Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2023 / Notices 62421 

Authority No. 523 of December 22, 

2021. 

Nicole L. Elkon, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional 

and Cultural Exchanges, Bureau of 

Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department 

of State. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19541 Filed 9–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4710–05–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

[Docket Number USTR–2023–0010] 

Request for Comments on Significant 

Foreign Trade Barriers for the 2024 

National Trade Estimate Report 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the United 

States Trade Representative (USTR), 

through the Trade Policy Staff 

Committee (TPSC), publishes the 

National Trade Estimate Report on 

Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE Report) 

each year. USTR invites comments to 

assist it and the TPSC in identifying 

significant foreign barriers to, or 

distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and 

services, U.S. foreign direct investment, 

and U.S. electronic commerce for 

inclusion in the NTE Report. USTR also 

will consider responses to this notice as 

part of the annual review of the 

operation and effectiveness of all U.S. 

trade agreements regarding 

telecommunications products and 

services that are in force with respect to 

the United States. 

DATES: October 23, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. 

ET: Deadline for submission of 

comments. 

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers 

electronic submissions made through 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov (Regulations.gov). 

The instructions for submitting 

comments are in sections IV and V 

below. The docket number is USTR– 

2023–0010. For alternatives to online 

submissions, please contact Laura Buffo, 

Chair of the Trade Policy Staff 

Committee, at 

ForeignTradeBarriersReport@

ustr.eop.gov or (202) 395–3475 in 

advance of the deadline. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laura Buffo, Chair of the Trade Policy 

Staff Committee, at 

ForeignTradeBarriersReport@

ustr.eop.gov or (202) 395–3475. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Section 181 of the Trade Act of 1974, 

as amended (19 U.S.C. 2241), requires 

USTR annually to publish the NTE 

Report, which sets out an inventory of 

significant foreign barriers to, or 

distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and 

services, including agricultural 

commodities and U.S. intellectual 

property; foreign direct investment by 

U.S. persons, especially if such 

investment has implications for trade in 

goods or services; and U.S. electronic 

commerce. The inventory facilitates 

U.S. negotiations aimed at reducing or 

eliminating these barriers and is a 

valuable tool in enforcing U.S. trade 

laws and agreements and strengthening 

the rules-based trading system. You can 

find the 2023 NTE Report on USTR’s 

website at https://ustr.gov/sites/default/ 

files/2023-03/ 

2023%20NTE%20Report.pdf. To ensure 

compliance with the statutory mandate 

for the NTE Report and the 

Administration’s commitment to focus 

on significant foreign trade barriers, 

USTR will take into account comments 

in response to this notice when deciding 

which significant barriers to include in 

the NTE Report. 

II. Topics on Which the TPSC Seeks 

Information 

To assist USTR in preparing the NTE 

Report, commenters should submit 

information related to one or more of 

the following categories of foreign trade 

barriers: 

1. Import policies. Examples include 

tariffs and other import charges; 

quantitative restrictions; import 

licensing; customs barriers, preshipment inspection, and trade 

facilitation or customs valuation 

practices; and, other market access 

barriers. 

2. Technical barriers to trade. 

Examples include unnecessarily trade 

restrictive or discriminatory standards, 

conformity assessment procedures, or 

technical regulations, including 

unnecessary or discriminatory technical 

regulations or standards for 

telecommunications products. 

3. Sanitary and phytosanitary 

measures. Examples include measures 

relating to food safety, or animal and 

plant life or health that are 

unnecessarily trade restrictive, 

discriminatory, or not based on 

scientific evidence. 

4. Government procurement. 

Examples include closed bidding and 

bidding processes that lack 

transparency. 

5. Intellectual property protection. 

Examples include inadequate patent, 

copyright, and trademark regimes; trade 

secret theft; and, inadequate 

enforcement of intellectual property 

rights. 

6. Services. Examples include 

prohibitions or restrictions on foreign 

participation in the market, 

discriminatory licensing requirements 

or standards, local-presence 

requirements, and unreasonable 

restrictions on what services may be 

offered. 

7. Digital trade. Examples include 

restrictions on the supply of internetenabled services, and other restrictive 

technology requirements. 

8. Investment. Examples include 

limitations on foreign equity 

participation and on access to foreign 

government-funded research and 

development programs, technology 

transfer requirements and export 

performance requirements, and 

restrictions on repatriation of earnings, 

capital, fees and royalties. 

9. Subsidies. Examples include 

subsidies contingent upon export 

performance, and agricultural export 

subsidies that displace U.S. exports in 

third country markets. 

10. Competition. Examples include 

government-tolerated anticompetitive 

conduct that restricts the sale or 

purchase of U.S. goods or services in the 

foreign country’s markets. 

