Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 184 / Thursday, September 24, 2009 / Notices 48811 

[FR Doc. E9–23000 Filed 9–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–W9–C 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Request for Public Comments To 

Compile the National Trade Estimate 

Report on Foreign Trade Barriers and 

Reports on Sanitary and Phytosanitary 

and Standards-Related Foreign Trade 

Barriers 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 181 of the 

Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 

U.S.C. 2241), the Office of the United 

States Trade Representative (USTR) is 

required to publish annually the 

National Trade Estimate Report on 

Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). With this 

notice, the Trade Policy Staff Committee 

(TPSC) is requesting interested persons 

to submit comments to assist it in 

identifying significant barriers to U.S. 

exports of goods, services, and U.S. 

foreign direct investment for inclusion 

in the NTE. 

For the first time this year, the TPSC 

is requesting that comments on 

standards-related measures and sanitary 

and phytosanitary (SPS) measures that 

create barriers to U.S. exports be 

submitted separately from other NTE 

comments. This will assist USTR in 

preparing two new annual reports 

starting in 2010 highlighting SPS and 

standards-related measures that may be 

inconsistent with international trade 

agreements to which the United States 

is a party or that otherwise act as 

significant barriers to U.S. exports. 

The TPSC invites written comments 

from the public on issues that USTR 

should examine in preparing the NTE 

and the new reports on SPS and 

standards-related measures. Please note 

that requirements for submitting 

comments, as set forth below, are 

different from those in the previous 

years. 

DATES: Public comments are due not 

later than: 

November 4, 2009 for comments 

concerning SPS or standards-related 

measures; and 

November 18, 2009 for comments 

concerning all other measures. 

ADDRESSES: Submissions should be 

made via the Internet at 

www.regulations.gov under the 

following dockets (based on the subject 

matter of the submission): 

SPS Measures: USTR–2009–0031. 

Standards-Related Measures: USTR– 

2009–0032. 

All Other Measures: USTR–2009– 

0033. 

For alternatives to on-line 

submissions please contact Gloria Blue, 

Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff 

Committee, USTR (202–395–3475). The 

public is strongly encouraged to file 

submissions electronically rather than 

by facsimile or mail. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions regarding the NTE or on 

submitting comments in response to this 

notice should be directed to Gloria Blue 

at (202) 395–3475. Questions regarding 

the SPS report or substantive questions 

concerning comments on SPS measures 

should be directed to Jane Doherty, 

Director of Sanitary and Phytosanitary 

Affairs, USTR (202–395–6127). 

Questions regarding the report on 

standards-related measures or 

substantive questions concerning 

comments on those measures should be 

directed to Jeff Weiss, Senior Director, 

Technical Barriers to Trade, USTR (202– 

395–4498). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NTE 

sets out an inventory of the most 

important foreign barriers affecting U.S. 

exports of goods and services, U.S. 

foreign direct investment, and 

protection of intellectual property 

rights. The inventory facilitates U.S. 

negotiations aimed at reducing or 

eliminating these barriers. The report 

also provides a valuable tool in 

enforcing U.S. trade laws and 

strengthening the rules-based trading 

system. The 2009 NTE may be found on 

USTR’s Internet Home Page (http:// 

www.ustr.gov) under the tab ‘‘Reports.’’ 

The Administration has recently 

announced new initiatives to direct 

Executive Branch trade priorities to 

barriers of greatest significance for U.S. 

exports, investment, and intellectual 

property rights. To ensure compliance 

with the NTE’s statutory mandate and 

the Obama Administration’s 


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48812 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 184 / Thursday, September 24, 2009 / Notices 

commitment to focus on the most 

significant foreign trade barriers, USTR 

will be guided by the existence of active 

private sector interest in deciding which 

restrictions to include in the NTE. The 

two new reports that USTR will initiate 

in 2010 will draw attention to 

significant trade barriers in the form of 

SPS and standards-related measures. 

