Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 224 / Thursday, November 20, 1997 / Notices 62095

to the public and press from 1:30 p.m.

to 2:00 p.m. when trade policy issues

will be discussed. Attendance during

this part of the meeting is for

observation only. Individuals who are

not members of the committee will not

be invited to comment.

DATES: The meeting is scheduled for

December 4, 1997, unless otherwise

notified.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Madison Hotel in the Executive

Chambers, located at 15th and M

Streets, Washington, D.C., unless

otherwise notified.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bill

Daley, Office of the United States Trade

Representative, (202) 395–6120.

Charlene Barshefsky,

United States Trade Representative.

[FR Doc. 97–30559 Filed 11–19–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3190–01–M

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Invitation for Comment on APEC

Multilateral Negotiations Regarding a

Mutual Recognition Agreement for

Telecommunications Equipment

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: The Trade Policy Staff

Committee (TPSC) is inviting interested

persons to submit written comments

with respect to the negotiation in the

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

(APEC) of a Mutual Recognition

Agreement (MRA) on

telecommunications equipment, and, in

particular, with respect to the potential

for such an agreement to remove

important non-tariff barriers affecting

trade in telecommunications and

information technology products.

Comments received will be considered

by the Executive Branch in formulating

U.S. positions and objectives for

negotiation of such an MRA, in

particular as part of the effort by the

APEC Telecom Working Group’s MRA

Task Force to conclude the text of such

an agreement by the June 1998 meeting

of APEC Telecommunications Ministers.

DATES: Comments are due by noon,

December 15, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be

addressed to Gloria Blue, Executive

Secretary, TPSC, ATTN: APEC Telecom

MRA Comments, Office of the U.S.

Trade Representative, Room 503, 600

17th Street, NW., Washington, D.C.

20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

William Corbett, Office of Industry

Affairs, USTR, (202–395–9586); or

William Busis, Office of General

Counsel, USTR (202–395–3150).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: APEC

consists of eighteen member economies:

Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China,

Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China,

Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia,

Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New

Guinea, Philippines, Singapore,

Thailand and the United States. The

APEC Telecommunications Working

Group is a biannual forum in which

telecommunications officials of APEC

economies undertake cooperative

endeavors to liberalize trade in

telecommunications goods and services;

to facilitate private sector interaction

with telecommunications authorities on

policy and business issues; to

coordinate efforts to promote human

resources development in the regional

telecommunications industry; and to

improve regional telecommunications

infrastructure.

An MRA potentially would facilitate

trade in a significant portion of

telecommunications and information

equipment goods among members of

APEC, thereby enhancing the gains we

can expect from the Information

Technology Agreement. It would allow

exporters to test (‘‘phase one’’) and

certify (‘‘phase two’’) equipment to an

importing economy’s mandatory

technical requirements. It is potentially

a useful means to cope with evershortening product life cycles and to

reduce the redundancy of steps

necessary to satisfy importing countries’

approval processes. The WTO

Agreement on Technical Barriers to

Trade encourages members to enter into

Mutual Recognition Agreements that

‘‘give mutual satisfaction regarding their

potential for facilitating trade in the

products concerned.’’ An MRA does not

require harmonization of mandatory

technical requirements, albeit a possible

future result of MRA processes is

harmonization of conformity assessment

and technical requirements, along with

greater voluntary reliance on

manufacturer’s self-declarations, where

this is not already the case.

Background

At the 1995 Osaka APEC Leader’s

Meeting, Leaders agreed to develop and

begin to implement, on a voluntary

basis and by the end of 1997, a model

mutual recognition arrangement for

certification of telecommunications

equipment to the mandatory technical

regulations of importing economies. The

APEC Telecommunications Working

Group (the ‘‘TEL WG’’) in September

1997 reached agreement on a voluntary

framework for such MRAs. The TEL WG

also reached agreement on

improvements to the existing APEC

guidelines for regional harmonization of

equipment certification, which are

referenced by the framework document.