11. State-owned enterprises. Examples 

include actions by state-owned 

enterprises (SOEs) and by governments 

with respect to SOEs involved in the 

manufacture or production of nonagricultural goods or in the supply of 

services that constitute significant 

barriers to, or distortions of, U.S. 

exports of goods and services, U.S. 

investments, or U.S. electronic 

commerce, which may negatively affect 

U.S. firms and workers. These actions 

include subsidies and non-commercial 

advantages provided to and from SOEs; 

and practices with respect to SOEs that 

discriminate against U.S. goods or 

services, or actions by SOEs that are 

inconsistent with commercial 

considerations in the purchase and sale 

of goods and services. 

12. Labor. Examples include concerns 

with failures by a government to protect 

internationally recognized worker rights 

or to eliminate discrimination in respect 

of employment or occupation, in cases 

where these failures influence trade 

flows or investment decisions in ways 

that constitute significant barriers to, or 

distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and 

services, U.S. investment, or U.S. 

electronic commerce, which may 

negatively affect U.S. firms and workers. 

Internationally recognized worker rights 

include: the right of association; the 


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62422 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2023 / Notices 

right to organize and bargain 

collectively; a prohibition on the use of 

any form of forced or compulsory labor; 

a minimum age for the employment of 

children, and a prohibition on the worst 

forms of child labor; and, acceptable 

conditions of work with respect to 

minimum wages, hours of work, and 

occupational safety and health. 

13. Environment. Examples include 

concerns with a government’s levels of 

environmental protection, unsustainable 

stewardship of natural resources, and 

harmful environmental practices that 

constitute significant barriers to, or 

distortions of, U.S. exports of goods and 

services, U.S. investment, or U.S. 

electronic commerce, which may 

negatively affect U.S. firms or workers. 

14. Other barriers. Examples include 

significant barriers or distortions that 

are not covered in any other category 

above or that encompass more than one 

category, such as bribery and 

corruption, or that affect a single sector. 

Please provide, if available, the titles 

of relevant laws or measures and a 

description of the concerns with which 

the laws or measures relate to the 

significant foreign barriers or distortions 

identified. Commenters should place 

particular emphasis on any practices 

that may violate U.S. trade agreements. 

USTR also is interested in receiving new 

or updated information pertinent to the 

barriers covered in the 2023 NTE Report 

as well as information on new barriers. 

If USTR does not include in the 2024 

NTE Report information that it receives 

pursuant to this notice, it will maintain 

the information for potential use in 

future discussions or negotiations with 

trading partners. 

Commenters should submit 

information related to one or more of 

the following export markets to be 

covered in the report: Algeria, Angola, 

the Arab League, Argentina, Australia, 

Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, 

Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, 

China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote 

d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, 

Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, the 

European Union, Ghana, Guatemala, 

Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, 

Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, 

Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, 

Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, 

Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, 

Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the 

Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi 

Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, 

Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, 

Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab 

Emirates, the United Kingdom, 

Uruguay, and Vietnam. Commenters 

may submit information related to 

significant barriers or distortions in 

export markets other than those listed in 

this paragraph. 

In addition, section 1377 of the 

Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness 

Act of 1988 (19 U.S.C. 3106) (section 

1377) requires USTR annually to review 

the operation and effectiveness of U.S. 

telecommunications trade agreements 

that are in force with respect to the 

United States. The purpose of the 

review is to determine whether any 

foreign government that is a party to one 

of those agreements is failing to comply 

with that government’s obligations or is 

otherwise denying, within the context of 

a relevant agreement, ‘‘mutually 

advantageous market opportunities’’ to 

U.S. telecommunication products or 

services suppliers. USTR will consider 

responses to this notice in the review 

called for in section 1377 and highlight 

both ongoing and emerging barriers to 

U.S. telecommunication services and 

goods exports in the 2024 NTE Report. 

III. Estimate of Increase in Exports 

To the extent possible, each comment 

should include an estimate of the 

potential increase in exports of goods or 

services of the United States, U.S. 

foreign direct investment, or U.S. 

electronic commerce that would result 

from removing any significant foreign 

trade barrier the comment identifies, as 

well as a description of the methodology 

the commenter used to derive the 

estimate. Commenters should express 

estimates within the following value 

ranges: less than $25 million; $25 

million to $100 million; $100 million to 

$500 million; and over $500 million. 

IV. Requirements for Submissions 

To be assured of consideration, 

submit your written comments by the 

October 23, 2023 11:59 p.m. ET 

deadline. All submissions must be in 

English. USTR strongly encourages 

submissions via Regulations.gov. 

