35632 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 125 /Tuesday, June 30, 1998 / Notices

7The Committee’s report is attached as Exhibit 2

to DTC’s filing, which is available for review and

inspection in the Commission’s public reference

room and through DTC. 8 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).

owned by its members who utilize its

services, and its Board of Directors is

comprised of its members. DTC must

assure a fair representation of its

member in the selection of its directors

and administrators. DTC’s service fees

are reviewed by its board and subject to

public notice and comment.

After the consummation of the

proposed arrangements, securities

industry members will continue to have

access to high quality, low cost

depository and clearing services

provided under the mandate of the Act.

The overall cost to the industry of

having such services available will be

reduced and thereby should permit a

more efficient and productive allocation

of industry resources. Accordingly, DTC

and PTC believe that the proposed

transaction advances the objectives of

the national clearance and settlement

system without an inappropriate or

unnecessary burden upon competition.

(C) Self-Regulatory Organizations’

Statement on Comments on the

Proposed Rule Changes Received from

Members, Participation or Others

Written comments on the proposal

from DTC participants, PTC

participants, or others have not been

solicited or received. However, the

proposed arrangements have been

reviewed and approved by PTC’s Board

of Directors, which is comprised of

representatives of the banks and brokerdealers that are PTC’s stockholders and

participants. In addition, DTC believes

that the proposed arrangements are

consistent with recommendations made

by the Vision 2000 Committee

(‘‘Committee’’), a committee of industry

representatives of the Boards of DTC

and the National Securities Clearing

Corporation. The Committee’s report

dated September 1994 states that:

The industry currently owns a number of

utilities that provide services related to the

comparison, clearing, settlement and

safekeeping of U.S. (and to a lesser degree,

international) securities. These utilities

overlap in two ways. * * * We believe that

the industry’s and, as important, the

investors’, overall costs can be reduced and

safety and soundness can be enhanced by

eliminating these overlaps where there is no

clear advantage to having specialization or

competing development.7

III. Date of Effectiveness of the

Proposed Rule Changes and Timing for

Commission Action

Within thirty-five days of the date of

publication of this notice in the Federal

Register or within such longer period (i)

as the Commission may designate up to

ninety days of such date if it finds such

longer period to be appropriate and

publishes its reasons for so finding or

(ii) as to which DTC or PTC consents,

the Commission will:

(A) By order approve such proposed

rule changes or

(B) Institute proceedings to determine

whether the proposed rules changes

should be disapproved.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

Interested persons are invited to

submit written data, views, and

arguments concerning the foregoing,

including whether the proposed rule

changes are consistent with the Act.

Persons making written submissions

should file six copies thereof with the

Secretary, Securities and Exchange

Commission, 450 Fifth Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of the

submission, all subsequent

amendments, all written statements

with respect to the proposed rule

changes that are filed with the

Commission, and all written

communications relating to the

proposed rule changes between the

Commission and any person, other than

those that may be withheld from the

public in accordance with the

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be

available for inspection and copying in

the Commission’s Public Reference

Section, 450 Fifth Street, N.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such

filing also will be available for

inspection and copying at the principal

offices of DTC and PTC. All submissions

should refer to File Nos. SR–DTC–98–12

and SR–PTC–98–02 and should be

submitted by July 21, 1998.

For the Commission by the Division of

Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated

authority.8

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–17384 Filed 6–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010–01–M

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Restoration of Preferential Tariff

Treatment Under the Generalized

System of Preferences for Certain

Articles From Thailand

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: Preferential tariff treatment

under the generalized System of

Preferences (GSP) is restored to four

articles from Thailand, effective with

respect to articles entered, or withdrawn

from warehouse, on or after the 15th day

after the date of publication of this

notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sean Murphy, Director for ASEAN

Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade

Representative, (202) 395–6813.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant

to section 503(c)(2) of the Trade Act of

1974, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 2463(c)(2)),

beneficiary developing countries are

subject to competitive need limitations

on the preferential tariff treatment

afforded under the GSP. Proclamation

6813 of July 28, 1995 (60 FR 39095), in

relevant part, proclaimed the waiver of

competitive need limitations and the

restoration of GSP preferential tariff

treatment with respect to four articles

from Thailand, with an effective date to

be announced by the United States

Trade Representative by publication of

a notice in the Federal Register. These

four articles are in Harmonized Tariff

Schedule of the United States (‘‘HTS’’)

subheadings 6702.90.65 (certain

artificial flowers, foliage, fruit and parts

thereof); 7113.11.20 (certain articles of

silver jewelry and parts thereof, valued

at not over $18 per dozen); 7113.19.50

(certain other articles of jewelry and

parts thereof); and 9403.60.80 (certain

wooden furniture).

Pursuant to authority vested in the

United States Trade Representative by

the laws of the United States, including

but not limited to sections 503 and 604

of the Trade Act and Proclamation 6813

of July 28, 1995, and in order to restore

GSP preferential tariff treatment to

articles from Thailand in HTS

subheadings 6702.90.65, 7113.11.20,

7113.19.50, and 9403.60.80, the HTS is

modified as specified in the Annex to

this notice, effective with respect to

articles entered, or withdrawn from

warehouse, on or after the 15th day after

publication of this notice.

Susan Esserman,

Acting United States Trade Representative.

Annex

Section A. General note 4(d) to the

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United

States (‘‘HTS’’) is modified by:

(1) Deleting ‘‘6702.90.65 Thailand’’ and

‘‘7113.11.20 Thailand’’; and

(2) Deleting ‘‘Thailand’’ set out opposite

subheading 7113.19.50 and opposite

subheading 9403.60.80.

Section B. For HTS subheadings

6702.90.65 and 7113.11.20, the Rates of Duty

1-Special subcolumn is modified by deleting
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 125 /Tuesday, June 30, 1998 / Notices 35633

the symbol ‘‘A*’’ and inserting an ‘‘A’’ in lieu

thereof.

[FR Doc. 98–17388 Filed 6–25–98; 3:23 pm]

BILLING CODE 3190–01–M

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket No. 301–116]

Termination of Action: Protection of

Intellectual Property Rights by the

Government of Honduras

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of termination of action

and monitoring and request for public

comments.

SUMMARY: On March 16, 1998, the USTR

determined that the failure by the

Government of Honduras to provide

adequate and effective protection of

intellectual property rights was

unreasonable and burdened or restricted

United States commerce and that the

appropriate action was to suspend

preferential treatment accorded under

the Generalized System of Preferences

(GSP) and Caribbean Basin Initiative

(CBI) programs to certain products of

Honduras, including certain cucumbers,

watermelons, and cigars. In view of the

Government of Honduras’ measures to

combat piracy and to protect intellectual

property rights of the United States, the

USTR has terminated that action taken

under Section 301(b) of the Trade Act of

1974 (‘‘Trade Act’’). USTR will monitor

Honduras’ compliance in protecting the

intellectual property rights of the United

States pursuant to Section 306 of the

Trade Act.

ADDRESSES: Office of the United States

Trade Representative, 600 17th Street,

NW, Washington, DC 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Barnicle, Office of the Western

Hemisphere, (202) 396–5190 or William

Busis, Office of the General Counsel,

(202) 395–3150, Office of the United

States Trade Representatives.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1992,

the Motion Picture Association filed a

petition under the Generalized System

of Preferences program asking that tariff

preference benefits to Honduras under

the GSP and CBI programs be

withdrawn due to widespread, blatant

copyright piracy. In May 1997, the

Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC)

recommended that GSP and CBI benefits

be suspended unless the Government of

Honduras improved its intellectual

property rights enforcement within four

months. On October 31, 1997, in order

to implement the TPSC

recommendation, the USTR initiated an

investigation under Section 302(b) of

the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2412(b)) with

respect to certain acts and policies of

the Government of Honduras

concerning its protection of intellectual

property rights, including the failure to

provide adequate and effective

copyright protection and enforcement of

rights of copyright owners, resulting in,

for example, the wise-spread

unauthorized broadcasting in Honduras

of pirated videos and the rebroadcasting

of U.S. satellite-carried television

programming. See 62 FR 60299 of

November 7, 1997. The USTR proposed

to determine that the practices under

investigation were actionable under

Section 301 of the Trade Act and that

the appropriate response would be a

partial suspension of tariff preferences

for certain Honduran imports.

