[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 165 (Friday, August 24, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42966-42968]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-18287]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Number USTR-2018-0029]


Request for Comments To Compile the National Trade Estimate 
Report on Foreign Trade Barriers

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) 
publishes the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers 
(NTE Report) each year. The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) invites 
interested persons to submit written comments to assist the TPSC in 
identifying significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods and services, 
U.S. foreign direct investment, and the protection and enforcement of 
intellectual property rights 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: We must receive all written comments no later than 11:59 p.m. on 
October 30, 2018.

ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through

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the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. The 
instructions for submitting comments are in section 4 below. The docket 
number is USTR-2018-0029. For alternatives to on-line submissions, 
contact Yvonne Jamison at (202) 395-3475 before transmitting a comment 
and in advance of the relevant deadline.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne Jamison at (202) 395-3475.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. 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 the most significant foreign barriers affecting U.S. 
exports of goods and services, U.S. foreign direct investment, and the 
protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights. 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 strengthening the rules-based trading system. You can 
find the 2018 NTE Report on USTR's website at http://www.ustr.gov under 
the tab `Reports'. To ensure compliance with the statutory mandate for 
the NTE Report and the Administration's commitment to focus on the most 
significant foreign trade barriers, USTR will be guided by the 
existence of active interest in deciding which restrictions to include 
in the NTE Report.

2. 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 (e.g., tariffs and other import charges, 
quantitative restrictions, import licensing, customs barriers, and 
other market access barriers).
    2. Trade restrictions implemented through unwarranted standards, 
conformity assessment procedures, or technical regulations (technical 
barriers to trade) that may have as their objective protecting national 
security requirements, preventing deceptive practices, or protecting 
human health or safety, animal or plant life or health, or the 
environment, but that can be formulated or implemented in ways that 
create significant barriers to trade (including unnecessary or 
discriminatory technical regulations or standards for 
telecommunications products).
    3. Trade restrictions implemented through unwarranted sanitary and 
phytosanitary (SPS) measures that the country claims to impose for 
purposes of protecting human, animal, and plant life or health (e.g., 
SPS measures not based on scientific evidence).
    4. Subsidies, including export subsidies (e.g., export financing on 
preferential terms, subsidies provided to equipment manufacturers 
contingent on export, and agricultural export subsidies that displace 
U.S. exports in third country markets) and local content subsidies 
(e.g., subsidies contingent on the purchase or use of domestic rather 
than imported goods).
    5. Government procurement restrictions (e.g., ``buy national 
policies'' and closed bidding).
    6. Lack of intellectual property protection and enforcement (e.g., 
inadequate patent, copyright, and trademark regimes).
    7. Barriers to trade in services (e.g., prohibitions or 
restrictions on foreign participation in the market, discriminatory 
licensing requirements or regulatory standards, local-presence 
requirements, and unreasonable restrictions on what services may be 
offered).
    8. Barriers to digital trade (e.g., barriers to cross-border data 
flows including data localization requirements, discriminatory 
practices affecting trade in digital products, restrictions on the 
provision of internet-enabled services, and other restrictive 
technology requirements).
    9. Investment barriers (e.g., limitations on foreign equity 
participation and on access to foreign government-funded research and 
development programs, local content requirements, technology transfer 
requirements and export performance requirements, and restrictions on 
repatriation of earnings, capital, fees, and royalties).
    10. Government-tolerated anticompetitive conduct of state-owned or 
private firms that restrict the sale or purchase of U.S. goods or 
services in the foreign country's markets.
    11. Other barriers (e.g., barriers that encompass more than one 
category, such as bribery and corruption, or that affect a single 
sector).

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, Burma, 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, Kazakhstan, 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, Sri 
Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab 
Emirates, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
    In addition, Section 1377 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness 
Act of 1988 (Section 1377) (19 U.S.C. 3106) requires USTR annually to 
review 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. The purpose of the review is to 
determine whether any act, policy, or practice of a country that has 
entered into a trade agreement or other telecommunications agreement 
with the United States is inconsistent with the terms of such agreement 
or otherwise denies U.S. firms, within the context of the terms of such 
agreements, mutually advantageous market opportunities for 
telecommunications products and services. USTR will consider responses 
to this notice in the review called for in Section 1377.
    We invite commenters to identify those barriers covered in 
submissions that may operate as ``localization barriers to trade.'' 
Localization barriers are measures designed to protect, favor, or 
stimulate domestic industries, services providers, and/or intellectual 
property at the expense of goods, services, or intellectual property 
from other countries, including the provision of subsidies linked to 
local production. For more information on localization barriers, please 
go to http://www.ustr.gov/trade-topics/localization-barriers. 
Commenters should place particular emphasis on any practices that may 
violate U.S. trade agreements. The TPSC also is interested in receiving 
new or updated information pertinent to the barriers covered in the 
2018 NTE as well as information on new barriers. If USTR does not 
include in the NTE information that it receives pursuant to this 
notice, it will maintain the information for potential use in future 
discussions or negotiations with trading partners.

3. 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

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methodology the commenter used to derive the estimate. Commenters 
should express estimates within the following value ranges: less than 
$5 million; $5 million 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.

4. Requirements for Submissions

    In order to be assured of consideration, we must receive your 
written comments in English by 11:59 p.m. on October 30, 2018. USTR 
strongly encourages commenters to make on-line submissions, using 
www.regulations.gov. On the first page, please identify the submission 
as ``Comments Regarding Foreign Trade Barriers to U.S. Exports for 2019 
Reporting.'' Commenters providing information on foreign trade barriers 
in more than one country should, whenever possible, provide a separate 
submission for each country.
    To submit comments via www.regulations.gov, enter docket number 
USTR-2018-0029 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 and click on the link 
entitled ``comment now!''. For further information on using the 
www.regulations.gov website, please consult the resources provided on 
the website by clicking on ``How to Use Regulations.gov'' on the bottom 
of the home page. USTR will not accept hand-delivered submissions.
    The www.regulations.gov website allows users to submit comments by 
filling in a ``type comment'' field or by attaching a document using an 
``upload file'' field. USTR prefers that you submit comments in an 
attached document. If you attach a document, please identify the name 
of the country to which the submission pertains in the ``type comment'' 
field. For example: See attached comments with respect to (name of 
country). 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.
    Filers submitting comments containing no business confidential 
information should name their file using the name of the person or 
entity submitting the comments. For any comments submitted 
electronically containing business confidential information, the file 
name of the business confidential version should begin with the 
characters ``BC''. Any page containing business confidential 
information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL'' on the top 
of that page. Filers of submissions containing business confidential 
information also must submit a public version of their comments that we 
will place in the docket for public inspection. The file name of the 
public version should begin with the character ``P''. The ``BC'' and 
``P'' should be 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.
    As noted, USTR strongly urges that you file submissions through 
www.regulations.gov. You must make any alternative arrangements with 
Yvonne Jamison at (202) 395-3475 before transmitting a comment and in 
advance of the relevant deadline.
    USTR will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except 
business confidential information. You can view comments on the https://www.regulations.gov website by entering docket number USTR-2018-0029 
in the search field on the home page. General information concerning 
USTR is available at www.ustr.gov.

Edward Gresser,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States 
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2018-18287 Filed 8-23-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3290-F8-P