To submit via Regulations.gov, use 

Docket Number USTR–2023–0010 in the 

‘search for’ field on the home page and 

click ‘search.’ The site will provide a 

search-results page listing all documents 

associated with this docket. Find a 

reference to this notice by selecting 

‘notice’ under ‘document type’ in the 

‘refine documents results’ section on the 

left side of the screen and click on the 

link entitled ‘comment.’ Regulations.gov 

allows users to make submissions by 

filling in a ‘type comment’ field, or by 

attaching a document using the ‘upload 

file’ field. USTR prefers that you 

provide submissions in an attached 

document and note see attached 

comments with respect to (name of 

country) in the ‘comment’ field on the 

online submission form. The first page 

of the submission must identify 

‘Comments Regarding Foreign Trade 

Barriers to U.S. Exports for 2023 

Reporting—[name of country or 

countries discussed].’ Commenters 

providing information on foreign trade 

barriers in more than one country 

should provide a separate attachment 

for each country as part of the same 

submission. USTR strongly encourages 

commenters to provide only one 

submission. USTR prefers submissions 

in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe 

Acrobat (.pdf). If you use an application 

other than those two, please indicate the 

name of the application in the ‘type 

comment’ field. 

You will receive a tracking number 

upon completion of the submission 

procedure at Regulations.gov. The 

tracking number is confirmation that 

Regulations.gov received your 

submission. Keep the confirmation for 

your records. USTR is not able to 

provide technical assistance for 

Regulations.gov. 

For further information on using 

Regulations.gov, please consult the 

resources provided on the website by 

clicking on ‘How to Use 

Regulations.gov’ on the bottom of the 

home page. USTR may not consider 

submissions that you do not make in 

accordance with these instructions. 

If you are unable to provide 

submissions as requested, please contact 

Laura Buffo, Chair of the Trade Policy 

Staff Committee, in advance of the 

deadline at 

ForeignTradeBarriersReport@

ustr.eop.gov or (202) 395–3475 to 

arrange for an alternative method of 

transmission. USTR will not accept 

hand-delivered submissions. 

General information concerning USTR 

is available at https://www.ustr.gov. 

V. Business Confidential Information 

(BCI) Submissions 

If you ask USTR to treat information 

you submit as BCI, you must certify that 

the information is business confidential 

and you would not customarily release 

it to the public. For any comments 

submitted electronically containing BCI, 

the file name of the business 

confidential version should begin with 

the characters ‘BCI.’ You must clearly 

mark any page containing BCI with 

‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’ on the top 

of that page. Filers of submissions 

containing BCI also must submit a 

public version that will be placed in the 

docket for public inspection. The file 

name of the public version should begin 

with the character ‘P.’ Follow the ‘BCI’ 

and ‘P’ with the name of the person or 

entity submitting the comments. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 174 / Monday, September 11, 2023 / Notices 62423 

VI. Public Viewing of Review 

Submissions 

USTR will post written submissions 

in the docket for public inspection, 

except properly designated BCI. You 

can view comments on Regulations.gov 

by entering Docket Number USTR– 

2023–0010 in the search field on the 

home page. 

Laura Buffo, 

Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, 

Office of the United States Trade 

Representative. 

[FR Doc. 2023–19521 Filed 9–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3390–F3–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Notice of Extension for Product 

Exclusions: China’s Acts, Policies, and 

Practices Related to Technology 

Transfer, Intellectual Property, and 

Innovation 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative (USTR). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: In prior notices, the U.S. 

Trade Representative modified the 

actions in the section 301 investigation 

of China’s acts, policies, and practices 

related to technology transfer, 

intellectual property, and innovation by 

excluding from additional duties certain 

products of China, including medicalcare products needed to address COVID. 

In December 2022, the U.S. Trade 

Representative determined to extend 

352 previously reinstated exclusions 

through September 30, 2023 and in May 

2023 determined to extend 77 COVIDrelated exclusions through September 

30, 2023. This notice announces the 

U.S. Trade Representative’s 

determination to further extend the 352 

reinstated exclusions and 77 COVIDrelated exclusions until December 31, 

2023. 

DATES: The extensions in this notice 

extend the 352 reinstated exclusions 

and 77 COVID-related exclusions 

through December 31, 2023. U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection will 

issue instructions on entry guidance and 

implementation. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

general questions about this notice, 

contact Associate General Counsel 

Philip Butler or Assistant General 

Counsel Edward Marcus at (202) 395– 

5725. For specific questions on customs 

classification or implementation of the 

product exclusions, contact 

traderemedy@cbp.dhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. Background 

In the course of this investigation, the 

U.S. Trade Representative has imposed 

additional duties on products of China 

in four tranches. See 83 FR 28719 (June 

20, 2018); 83 FR 40823 (August 16, 

2018); 83 FR 47974 (September 21, 

2018), as modified by 83 FR 49153 

(September 28, 2018); and 84 FR 43304 

(August 20, 2019), as modified by 84 FR 

69447 (December 18, 2019) and 85 FR 

3741 (January 22, 2020). 

