59014 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 211 / Friday, October 31, 1997 / Notices

Sincerely,

Barbara Larkin,

Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.

Enclosure: Transmital No. DTC–43–97

The Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the

House of Representatives.

United States Department of State

Washington, D.C. 20520

July 25, 1997.

Dear Mr. Speaker: Pursuant to sections

36(c) and (d) of the Arms Export Control Act,

I am transmitting herewith certification of a

proposed Technical Assistance Agreement

and export license for defense articles and

services sold commercially under contract to

Taiwan in the amount of $50,000,000.00 or

more.

The transaction described in the attached

certification involves the sale and assembly

of eleven helicopters; the integration of all

specialized avionics; and, the maintenance/

acceptance test flight of the aircraft after

shipment.

The United States Government is prepared

to license the export of these services having

taken into account the political, military,

economic, human rights and arms control

considerations.

More detailed information is contained in

the formal certification which, though

unclassified, contains business information

submitted to the Department of State by the

applicant, publication of which could cause

competitive harm to the United States firm

concerned.

Sincerely,

Barbara Larkin,

Assistance Secretary, Legislative Affairs.

Enclosure: Transmittal No. DTC–83–97

The Honorable, Newt Gingrich, Speaker of

the House of Representatives.

United States Department of State

Washington, D.C. 20520

July 18, 1997.

Dear Mr. Speaker: Pursuant to Section

36(c) of the Arms Export Control Act, I am

transmitting herewith certification of a

proposed license for the export of defense

equipment or services sold commercially

under contract to the United Kingdom in the

amount of $50,000,000.00 or more.

The transaction described in the attached

certification involves the transfer of technical

data and launch services for commerical

communications satellites.

The United States Government is prepared

to license the export of these items having

taken into account the political, military,

economic, human rights and arms control

considerations.

More detailed information is contained in

the formal certification which, though

unclassified, contains business information

submitted to the Department of State by the

applicant, publication of which could cause

competitive harm to the United States firm

concerned.

Sincerely,

Barbara Larkin,

Assistance Secretary, Legislative Affairs.

Enclosure: Transmittal No. DTC–96–97

The Honorable, Newt Gingrich, Speaker of

the House of Representatives.

United States Department of State

Washington, D.C. 20520

September 17, 1997.

Dear Mr. Speaker: Pursuant to section 36(c)

of the Arms Export Control Act, I am

transmitting here with certification of a

proposed license for the export of defense

articles and defense services sold

commercially under a contract in the amount

of $50,000,000.00 or more.

The transaction described in the attached

certification involves the export to Germany

of Radar System Improvement Program

(RSIP) hardware.

The United States Government is prepared

to license the export of these items having

taken into account political, military,

economic, human rights, and arms control

considerations.

More detailed information is contained in

the formal certification which, though

unclassified, contains business information

submitted to the Department of State by the

applicant, publication of which could cause

competitive harm to the United States firm

concerned.

Sincerely,

Barbara Larkin,

Assistant Secretary, Legislative Affairs.

Enclosure: Transmittal No. DTC–75–97

The Honorable Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the

House of Representatives.

[FR Doc. 97–28863 Filed 10–30–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4710–25–M

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Renewal of Treatment on Government

Procurement of Products From

Countries Designated Under the

Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery

Act

Under the authority delegated to me

by the President in section 1–201 of

Executive Order 12269 of December 31,

1980, I hereby direct that products of

countries listed below, designed by the

President as beneficiaries under the

Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act

(19 U.S.C. 2701, et. seq.), shall continue

to be treated as eligible products for

purpose of section 1–101 of Executive

Order 12260 until September 30, 1998.

Such treatment shall not apply to

products originating in these countries

that are excluded from duty free

treatment under 19 U.S.C. 2703(b).

Subsequent renewal of this treatment

beyond September 30, 1998, will be

subject to beneficiaries’ participation

and cooperation in the World Trade

Organization (WTO) Working Group on

Transparency in Government

Procurement, efforts they make to

accede to the WTO Agreement on

Government Procurement or to support

continuing multilateral negotiations in

the WTO in the future and their

participation in the Free Trade Area of

the Americas Working Group on

Government Procurement. Countries

making significant efforts to comply

with these conditions will be

considered for future multiple-year

renewals of preferential procurement

status.

Charlene Barshefsky,

United States Trade Representative.

List of Countries Designated as

Beneficiary Countries for Purpose of the

Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act

(CBERA)

Antigua and Barbuda

Aruba

Bahamas, The

Barbados

Belize

Costa Rica

Dominica

Dominican Republic

El Salvador

Grenada

Guatemala

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Jamaica

Nicaragua

Panama

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Trinidad and Tobago

Montserrat

Netherland Antilles

Saint Kitts-Nevis

Vigin Islands, British

[FR Doc. 97–28915 Filed 10–30–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3190–01–M

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Request for Public Comment With

Respect to the Annual National Trade

Estimate Report on Foreign Trade

Barriers

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 303 of the

Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, as

amended, USTR is required to publish

annually the National Trade Estimate

Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE).

