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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 240 (Friday, December 13, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 101088-101090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29422]

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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

[Docket Nos. USTR-2024-0021 and USTR-2024-0022]

Initiation of Section 301 Investigation, Hearing, and Request for 
Public Comments: Nicaragua's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to 
Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Rule of Law

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

ACTION: Notice of initiation of investigation, hearing, and request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Representative has initiated an investigation of 
Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related to labor rights, 
human rights, and the rule of law. The inter-agency Section 301 
Committee is holding a public hearing and seeking public comments in 
connection with this investigation.

DATES: 
    December 10, 2024: The date the U.S. Trade Representative initiated 
the investigation.
    January 8, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST: Deadline for submitting written 
comments and requests to appear at the hearing. The request to appear 
must include a summary of testimony.
    January 16, 2025: The Section 301 Committee will convene a public 
hearing in the main hearing room of the U.S. International Trade 
Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436, beginning at 10 a.m. 
If necessary, the hearing may continue on the next business day.
    January 23, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. EST: Deadline for submitting post-
hearing rebuttal comments.

ADDRESSES: Submit documents in response to this notice, including 
written comments, hearing appearance requests, summaries of testimony, 
and post-hearing rebuttal comments through the appropriate online USTR 
portal at: https://comments.ustr.gov/s/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Grimball and Philip Butler, 
Chairs of the Section 301 Committee; Leigh Bacon, Chief Counsel for 
Negotiations, Legislation, and Administrative Law; or Henry Smith and 
Erin Biel, Assistant General Counsels, at 202.395.5725.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Numerous credible reports by the U.S. Government and United Nations 
bodies document that the Government of Nicaragua has engaged in 
persistent attacks on labor rights, human rights, and the rule of law. 
These actions include politically-motivated arrests and imprisonments, 
repression of members of religious groups and non-governmental 
organizations, extrajudicial killings, cruel, inhuman or degrading 
treatment, restrictions on freedom of expression and movement, violence 
against members of marginalized groups, repression of freedom of 
association and collective bargaining, forced labor, human trafficking, 
eliminating legislative and judicial independence, spurious seizures of 
property, arbitrary fines and rulings, and other harmful acts. The 
Nicaraguan Government's increasing and pervasive labor and human rights 
violations and dismantling of the rule of law may, directly or 
indirectly, impact U.S. workers and companies, including through the 
exploitation of workers, harming both Nicaraguans directly and U.S. 
workers and businesses indirectly through unfair competition; by 
negatively impacting the Nicaraguan economy and market, with lost sales 
and exports for U.S. enterprises; and by lost investment and business 
opportunities for U.S. workers and companies, including through the 
creation of a high-risk environment to invest or conduct business.

II. Initiation of Section 301 Investigation

    Section 302(b)(1)(A) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (Trade 
Act), authorizes the U.S. Trade Representative to initiate an 
investigation to determine whether an act, policy, or practice of a 
foreign country is actionable under section 301 of the Trade Act. 
Actionable matters under section 301 include acts, policies, and 
practices of a foreign country that are unreasonable or discriminatory 
and burden or restrict U.S. commerce. An act, policy, or practice is 
unreasonable if, while not necessarily in violation of, or inconsistent 
with, the international legal rights of the United States, it is 
otherwise unfair and inequitable. Unreasonable acts, policies, and 
practices include any act, policy, or practice, or combination thereof, 
that constitutes a persistent pattern of conduct that denies workers 
the right of association, denies workers the right to organize and 
bargain collectively, permits any form of forced or

[[Page 101089]]