Topics on which the TPSC Seeks 

Information: To assist USTR in 

preparing the NTE and the reports on 

SPS and standards-related measures, 

commenters should submit information 

related to one or more of the following 

categories of foreign trade barriers: 

(1) Import policies (e.g., tariffs and 

other import charges, quantitative 

restrictions, import licensing, and 

customs barriers); 

(2) SPS measures; 

(3) Standards-related measures 

(including standards, technical 

regulations, and conformity assessment 

procedures); 

(4) Government procurement 

restrictions (e.g., ‘‘buy national’’ policies 

and closed bidding); 

(5) Export subsidies (e.g., export 

financing on preferential terms and 

agricultural export subsidies that 

displace U.S. exports in third country 

markets); 

(6) Lack of intellectual property 

protection (e.g., inadequate patent, 

copyright, and trademark regimes); 

(7) Services barriers (e.g., limits on the 

range of financial services offered by 

foreign financial institutions, regulation 

of international data flows, restrictions 

on the use of data processing, quotas on 

imports of foreign films, and barriers to 

the provision of services by 

professionals); 

(8) Investment barriers (e.g., 

limitations on foreign equity 

participation and on access to foreign 

government-funded R&D consortia, local 

content, technology transfer and export 

performance requirements, and 

restrictions on repatriation of earnings, 

capital, fees, and royalties); 

(9) Government-tolerated 

anticompetitive conduct of state-owned 

or private firms that restricts the sale or 

purchase of U.S. goods or services in the 

foreign country’s markets; 

(10) Trade restrictions affecting 

electronic commerce (e.g., tariff and 

non-tariff measures, burdensome and 

discriminatory regulations and 

standards, and discriminatory taxation); 

and 

(11) Other barriers (e.g., barriers that 

encompass more than one category, 

such as bribery and corruption, or that 

affect a single sector). 

Reports on SPS and StandardsRelated Measures: On July 16, 2009, 

USTR announced plans to begin 

publishing two new reports on foreign 

trade barriers—one on SPS measures 

and the other on standards-related 

measures. These reports—to be issued 

annually starting in 2010—will serve as 

tools to bring greater attention and focus 

to resolving SPS and standards-related 

measures that may be inconsistent with 

international trade agreements to which 

the United States is a party or that 

otherwise act as significant foreign 

barriers to U.S. exports. See http:// 

www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/factsheets/2009/july/trade-policy-breakingdown-barriers-trade. USTR plans to use 

comments on SPS and standards-related 

measures (items 2 and 3 in the list 

above) submitted pursuant to this notice 

in developing these two new reports. To 

help USTR identify SPS and standardsrelated measures to include in the new 

reports, comments concerning those 

measures should be submitted 

separately from those addressing other 

foreign trade barriers. (See below). 

The following information describing 

SPS and standards-related measures 

may help commenters to file 

submissions on particular foreign trade 

barriers under the appropriate docket. 

SPS Measures: Generally, SPS 

measures are measures applied to 

protect the life or health of humans, 

animals, and plants from risks arising 

from additives, contaminants, pests, 

toxins, diseases, or disease-carrying and 

causing organisms. SPS measures can 

take such forms as specific product or 

processing standards, requirements for 

products to be produced in disease-free 

areas, quarantine regulations, 

certification or inspection procedures, 

sampling and testing requirements, 

health-related labeling measures, 

maximum permissible pesticide residue 

levels, and prohibitions on certain food 

additives. 

Standards-Related Measures: 

Standards-related measures comprise 

standards, technical regulations, and 

conformity assessment procedures, such 

as mandatory process or design 

standards, labeling or registration 

requirements, and testing or 

certification procedures. Standardsrelated measures can be applied not 

only to industrial products but to 

agricultural products as well, such as 

food nutrition labeling schemes and 

food quality or identity requirements. 

For further information on SPS and 

standards-related measures and 

additional detail on the types of 

comments that would assist USTR in 

identifying and addressing significant 

trade-restrictive SPS and standardsrelated measures, please see 

‘‘Supporting & Related Materials’’ under 

dockets USTR–2009–0031 and USTR– 

2009–0032 at www.regulations.gov. 