Based on this work, a Telecom MRA

Task Force subsequently met to initiate

work on a Mutual Recognition

Agreement and annexed Phase

Agreements, producing a bracketed text

for further consideration. The Task

Force agreed that its goal would be to

complete work on the texts of an APEC

Telecommunications Mutual

Recognition Agreement and annexed

Phase Agreements by the third meeting

of the APEC Telecommunications

Ministers, scheduled for June 1–5, 1998

in Singapore.

The Telecom MRA Task Force has

agreed that an MRA should cover any

equipment that is subject to member

economies’ regulatory requirements for

terminal attachment (wired and

wireless) or other telecommunications

regulation. For such equipment, an

MRA should cover member economies’

regulatory requirements for

electromagnetic compatibility and

product safety. The framework,

improved guidelines and bracketed

MRA text are available for inspection at

the USTR reading room.

Invitation for Comments

The interagency TPSC led by USTR is

in the process of preparing negotiating

positions for upcoming APEC Telecom

MRA Task Force meetings. Interested

U.S. persons are invited to submit

comments, by noon, December 15, 1997,

on what should be the U.S. goals and

objectives for an APEC MRA on

telecommunications equipment. We are

requesting this advice pursuant to 19

U.S.C. 2155.

Persons submitting written comments

should provide a statement, in twenty

copies, by noon, December 15, 1997, to

Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC,

ATTN: APEC Telecom MRA Comments,

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative,

Room 503, 600 17th Street, NW.,

Washington, D.C. 20508. Nonconfidential information received will

be available for public inspection by

appointment in the USTR Reading

Room, Room 101, Monday through

Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and 1:00

p.m. to 4:00 p.m. For an appointment

call Brenda Webb on 202–395–6186.

Business confidential information 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 cover page and
62096 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 224 / Thursday, November 20, 1997 / Notices

each succeeding page, and must be

accompanied by a non-confidential

summary thereof.

Frederick L. Montgomery,

Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.

[FR Doc. 97–30420 Filed 11–19–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3190–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Agency Information Collection Activity

Under OMB Review

AGENCY: Department of Transportation,

Federal Aviation Administration (DOT/

FAA).

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44

U.S.C. 3401 et seq.) this notice

announces that the information

collection request described below has

been forwarded to the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) for

review. The FAA is requesting an

immediate emergency clearance in

accordance with 5 CFR § 1320.13. The

following information describes the

nature of the information collection and

its expected burden.

DATES: Submit any comments to OMB

and FAA by January 20, 1998.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Pilot Medical Certification

Customer Service Survey.

Need: This information is being

conducted to comply with the Executive

Order 12862, Setting Customer Service

Standards. The information will be used

to evaluate agency performance in the

area of pilot medical certification. The

completion of this form is voluntary and

the information collection will be

conducted anonymously.

Respondents: 48,000 pilots.

Frequency: Annually.

Burden: 2400 hours based on a 30 per

cent return rate of the 48,000

respondents at 10 minutes each.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: or to obtain

a copy of the request for clearance

submitted to OMB, you may contact Ms.

Judith Street at the: Federal Aviation

Administration, Corporate Information

Division, ABC–100, 800 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20591.

Comments may be submitted to the

agency at the address above and to:

Office of Information and Regulatory

Affairs, Office of Management and

Budget, Room 10202, Attention FAA

Desk Officer, 725 17th Street, NW,

Washington, DC 20503.

Issued in Washington, DC on November 14,

1997.

Patricia W. Carter,

Acting Manager, Corporate Information

Division, ABC–100.

[FR Doc. 97–30497 Filed 11–19–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

RTCA, Inc. Special Committee 159;

Minimum Operational Performance

Standards for Airborne Navigation

Equipment Using Global Positioning

System (GPS)

Pursuant to section 10(a)(2) of the

Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub.