compulsory labor, fails to provide a minimum age for the employment of 
children, or fails to provide standards for minimum wages, hours of 
work, and occupational safety and health of workers.
    On December 10, 2024, the U.S. Trade Representative initiated a 
section 301 investigation to examine whether Nicaragua's acts, 
policies, and practices related to labor rights, human rights, and the 
rule of law are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict 
U.S. commerce.
    Pursuant to section 302(b)(1)(B), the U.S. Trade Representative 
consulted with the appropriate advisory committees. The U.S. Trade 
Representative also consulted with the inter-agency Section 301 
Committee. Pursuant to section 303(a) of the Trade Act, the U.S. Trade 
Representative has requested consultations with the Government of 
Nicaragua.
    Pursuant to section 304 of the Trade Act, the U.S. Trade 
Representative must determine whether the act, policy, or practice 
under investigation is actionable under section 301. If that 
determination is affirmative, the U.S. Trade Representative must 
determine what action to take.
    The investigation initially will focus on the following issues:
    (1) Evidence indicates that the Government of Nicaragua has 
committed or allowed violations and abuses of internationally 
recognized labor rights. Actions related to such abuses and violations 
include: the ruling party's use of control over major unions to harass 
and intimidate workers; repression of freedom of association; 
elimination of workers' right to organize and join independent unions 
of their choice; routine violations of collective bargaining and labor 
laws with impunity; interference in worker and employer organizations; 
seizure of assets and steps to remove the citizenship of members of 
worker and employer organizations; dissolution of at least 19 labor 
unions; arbitrary dismissals, arrests, and imprisonment of key union 
leaders; child and forced labor; human trafficking; discrimination 
against women and on the basis of political opinion; negligence in 
protecting health in the workplace; wage deductions and theft; and 
retaliation for claiming rights violations. The Government's arbitrary 
closure of civil society organizations that provide services to prevent 
child and forced labor and support victims exacerbates labor rights 
violations and abuses.
    (2) Evidence indicates that the Government of Nicaragua has 
committed human rights violations against citizens of Nicaragua and 
foreign residents, including through political imprisonments, arrests, 
banishments, property expropriation (including property belonging to 
U.S. citizens), and efforts to arbitrarily strip citizens of their 
Nicaraguan nationality. The Government of Nicaragua systematically has 
cancelled the legal status of, thereby closing, religious institutions 
and faith-based humanitarian organizations, independent higher 
education institutions, and thousands of non-governmental organizations 
(NGOs) under spurious accusations. As a result of these arbitrary 
closures, the Government of Nicaragua has expropriated the assets and 
properties of these organizations and institutions. There is credible 
reporting that the Government of Nicaragua has engaged in the cruel, 
degrading, and inhuman treatment of political prisoners, extrajudicial 
killings, and torture of its citizens and foreign residents. The 
Government of Nicaragua also has severely restricted the exercise of 
freedoms of expression, movement, and religion or belief (including by 
taking steps to strip Nicaraguan clergy and religious actors of their 
citizenships, hounding Nicaraguan and foreign resident religious actors 
into exile, confiscating property, and punishing free expression of 
religion or belief with unjust detention, reprisals, and threats). The 
Government of Nicaragua has suppressed democracy, and committed 
violence against members of minority groups, including members of 
Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, primarily located in the 
Caribbean Autonomous regions. The Government encourages illegal 
encroachment on protected lands, including those belonging to 
Indigenous communities, for mining and cattle ranching.
    (3) Evidence indicates that the Government of Nicaragua has 
dismantled rule of law in Nicaragua, including a radical rewriting of 
the national constitution that centralizes power in the presidency and 
nullifies the independence of the courts and the legislature. The 
Government of Nicaragua engages in arbitrary or partial administration 
of law; imposes arbitrary or incorrect fines, taxes, customs 
inspections, and rulings; has revoked the legal status of at least 151 
prominent business chambers and associations, including the American 
Chamber of Commerce; and engages in indiscriminate seizures of 
property. The regime has used inspections, re-registration fees, and 
historical tax audits in a prejudicial manner towards U.S. and foreign 
firms to benefit domestic competitors and has impeded the flow of 
assets out of the country when these companies decide to exit the 
market.
    (4) Evidence indicates that Nicaragua's labor and human rights 
violations and dismantling of rule of law, taken jointly or separately, 
may, directly or indirectly, impact U.S. workers and companies, 
including through the exploitation of workers, harming both Nicaraguans 
directly and U.S. workers and businesses indirectly through unfair 
competition; by negatively impacting the Nicaraguan economy and market, 
with lost sales and exports for U.S. enterprises; and by lost 
investment and business opportunities for U.S. workers and companies, 
including through the creation of a high-risk environment to invest or 
conduct business.
    In addition to these issues, interested parties may submit for 
consideration information on other acts, policies, and practices of 
Nicaragua related to labor rights, human rights, and rule of law that 
might be included in this investigation.

