[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 116 (Thursday, June 15, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37594-37595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-15060]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Trade Policy Staff Committee; Public Comments on Proposed United 
States-Jordan Free Trade Agreement

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: This publication gives notice that United States intends to 
conduct negotiations with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to conclude a 
free trade agreement. The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is 
requesting written comments from the public to assist the United States 
Trade Representative (USTR) in formulating negotiating objectives for 
the agreement and to provide advice on how specific goods and services 
and other matters should be treated under the agreement. This 
publication also provides notice that USTR, through the TPSC, will 
perform an environmental review of the agreement.

DATES: Public comments are due by noon July 17, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning 
public comments, contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office 
of the USTR, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508 (202) 395-3475. 
All other questions regarding the negotiations should be addressed to 
Adam Shub, Director for Middle Eastern Affairs, Office of the USTR 
(202) 395-3320.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 6, 2000, President Clinton agreed 
with Jordan's King Abdullah II to negotiate a bilaterial free trade 
agreement. In the negotiations, the United States and Jordan will seek 
to eliminate duties and commercial barriers to bilateral trade in U.S.- 
and Jordanian-origin goods and also expect to address trade in 
services, trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, trade-
related

[[Page 37595]]

environmental and labor matters, and other issues.
    Written comments with as much specificity as possible, including 
data, views and arguments, are invited on:
    (a) General and commodity-specific negotiating objectives for the 
agreement.
    (b) Economic costs and benefit to U.S. producers and consumers of 
removal of tariffs and non-tariff barriers to U.S.-Jordan trade.
    (c) Treatment of specific goods (described by Harmonized System 
tariff numbers) under the agreement, including comments on (1) product 
specific import or export interests or barriers, (2) experience with 
particular measures that should be addressed in the negotiations, and 
(3) in the case of articles for which immediate elimination of tariffs 
is not appropriate, recommended staging schedule for such elimination.
    (d) Adequacy of existing customs measures to ensure Jordanian 
origin of imported goods, and appropriate rules of origin for goods 
entering the United States under the agreement.
    (e) Proposals for service sectors to be addressed in the agreement, 
existing barriers to trade in those sectors, and economic costs and 
benefits of removing such barriers.
    (f) Relevant trade-related intellectual property rights issues that 
should be addressed in the negotiations.
    (g) Relevant trade-related environmental and labor issues that 
should be addressed in the negotiations.
    (h) Possible environmental effects of the agreement.
    USTR, through the TPSC, will perform an environmental review of the 
proposed agreement pursuant to Executive order 13141, 64 FR 63169.
    Comments identifying as present or potential trade barriers laws or 
regulations that are not primarily trade-related should address the 
economic, political and social objectives of such regulations and the 
degree to which they discriminate against producers of the other 
country.

Written Comments

    Persons submitting written comments should provide twenty (20) 
copies no later than noon, July 17, 2000, to Gloria Blue at address 
listed above. Where possible, please supplement written comments with a 
computer disk of the submission containing as much of the technical 
details as possible either in spreadsheet or word processing table 
format, with each tariff line/services sector in a separate cell. The 
disk should have a label identifying the software used and the 
submitter.
    Written comments submitted in connection with this request, except 
for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 
CFR 2003.6, will be available for public inspection in the USTR Reading 
Room (Room 101) at the address noted above. An appointment to review 
the file may be made by calling Brenda Webb at (202) 395-6186. The 
Reading Room is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 
1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
    Business confidential information, including any information 
submitted on disks, will be subject to the requirements of 15 CFR 
2003.6. Any business confidential material must be clearly marked as 
such on the cover letter or page and each succeeding page, and must be 
accompanied by a non-confidential summary thereof. If the submission 
contains business confidential information, twenty copies of a public 
version that does not contain confidential information, must be 
submitted. A justification as to why the information contained in the 
submission should be treated confidentially must be included in the 
submission. In addition, any submissions containing business 
confidential information must be clearly marked ``Confidential'' at the 
top and bottom of the cover page (or letter) and each succeeding page 
of the submission. The version that does not contain confidential 
information should also be clearly marked, at the top and bottom of 
each page, ``public version'' or ``non-confidential.''

Nancy A. LeaMond,
USTR, Chief of Staff.
[FR Doc. 00-15060 Filed 6-14-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3901-01-M