Reinstated Exclusions 

For each tranche of additional duties, 

the U.S. Trade Representative 

established a process by which U.S. 

stakeholders could request the 

exclusion of particular products subject 

to the action. Starting in November 

2019, the U.S. Trade Representative 

established processes for submitting 

public comments on whether to extend 

particular exclusions. See, e.g., 85 FR 

6687 (February 5, 2019) and 85 FR 

38482 (June 26, 2020). Pursuant to these 

processes, the U.S. Trade Representative 

determined to extend 549 exclusions. 

With the exception of certain exclusions 

related to the U.S. response to COVID, 

all of these 549 exclusions expired. 

On October 8, 2021, the U.S. Trade 

Representative invited the public to 

submit comments on whether to 

reinstate certain exclusions previously 

granted and extended. 86 FR 56345 

(October 8, 2021) (the October 8 notice). 

On March 28, 2022, the U.S. Trade 

Representative determined to further 

modify the action by reinstating 352 of 

the 549 expired exclusions. The 

reinstated exclusions applied as of 

October 12, 2021, and extended through 

December 31, 2022. See 87 FR 17380 

(March 28, 2022). 

In accordance with section 307(c)(3) 

of the Trade Act of 1974, on September 

8, 2022, USTR announced that it would 

be conducting a review of the July 6, 

2018 and August 23, 2018 actions, as 

modified. See 87 FR 26797 (May 5, 

2022); 87 FR 55073 (September 8, 2022). 

On December 21, 2022, based on 

continued consideration of the factors 

and criteria set forth in the October 8 

notice, and in light of the ongoing 

statutory four-year review, the U.S. 

Trade Representative determined to 

extend the 352 reinstated exclusions 

through September 30, 2023 to allow the 

U.S. Trade Representative to consider 

and align, as appropriate, the reinstated 

exclusions with the results of the 

statutory four-year review. See 87 FR 

78187 (December 21, 2022) (December 

21 notice). 

COVID-Related Exclusions 

On March 25, 2020, USTR requested 

public comments on proposed 

modifications to exclude from 

additional duties certain medical-care 

products related to the U.S. response to 

COVID. 85 FR 16987 (March 25, 2020). 

On December 29, 2020, USTR 

announced 99 product exclusions for 

medical-care products and products 

related to the U.S. COVID response. 

These 99 exclusions were later extended 

until September 30, 2021. See 86 FR 

13785. On August 27, 2021, USTR 

published a notice requesting public 

comments on whether any of these 

exclusions should be further extended 

for up to six months. See 86 FR 48280. 

On November 16, 2021, USTR 

announced the U.S. Trade 

Representative’s determination to 

extend 81 of these exclusions for an 

additional six months. See 86 FR 63438 

(November 16, 2021). These 81 

exclusions were subsequently extended 

through February 28, 2023. See 87 FR 

33871 (June 03, 2022); 87 FR 73383 

(November 29, 2022). 

On February 7, 2023, USTR published 

a notice requesting public comments on 

whether to further extend any of the 

COVID-related exclusions for up to six 

months. See 87 FR 8027 (February 7, 

2023). 

On May 17, 2023, based on evaluation 

of the public comments, the factors set 

out in the February 7 notice, and to 

allow the U.S. Trade Representative to 

consider and align, as appropriate, the 

exclusions with the results of the 

statutory 4-year review, the U.S. Trade 

Representative determined to extend 77 

of the COVID-related exclusions through 

September 30, 2023. See 88 FR 31580 

(May 17, 2023). 

B. Determination To Further Extend 

Reinstated and COVID-Related 

Exclusions 

To provide a transition period for the 

expiring exclusions and to allow for 

further consideration under the fouryear review, and pursuant to sections 

301(b), 301(c), and 307(a) of the Trade 

Act of 1974, as amended, the U.S. Trade 

Representative has determined that it is 

appropriate to further extend the 352 

reinstated exclusions and the 77 COVIDrelated exclusions, as set out in the 

Annex A and Annex B to this notice, 

until December 31, 2023. 

The exclusion extensions are 

available for any product that meets the 

description in the product exclusion. 

Further, the scope of each exclusion and 

modification is governed by the scope of 

the ten-digit Harmonized Tariff 

Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) 


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