III. Request for Public Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written comments or oral 
testimony on any issue covered by the investigation. In particular, 
USTR invites comments with respect to:
     Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related to labor 
rights, human rights, and rule of law.
     Whether Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related 
to labor rights, human rights, and rule of law are unreasonable or 
discriminatory.
     Whether Nicaragua's acts, policies, and practices related 
to labor rights, human rights, and rule of law burden or restrict U.S. 
commerce, and if so, the nature and level of the burden or restriction. 
Such comments may include economic assessments of the burden or 
restriction on any sector or industry, as well as assessments of the 
burden or restriction on labor in the United States related to the 
acts, policies, and practices under investigation.
     The determinations required under section 304 of the Trade 
Act, that is, whether actionable conduct exists under section 301(b) 
and what action, if any, should be taken.
    To be assured of consideration, USTR must receive written comments 
by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 8, 2025, in accordance with the 
instructions in section IV below.
    The Section 301 Committee will convene a public hearing on January 
16, 2025, in the main hearing room of the

[[Page 101090]]

U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington DC 
20436, beginning at 10 a.m. Persons wishing to appear at the hearing 
must provide written notification of their intention and a summary of 
the proposed testimony by 11:59 p.m. EST on January 8, 2025, in 
accordance with the instructions in section IV below. Remarks at the 
hearing are limited to five minutes to allow for possible questions 
from the Section 301 Committee.
    Post-hearing rebuttal comments, which should be limited to 
rebutting or supplementing testimony at the hearing, are due by 11:59 
p.m. EST on January 23, 2025, in accordance with the instructions in 
section IV below.

IV. Submission Instructions

    Interested persons must submit written comments, requests to appear 
at the hearing, summaries of testimony, and post-hearing rebuttal 
comments using the appropriate docket on the portal at https://comments.ustr.gov/s/. To submit written comments, including post-
hearing rebuttal comments, use the docket on the portal entitled 
`Request for Comments on the Section 301 Investigation of Nicaragua's 
Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Labor Rights, Human Rights, 
and Rule of Law,' docket number USTR-2024-0021.
    Interested persons wishing to provide testimony at the hearing must 
submit a notification of intent and summary of testimony using the 
docket entitled `Request to Appear at the Hearing on the Section 301 
Investigation of Nicaragua's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to 
Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Rule of Law,' docket number USTR-2024-
0022.
    You do not need to establish an account to submit comments or a 
notification of intent to testify. The first screen allows you to enter 
identification and contact information. Third party organizations such 
as law firms, trade associations, or customs brokers should identify 
the full legal name of the organization they represent and identify the 
primary point of contact for the submission. Information fields are 
optional, however, your comment or request may not be considered if 
insufficient information is provided.
    Fields with a gray Business Confidential Information (BCI) notation 
are for BCI information that will not be made publicly available. 
Fields with a green (Public) notation will be viewable by the public.
    After entering the identification and contact information, you can 
complete the remainder of the comment, or any portion of it, by 
clicking `Next.' You may upload documents at the end of the form and 
indicate whether USTR should treat the documents as business 
confidential or public information.
    Any page containing BCI must be clearly marked `BUSINESS 
CONFIDENTIAL' on the top of that page and the submission should clearly 
indicate, via brackets, highlighting, or other means, the specific 
information that is BCI. If you request business confidential 
treatment, you must certify in writing that the information would not 
customarily be released to the public.
    Parties uploading attachments containing BCI also must submit a 
public version of their comments. If these procedures are not 
sufficient to protect BCI or otherwise protect business interests, 
please contact the USTR section 301 support line at 202.395.5725 to 
discuss whether alternative arrangements are possible.
    USTR will post attachments uploaded to the docket for public 
inspection, except for properly designated BCI. You can view 
submissions on USTR's electronic portal at https://comments.ustr.gov/s/.

Juan Millan,
Acting General Counsel, Office of the United States Trade 
Representative.
[FR Doc. 2024-29422 Filed 12-12-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3390-F4-P
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