With this notice, the Trade Policy Staff
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 211 / Friday, October 31, 1997 / Notices 59015

Committee (TPSC) is requesting

interested parties to assist it in

identifying significant barriers to U.S.

exports of goods, services and overseas

direct investment for inclusion in the

NTE. Particularly important are

impediments materially affecting the

actual and potential financial

performance of an industry sector. The

TPSC invites written comments that

provide views relevant to the issues to

be examined in preparing the NTE.

DATES: Public comments are due not

later than December 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Gloria Blue, Executive

Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee,

Office of the United States Trade

Representative, 600 17th Street, NW.,

Room 501, Washington, DC 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Gregory Gerdes, Office of the General

Counsel, Office of the United States

Trade Representative, (202) 395–9493.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

information submitted should relate to

one or more of the following nine

categories of foreign trade barriers:

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

other import charges, quantitative

restrictions, import licensing, and

customs barriers);

(2) Standards, testing, labeling, and

certification (including unnecessarily

restrictive application of phytosanitary

standards, refusal to accept U.S.

manufacturers’ self-certification of

conformance to foreign product

standards, and environmental

restrictions);

(3) Government procurement (e.g.,

‘‘buy national’’ policies and closed

bidding);

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

financing on preferential terms and

agricultural export subsidies that

displace U.S. exports in third country

markets);

(5) Lack of intellectual property

protection (e.g., inadequate patent,

copyright, and trademark regimes);

(6) 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 (e.g., lawyers, doctors,

accountants, engineers, nurses, etc.));

(7) 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);

(8) Anticompetitive practices with

trade effects tolerated by foreign

governments (including anticompetitive

activities of both state-owned and

private firms that apply to services or to

goods and that restrict the sale of U.S.

products to any firm, not just to foreign

firms that perpetuate the practices; and

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

encompass more than one category, e.g.,

bribery and corruption, or that affect a

single sector).

As in the case of last year’s NTE, we

are asking that particular emphasis be

placed on any practices that may violate

U.S. trade agreements. We are also

interested in receiving any new or

updated information pertinent to the

barriers covered in last year’s report as

well as new information. Please note

that the information not used in the

NTE will be maintained for use in future

negotiations.

It is MOST IMPORTANT that your

submission contain estimates of the

potential increase in exports that would

result from the removal of the barrier, as

well as a clear discussion of the

method(s) by which the estimates were

computed. Estimates should fall 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. Such assessments

enhance USTR’s ability to conduct

meaningful comparative analyses of a

barrier’s effect over a range of

industries.

Please note that interested parties

discussing barriers in more than one

country should provide a separate

submission (i.e., one that is selfcontained) for each country.

Written Comments

All written comments should be

addressed to: Gloria Blue, Executive

Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee,

Office of the United States Trade

Representative, 600 17th Street N.W.,

Room 501, Washington, D.C. 20508.

All submissions must be in English

and should conform to the information

requirements of 15 CFR 2003.

A party must provide ten copies of its

submission which must be received at

USTR no later than December 5, 1997.

If the submission contains business

confidential information, ten copies of a

non-confidential version must also 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

of 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.’’

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 shortly after the filing

deadline. Inspection is by appointment

only with the staff of the USTR Public

Reading Room and can be arranged by

calling (202) 395–6186.

Frederick L. Montgomery.

Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.

[FR Doc. 97–28914 Filed 10–30–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3190–01–M

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

North American Free Trade

Agreement; Invitation for Applications

for Inclusion on the Chapter 19 Roster

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Invitation for applications.

SUMMARY: Chapter 19 of the North

American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA) provides for the establishment

of a roster of individuals to serve on

binational panels convened to review

final determinations in antidumping or

countervailing duty (AD/CVD)

proceedings and amendments to AD/

CVD statutes of a NAFTA Party. The

United States annually renews its

selections for the Chapter 19 roster.

Applications are invited from eligible

individuals wishing to be included on

the roster for the period April 1, 1998

through March 31, 1999.

DATES: Applications should be received

no later than December 1, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Applications should be sent

to Ms. Sybia Harrison, Attn: Chapter 19

Roster Applications, Office of the

United States Trade Representative, 600

17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

With regard to the form of the

application, Ms. Sybia Harrison, (202)

395–3419; with regard to eligibility

requirements, William L. Busis,

Associate General Counsel, (202) 395–

3150.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Binational Panel Reviews Under

NAFTA Chapter 19

Article 1904 of the NAFTA provides

that a party involved in an AD/CVD