In responding to this notice with 

respect to any of the three reports, 

commenters should place particular 

emphasis on any practices that may 

violate U.S. trade agreements. The TPSC 

is also interested in receiving new or 

updated information pertinent to the 

barriers covered in the 2009 NTE as well 

as reports of new barriers. If USTR does 

not include in the NTE or the reports on 

SPS and standards-related measures 

information that it receives pursuant to 

this notice, it will maintain the 

information for potential use in future 

discussions or negotiations with trading 

partners. 

Estimate of Increase in Exports: Each 

comment should include an estimate of 

the potential increase in U.S. exports 

that would result from removing any 

foreign trade barrier the comment 

identifies, as well as a description of the 

methodology the commenter used to 

derive the estimate. Estimates should be 

expressed within the following value 

ranges: Less than $5 million; $5 to $25 

million; $25 million to $50 million; $50 

million to $100 million; $100 million to 

$500 million; or over $500 million. 

These estimates will help USTR 

conduct comparative analyses of a 

barrier’s effect over a range of 

industries. 

Requirements for Submissions: 

Commenters providing information on 

foreign trade barriers in more than one 

country should, whenever possible, 

provide a separate submission for each 

country. Comments addressing SPS or 

standards-related measures should be 

submitted separately from comments on 

other trade barriers. 

In order to ensure the timely receipt 

and consideration of comments, USTR 

strongly encourages commenters to 

make on-line submissions, using the 

www.regulations.gov Web site. 

Comments should be submitted under 

one of the following dockets (depending 

on the subject of the comment): 

SPS Measures: USTR–2009–0031. 

Standards-Related Measures: USTR– 

2009–0032. 

All Other Measures: USTR–2009– 

0033. 

To find these dockets, enter the 

pertinent docket number in the ‘‘Enter 

Keyword or ID’’ window at the 

www.regulations.gov home page and 

click ‘‘Search.’’ The site will provide a 

search-results page listing all documents 

associated with that docket number. 

Find a reference to this notice by 

selecting ‘‘Notices’’ under ‘‘Document 

Type’’ on the search-results page, and 

click on the link entitled ‘‘Submit a 

Comment.’’ (For further information on 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 184 / Thursday, September 24, 2009 / Notices 48813 

using the www.regulations.gov Web site, 

please consult the resources provided 

on the website by clicking on the 

‘‘Help’’ tab.) 

The www.regulations.gov Web site 

provides the option of making 

submissions by filling in a comments 

field, or by attaching a document. USTR 

prefers submissions to be provided in an 

attached document. If a document is 

attached, please identify the name of the 

country to which the submission 

pertains in the ‘‘Comments’’ field. For 

example: ‘‘See attached comment for 

(name of country)’’. If the comment is 

related to SPS or standards-related 

measures, type ‘‘See attached comment 

on SPS measures for (name of country)’’ 

or ‘‘See attached comment on standardsrelated measures for (name of country)’’. 

USTR prefers submissions in Microsoft 

Word (.doc) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). If 

the submission is in an application 

other than those two, please indicate the 

name of the application in the 

‘‘Comments’’ field. 

For any comments submitted 

electronically containing business 

confidential information, the file name 

of the business confidential version 

should begin with the characters ‘‘BC’’. 

The top of any page containing business 

confidential information must be clearly 

marked ‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’. 

Any person filing comments that 

contain business confidential 

information must also file in a separate 

submission a public version of the 

comments. The file name of the public 

version of the comments should begin 

with the character ‘‘P’’. The ‘‘BC’’ and 

‘‘P’’ should be followed by the name of 

the person or entity submitting the 

comments. If a comment contains no 

business confidential information, the 

file name should begin with the 

character ‘‘P’’, followed by the name of 

the person or entity submitting the 

comments. 

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 submission itself, not as 

separate files. 

Carmen Suro-Bredie, 

Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee. 

[FR Doc. E9–23012 Filed 9–23–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–W9–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Railroad Administration 

Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement 

for the Empire Corridor High Speed 

Rail Program From New York City to 

Niagara Falls, NY 

AGENCY: Federal Railroad 

Administration (FRA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice of intent to prepare an 

environmental impact statement. 

