Tuesday, December 15, 2020 / Notices 81263 

jurisdiction of the United States and in 

which the entities have any interest; 

• Prohibit any transfers of credit or 

payments between financial institutions 

or by, through, or to any financial 

institution, to the extent that such 

transfers or payments are subject to the 

jurisdiction of the United States and 

involve any interest of the entities; 

• Block all property and interests in 

property that are in the United States, 

that hereafter come within the United 

States, or that are or hereafter come 

within the possession or control of any 

United States person of the entities, and 

provide that such property and interests 

in property may not be transferred, paid, 

exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt 

in; 

• Prohibit any United States person 

from investing in or purchasing 

significant amounts of equity or debt 

instruments of the entities; 

• Restrict or prohibit imports of 

goods, technology, or services, directly 

or indirectly, into the United States 

from the entities; and 

• Impose on the principal executive 

officer or officers, or persons performing 

similar functions and with similar 

authorities, of the entities the sanctions 

described in sections 5(a)(i)–5(a)(iv) and 

5(a)(vi) of E.O. 13846, as selected by the 

Secretary of State. 

Pursuant to Sections 5(a) of E.O. 

13846, the Secretary of State has 

selected the following sanctions to be 

imposed upon Min Shi, director of New 

Far International Logistics LLC, Zouyou 

Lin, director of Sino Energy Shipping 

(Hong Kong) Ltd, and Alireza Amin, 

managing director of Abadan Refining 

Company, who have been determined to 

be (i) a corporate officer or principal of 

the aforementioned entities and (ii) a 

principal executive officer of the 

aforementioned entities, or perform 

similar functions with similar 

authorities as a principal executive 

officer: 

• Prohibit any transactions in foreign 

exchange that are subject to the 

jurisdiction of the United States and in 

which Min Shi, Zouyou Lin, and 

Alireza Amin have any interest; 

• Prohibit any transfers of credit or 

payments between financial institutions 

or by, through, or to any financial 

institution, to the extent that such 

transfers or payments are subject to the 

jurisdiction of the United States and 

involve any interest of Min Shi, Zouyou 

Lin, and Alireza Amin; 

• Block all property and interests in 

property that are in the United States, 

that hereafter come within the United 

States, or that are or hereafter come 

within the possession or control of any 

United States person of Min Shi, 

Zouyou Lin, and Alireza Amin; and 

provide that such property and interests 

in property may not be transferred, paid, 

exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt 

in; and 

• Restrict or prohibit imports of 

goods, technology, or services, directly 

or indirectly, into the United States 

from Min Shi, Zouyou Lin, and Alireza 

Amin. 

Additionally, pursuant to Section 4(e) 

of E.O. 13846, the Secretary of State 

shall deny a visa to, and the Secretary 

of Homeland Security shall exclude 

from the United States, any alien that 

the Secretary of State determines is a 

corporate officer or principal of, or a 

shareholder with a controlling interest 

in, a sanctioned person subject to this 

action. 

Peter D. Haas, 

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau 

of Economic and Business Affairs, 

Department of State. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27518 Filed 12–14–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–07–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

[Docket Number USTR–2020–0041] 

Request for Comments and Notice of 

a Public Hearing Regarding the 2021 

Special 301 Review 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Request for comments and 

notice of public hearing. 

SUMMARY: Each year, the Office of the 

United States Trade Representative 

(USTR) conducts a review to identify 

countries that deny adequate and 

effective protection of intellectual 

property (IP) rights or deny fair and 

equitable market access to U.S. persons 

who rely on IP protection. Based on this 

review, the U.S. Trade Representative 

determines which, if any, of these 

countries to identify as Priority Foreign 

Countries. USTR requests written 

comments that identify acts, policies, or 

practices that may form the basis of a 

country’s identification as a Priority 

Foreign Country or placement on the 

Priority Watch List or Watch List. 

DATES: 

January 28, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EST: 

Deadline for submission of written 

comments from the public. 

February 11, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EST: 

Deadline for submission of written 

comments from foreign governments. 