L. 92–463, 5 U.S.C., Appendix 2), notice

is hereby given for a Special Committee

159 meeting to be held December 8–12,

1997, starting at 9:00 a.m. The meeting

will be held at RTCA, Inc., 1140

Connecticut Avenue, NW., Suite 1020,

Washington, DC, 20036.

The agenda will be as follows:

Specific Working Group (WG)

Sessions: December 8–9: WG–4A,

Precision Landing Guidance (LAAS

CAT I/II/III); December 10: WG–4A,

Precision Landing Guidance (LAAS

CAT I/II/III); WG–3A, GPS/Inertial

(Meeting will start at 1:00 p.m. to

discuss the reformulation of WG–3A);

December 11: WG–2, WAAS, and WG–

2A, GPS/GLONASS; WG–4B, Airport

Surface Surveillance.

Plenary Session, December 12: (1)

Chairman’s Introductory Remarks; (2)

Review and Approval of Summary of

the Previous Meeting; (3) Review WG

Progress and Identify Issues for

Resolution: a. GPS/WAAS (WG–2); b.

GPS/GLONASS (WG–2A); c. GPS/

Precision Landing Guidance and Airport

Surface Surveillance (WG–4); (4)

Review of EUROCAE Activities; (5)

Review Proposed Draft MASPS and

LAAS CAT I/II/III and Interface Control

Document for LAAS; (6) Assignment/

Review of Future Work; (7) Other

Business; (8) Date and Place of Next

Meeting.

Attendance is open to the interested

public but limited to space availability.

With the approval of the chairman,

members of the public may present oral

statements at the meeting. Persons

wishing to present statements or obtain

information should contact the RTCA

Secretariat, 1140 Connecticut Avenue,

NW., Suite 1020, Washington, DC,

20036; (202) 833–9339 (phone); (202)

833–9434 (fax); or http://www.rtca.org

(web site). Members of the public may

present a written statement to the

committee at any time.

Issued in Washington, DC, on November

13, 1997.

Terry R. Hannah,

Designated Official.

[FR Doc. 97–30493 Filed 11–19–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration

Notice of Intent To Rule on Application

to Impose a Passenger Facility Charge

(PFC) at Arcata/Eureka Airport (ACV),

Eureka, CA and Use the Revenue at

ACV, Rohnerville (FOT), Murray Field

(EKA) and Kneeland Airports (019)

AGENCY: Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of intent to rule on

application.

SUMMARY: The FAA proposes to rule and

invites public comment on the

application to impose a PFC at ACV and

use at ACV, FOT, EKA and 019 under

the provisions of the Aviation Safety

and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990

(Title IX of the Omnibus Budget

Reconciliation Act of 1990) (Pub. L.

101–508) and Part 158 of the Federal

Aviation Regulations (14 CFR part 158).

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before December 22, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments on this

application may be mailed or delivered

in triplicate to the FAA at the following

address: Federal Aviation

Administration, Airports Division,

15000 Aviation Blvd., Lawndale, CA

90621, or San Francisco Airports

District Office, 831 Mitten Road, Room

210, Burlingame, CA 94010–1303. In

addition, one copy of any comments

submitted to the FAA must be mailed or

delivered to Mr. Don Raffaelli, Acting

Public Works Director, County of

Humboldt, at the following address:

1106 Second Street, Arcata, CA 95521.

Air carriers and foreign air carriers may

submit copies of written comments

previously provided to the County of

Humboldt under section 158.23 of FAR

part 158.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Maryls Vandervelde, Airports Program

Specialist, Airports District Office, 831

Mitten Road, Room 210, Burlingame,

CA 94010–1303, Telephone: (650) 876–

2806. The application may be reviewed

in person at this same location.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The FAA

proposes to rule and invites public

comment on the application to impose

a PFC at ACV and use the revenue at

ACV, FOT, EKA and 019 under the

provisions of the Aviation Safety and