SUMMARY: FRA is issuing this notice to 

advise the public that FRA with the 

New York State Department of 

Transportation (NYSDOT) will jointly 

prepare a Tier 1 Environmental Impact 

Statement (EIS) for the Empire Corridor 

High Speed Rail (HSR) Program in 

compliance with relevant State and 

Federal laws, in particular the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 

the State Environmental Quality Review 

Act (SEQR). FRA is also issuing this 

notice to solicit public and agency input 

into the development of the scope of the 

Empire Corridor HSR Program EIS and 

to advise the public that outreach 

activities conducted by the NYSDOT 

and its representatives will be 

considered in the preparation of the EIS. 

The objective of the tiered EIS is to 

evaluate alternatives and make corridor 

level decisions regarding the level of 

intercity passenger rail service provided 

in the corridor, including variations in 

train frequency, trip time, and on-time 

performance. 

DATES: Letters describing the proposed 

project and soliciting comments were 

sent to appropriate Federal, State, and 

local agencies, and appropriate 

railroads. Written comments on the 

scope of the Empire Corridor HSR 

Program EIS should be provided to 

NYSDOT by October 30, 2009. A public 

scoping meeting is scheduled for 

September 24, 2009, from 1:30 to 2:30 

p.m., at 50 Wolf Road, Conference 

Rooms A, B and C on the first floor, 

Albany, NY 12232 for the purpose of 

introducing the proposed project to 

regulatory agencies and other interested 

parties. No formal NEPA scoping 

meeting is planned. A series of public 

information meetings will be held in 

Eastern and Western New York in 

November and December 2009. Public 

notices will be given of the time and 

place of the meetings. 

ADDRESSES: Written comments on the 

scope of this EIS should be addressed 

to: Ann R. Purdue, High Speed Rail 

Program Manager, New York State 

Department of Transportation, 50 Wolf 

Road POD 6–4, Albany, NY 12232, or 

via e-mail with the subject line, ‘‘Empire 

Corridor HSR’’ to: 

apurdue@dot.state.ny.us. Comments 

may also be provided orally or in 

writing at the scoping meeting on 

September 24, 2009, at 50 Wolf Road, 

Conference Rooms A, B and C, Albany, 

New York 12232. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Melissa Elefante DuMond, 

Environmental Protection Specialist, 

Office of Railroad Development, Federal 

Railroad Administration, 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue, SE. (Mail Stop 20), 

Washington, DC 20590; Telephone (202) 

493–6366, or Ann R. Purdue, High 

Speed Rail Program Manager, New York 

State Department of Transportation, 50 

Wolf Road POD 6–4, Albany, NY, 

Telephone (518) 457–0607. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FRA, 

in cooperation with the New York State 

Department of Transportation 

(NYSDOT), will prepare a tiered 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

that will study and document proposed 

improvements to intercity passenger rail 

services along the 463-mile Empire 

Corridor, beginning at Penn Station in 

New York City, New York County and 

proceeding north to Poughkeepsie 

(Dutchess County) and Albany (Albany 

County) then turning west to 

Schenectady (Schenectady County), 

Utica (Oneida County), Syracuse 

(Onondaga County), Rochester (Monroe 

County), Buffalo (Erie County) and 

terminating at Niagara Falls (Niagara 

County). 

Purpose and Need: In 2008, Amtrak 

carried 315.79 million passenger miles 

along the Empire Corridor. However, 

overall on-time performance (OTP) for 

Amtrak in 2008 was poor, with 68% 

OTP for trains operating between Penn 

Station and Albany-Rensselaer, and 

OTP of 41% for trains operating 

between Penn Station and Niagara Falls. 

Trip times are competitive with 

automobile and air travel between Penn 

Station and Albany-Rensselaer, but are 

considerably slower in the Penn Station 

to Niagara Falls market. Mobility 

choices were limited, primarily west of 

Albany, due to limited train frequency. 

Poor on-time performance, noncompetitive trip times, and infrequent 

service are all factors known to 

adversely affect passenger rail ridership. 

The 2009 New York State Rail Plan 

identified a need for improvements to 

passenger rail services as a means to 

reduce highway congestion, reduce 

airport congestion, reduce greenhouse 

gas emissions, and limit the 

consumption of fossil fuels, and to 

support economic growth and smart 

land use development. The New York 


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