February 22, 2021: Deadline for the 

Special 301 Subcommittee of the Trade 

Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) 

to pose questions on written comments. 

March 5, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EST: 

Deadline for submission of commenters’ 

responses to questions from the 

Subcommittee. 

On or about April 30, 2021: USTR 

will publish the 2021 Special 301 

Report within 30 days of the publication 

of the National Trade Estimate Report. 

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly encourages 

electronic submissions made through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https:// 

www.regulations.gov (Regulations.gov). 

Follow the submission instructions in 

section IV below. The docket number is 

USTR–2020–0041. For alternatives to 

on-line submissions, please contact 

USTR at Special301@ustr.eop.gov before 

transmitting a comment and in advance 

of the relevant deadline. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jacob Ewerdt, Director for Innovation 

and Intellectual Property, at 

Special301@ustr.eop.gov, or (202) 395– 

4510. You can find information about 

the Special 301 Review at https://

www.ustr.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 

(Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 2242), commonly 

known as the Special 301 provisions, 

requires the U.S. Trade Representative 

to identify countries that deny adequate 

and effective IP protections or fair and 

equitable market access to U.S. persons 

who rely on IP protection. The Trade 

Act requires the U.S. Trade 

Representative to determine which, if 

any, of these countries to identify as 

Priority Foreign Countries. Acts, 

policies or practices that are the basis of 

a country’s identification as a Priority 

Foreign Country can be subject to the 

procedures set out in sections 301–305 

of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2411–2415). 

In addition, USTR has created a 

Priority Watch List and Watch List to 

assist in pursuing the goals of the 

Special 301 provisions. Placement of a 

trading partner on the Priority Watch 

List or Watch List indicates that 

particular problems exist in that country 

with respect to IP protection, 

enforcement or market access for 

persons that rely on intellectual 

property protection. Trading partners 

placed on the Priority Watch List are the 

focus of increased bilateral attention 

concerning the problem areas. 

USTR chairs the Subcommittee, 

which reviews information from many 

sources, and consults with and makes 

recommendations to the U.S. Trade 

Representative on issues arising under 

Special 301. Written submissions from 

81264 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 241 / Tuesday, December 15, 2020 / Notices 

the public are a key source of 

information for the Special 301 review 

process. As discussed below, in 2021, in 

lieu of an in-person hearing, the 

Subcommittee will submit written 

questions to commenters as part of the 

review process and will allow 

commenters to provide written 

responses. At the conclusion of the 

process, USTR will publish the results 

of the review in a Special 301 Report. 

USTR requests that interested persons 

identify through the process outlined in 

this notice those countries whose acts, 

policies or practices deny adequate and 

effective protection for IP rights or deny 

fair and equitable market access to U.S. 

persons who rely on IP protection. The 

Special 301 provisions also require the 

U.S. Trade Representative to identify 

any act, policy or practice of Canada 

that affects cultural industries, was 

adopted or expanded after December 17, 

1992, and is actionable under Article 

32.6 of the USMCA (as defined in 

section 3 of the United States-MexicoCanada Agreement Implementation 

Act). USTR invites the public to submit 

views relevant to this aspect of the 

review. 

The Special 301 provisions require 

the U.S. Trade Representative to 

identify all such acts, policies or 

practices within 30 days of the 

publication of the National Trade 

Estimate Report. In accordance with this 

statutory requirement, USTR will 

publish the annual Special 301 Report 

about April 30, 2021. 

II. Public Comments 

To facilitate this year’s review, 

written comments should be as detailed 

as possible and provide all necessary 

information to identify and assess the 

effect of the acts, policies and practices. 

USTR invites written comments that 

provide specific references to laws, 

regulations, policy statements, 

including innovation policies, 

executive, presidential or other orders, 

and administrative, court or other 

determinations that should factor in the 

review. USTR also requests that, where 

relevant, submissions mention 

particular regions, provinces, states, or 

other subdivisions of a country in which 

an act, policy or practice is believed to 

warrant special attention. Finally, 

submissions proposing countries for 

review should include data, loss 

estimates, and other information 

regarding the economic impact on the 

United States, U.S. industry, and the 

U.S. workforce caused by the denial of 

adequate and effective intellectual 

property protection. Comments that 

include quantitative loss claims should 

include the methodology used to 

calculate the estimated losses. 