After the initiation of the

investigation, the United States

consulted repeatedly with the

Government of Honduras regarding the

matters under investigation. However,

while the Honduran government

established a television regulatory

authority and initiated criminal actions

against two stations engaged in

broadcast piracy, blatant broadcast

piracy continued and U.S. copyrightbased industries continued to suffer

harm. On March 16, 1998, the USTR

determined pursuant to sections

301(b)(1) and 304(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the

Trade Act that the Government of

Honduras failed to provide adequate

and effective protection of intellectual

property rights and the acts, policies or

practices of Honduras under

investigation were unreasonable and

burdened or restricted U.S. commerce.

The USTR further determined pursuant

to sections 304(a)(1)(B), 301(b)(2), and

301(c)(1)(C) of the Trade Act that the

appropriate and feasible action was to

suspend the duty-free GSP and CBI

treatment accorded to certain products

of Honduras, including certain

cucumbers, watermelons, and cigars.

See 63 FR 16608 of April 3, 1998.

Following the USTR determinations

as to the actionability and specific

action to be taken, the Government of

Honduras has taken a number of steps

to stop broadcast piracy. It temporarily

shut down two television stations and

imposed and collected fines from the

stations in an effort to provide adequate

copyright protection. The Government

of Honduras has also made a written

promise to impose higher fines and to

temporarily shut down the television

stations again for a longer period if

piracy resumes. Section 307(a)(1)(C) of

the Trade Act authorizes the USTR to

terminate any action, subject to the

specific direction, if any, of the

President, if such action is being taken

under Section 301(b) and is no longer

appropriate. In light of the foregoing, the

USTR has determined that the existing

Section 301(b) action should be

terminated and, as specified in the

annex to this notice, the suspended GSP

and CBI benefits should be restored.

Restoration of benefits will be effective

with regard to articles entered, or

withdrawn from warehouse for

consumption, on or after the date of

publication of this notice. The USTR

has also decided to terminate the GSP

review initiated in 1993.

Section 604 of the Trade Act, as

amended (19 U.S.C. 2463), authorizes

the President to modify the Harmonized

Tariff Schedule of the United States

(HTS) to reflect laws, and actions

thereunder, affecting the treatment of

imports. In Proclamation 6969 of Jan.

27, 1997 (62 FR 4415 of Jan. 29, 1997),

the President delegated to USTR the

authority under Section 604 to embody

rectifications, technical or conforming

changes, or similar modifications in the

HTS.

The notice that suspended GSP and

CBI benefits for certain imports from

Honduras renumbered HTS general note

7(d)(iv)—which embodied in the HTS

Section 213(d) of the CBERA, as

amended (19 U.S.C. 2703(d))—as HTS

general note 7(g). See 63 FR 16608 of

April 3, 1998. Pursuant to the authority

delegated by the President to USTR in

Proclamation 6969, the annex to this

notice makes a technical correction to

HTS general note 7(g) in order to make

the provision a complete sentence.

Prior to terminating this 301 action,

the USTR consulted with the domestic

industry concerned regarding the

modification and termination of the

existing action. An opportunity for

public comment prior to this action was

not possible in view of the need for

expeditious action. Immediate

termination of the Section 301 action

was required to ensure full and prompt

implementation of measures taken by

the Government of Honduras to prevent

resumption of piracy.

Interested members of the public are

now invited to submit comments to

USTR regarding this action. USTR will

review these comments upon receipt.

Public Comments

Comments must be filed in

accordance with the requirements set

forth in 15 CFR 2006.8(b) (55 FR 20593)

and must be filed on or before noon on

July 31, 1998. Comments must be in

English and provided in twenty copies

to: Sybia Harrison, Staff Assistant to the

Section 301 Committee, Room 223,