Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 16 / Monday, January 26, 2015 / Notices 4027 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

CAFTA–DR Dispute Settlement 

Proceeding Regarding Guatemala’s 

Failure To Effectively Enforce Its Labor 

Laws 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Office of the United 

States Trade Representative (‘‘USTR’’) is 

providing notice that effective 

September 19, 2014, at the request of the 

United States, the arbitral panel 

reviewing the U.S. challenge to 

Guatemala’s breach of its obligations 

under Article 16.2.1(a) of the Dominican 

Republic—Central America—United 

States Free Trade Agreement (‘‘CAFTA– 

DR’’) has begun its review. 

DATES: Although USTR will accept any 

comments received during the course of 

the dispute settlement proceedings, 

comments should be submitted on or 

before February 20, 2015, to be assured 

of timely consideration by USTR. 

ADDRESSES: Public comments should be 

submitted electronically to 

www.regulations.gov, docket number 

USTR–2014–0023. If you are unable to 

provide submissions by 

www.regulations.gov, please contact 

Sandy McKinzy at (202) 395–9483 to 

arrange for an alternative method of 

transmission. 

If (as explained below) the comment 

contains confidential information, then 

the comment should be submitted by 

fax only to Sandy McKinzy at (202) 

395–3640. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kathleen Claussen, Assistant General 

Counsel, Office of the United States 

Trade Representative, 600 17th St. NW., 

Washington, DC 20508, (202) 395–9589. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: USTR is 

providing notice that a dispute 

settlement arbitral panel (‘‘panel’’) has 

been established pursuant to Chapter 

Twenty of the CAFTA–DR and has now 

begun its work. The case documents and 

timetable for the proceedings are 

available to the public at the following 

Web site: http://www.ustr.gov/tradetopics/labor/bilateral-and-regionaltrade-agreements/guatemalasubmission-under-cafta-dr. 

Issue Raised by the United States 

On August 9, 2011, the United States 

requested a panel to review Guatemala’s 

failure to effectively enforce its labor 

laws related to the right of association, 

the right to organize and bargain 

collectively, and acceptable conditions 

of work, through a sustained or 

recurring course of action or inaction, in 

a manner affecting trade between the 

CAFTA–DR Parties, contrary to Article 

16.2.1(a) of the CAFTA–DR. The United 

States and Guatemala requested the 

panel to suspend its work to allow the 

Parties to negotiate and implement an 

Enforcement Plan. Despite engagement 

through the Enforcement Plan, the 

concerns regarding effective 

enforcement of Guatemala’s labor laws 

remain. As a result, the United States 

requested the panel to resume its work, 

effective September 19, 2014. The 

United States filed its opening 

submission on November 3, 2014. 

Public Comment: Requirements for 

Submissions 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written comments concerning 

the issues raised in this dispute. Persons 

may submit public comments 

electronically to www.regulations.gov 

docket number USTR–2014–0023. If you 

are unable to provide submissions at 

www.regulations.gov, please contact 

Sandy McKinzy at (202) 395–9483 to 

arrange for an alternative method of 

transmission. 

To submit comments via 

www.regulations.gov, enter docket 

number USTR–2014–0023 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’’ on the left side of the searchresults page, and click on the link 

entitled ‘‘Comment Now!’’ (For further 

information on using the 

www.regulations.gov Web site, please 

consult the resources provided on the 

Web site by clicking on ‘‘How to use 

Regulations.gov’’ under ‘‘Help’’ on the 

bottom of the page.) 

The www.regulations.gov Web site 

allows users to provide comments by 

filling in a ‘‘Type Comments’’ field, or 

by attaching a document using an 

‘‘Upload File’’ field. It is expected that 

most comments will be provided in an 

attached document. If a document is 

attached, it is sufficient to type ‘‘See 

attached’’ in the ‘‘Type Comments’’ 

field. 

A person requesting that information 

contained in a comment that he/she 

submitted be treated as confidential 

business information must certify that 

such information is business 

confidential and would not customarily 

be released to the public by the 

submitter. 

Confidential business information 

must be clearly designated as such and 

the submission must be marked 

‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’ at the top 

and bottom of the cover page and each 

succeeding page. Any comment 

containing business confidential 

information must be submitted by fax to 

Sandy McKinzy at (202) 395–3640. A 

non-confidential summary of the 

confidential information must be 

submitted to www.regulations.gov. The 

non-confidential summary will be 

placed in the docket and will be open 

to public inspection. 

USTR may determine that information 

or advice contained in a comment 

submitted, other than business 

confidential information, is confidential 

in accordance with Section 135(g)(2) of 

the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 

2155(g)(2)). If the submitter believes that 

information or advice may qualify as 

such, the submitter— 

(1) Must clearly so designate the 

information or advice; 

(2) Must clearly mark the material as 

‘‘SUBMITTED IN CONFIDENCE’’ at the 

top and bottom of the cover page and 

each succeeding page; and 

(3) Must provide a non-confidential 

summary of the information or advice. 

Any comment containing confidential 

information must be submitted by fax. A 

non-confidential summary of the 

confidential information must be 

submitted to www.regulations.gov. The 

non-confidential summary will be 

placed in the docket and will be open 

to public inspection. USTR will 

maintain a docket on this dispute 

settlement proceeding, docket number 

USTR–2014–0023, accessible to the 

public at www.regulations.gov. 

The public file will include nonconfidential comments received by 

USTR from the public regarding the 

dispute. The following documents will 

be made available to the public at 

www.ustr.gov: The U.S. submissions and 

any non-confidential summaries or 

submissions received from other 

participants in the dispute. Comments 

open to public inspection may be 

viewed at www.regulations.gov. 

Juan A. Milla ́n, 

Assistant United States Trade Representative 

for Monitoring and Enforcement. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01329 Filed 1–23–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3290–F5–P 


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