III. Public Participation 

In 2021, due to COVID–19, USTR will 

foster public participation via written 

submissions rather than an in-person 

hearing. The Subcommittee will review 

written comments and may ask 

clarifying questions to commenters. The 

Subcommittee will post the questions 

on the public docket, other than 

questions that include properly 

designated business confidential 

information (BCI). The Subcommittee 

will send questions that include 

properly designated BCI to the relevant 

commenters by email, and will not post 

these questions on the public docket. 

Replies to questions that contain BCI 

must follow the procedures in section 

IV below. 

In order to be eligible to receive 

written questions, the written 

submissions must be in English and 

must include the name, address, 

telephone number, email address, and 

firm or affiliation of the submitter. 

IV. Submission Instructions 

All submissions must be in English 

and sent electronically via 

Regulations.gov using docket number 

USTR–2020–0041 To submit comments, 

locate the docket (folder) by entering the 

number USTR–2020–0041 in the ‘enter 

keyword or ID’ window at the 

Regulations.gov home page and click 

‘search.’ The site will provide a searchresults page listing all documents 

associated with this docket. Locate the 

reference to this notice by selecting 

‘notice’ under ‘document type’ on the 

left side of the search-results page, and 

click on the link entitled ‘comment 

now!’. 

USTR requests that you provide 

comments in an attached document, and 

that you name the file according to the 

following protocol: Commenter Name, 

or Organization_2021 Special 301_

Review_Comment. Please include the 

following information in the ‘type 

comment’ field: ‘‘2021 Special 301 

Review.’’ Please submit documents 

prepared in (or compatible with) 

Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe Acrobat 

(.pdf) formats. If you prepare the 

submission in a compatible format, 

please indicate the name of the relevant 

software application in the ‘type 

comment’ field. For further information 

on using Regulations.gov e, please select 

‘how to use Regulations.gov’ on the 

bottom of any page. 

Please do not attach separate cover 

letters to electronic submissions; rather, 

include any information that might 

appear in a cover letter in the comments 

themselves. Similarly, to the extent 

possible, please include any exhibits, 

annexes, or other attachments in the 

same file as the comment itself, rather 

than submitting them as separate files. 

For any comments that contains BCI, 

the file name of the business 

confidential version should begin with 

the characters ‘BCI’. Any page 

containing BCI must be clearly marked 

‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’ on the 

top of that page and the submission 

should clearly indicate, via brackets, 

highlighting, or other means, the 

specific information that is business 

confidential. A filer requesting business 

confidential treatment must certify that 

the information is business confidential 

and that they would not customarily 

release it to the public. Additionally, the 

filer should type ‘business confidential’ 

in the ‘type comment’ field. Filers of 

comments containing BCI also must 

submit a public version of their 

comments. The file name of the public 

version should begin with the character 

‘P’. The ‘BCI’ and ‘P’ should be followed 

by the name of the person or entity 

submitting the comments. Filers 

submitting comments containing no BCI 

should name their file using the name 

of the person or entity submitting the 

comments. 

As noted, USTR strongly urges 

commenters to submit comments 

through Regulations.gov. You must 

make any alternative arrangements 

before transmitting a document and in 

advance of the relevant deadline by 

contacting USTR at Special301@

ustr.eop.gov. 

USTR will place comments in the 

docket and they will be open to public 

inspection, except properly designated 

BCI. You can view comments on 

Regulations.gov by entering Docket 

Number USTR–2020–0041 in the 

‘search’ field on the home page. 

Daniel Lee, 

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for 

Innovation and Intellectual Property (Acting), 

Office of the United States Trade 

Representative. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27515 Filed 12–14–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3290–F0–P