Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 148 / Thursday, July 31, 2008 / Notices 44783 

recommended for consideration by the 

Radiation Source Protection and 

Security Task Force and by the NAS, 

referenced above. 

Both reports recognize the important 

role that devices, containing such 

sources, fulfill in serving public health, 

research and instrument calibration at 

the present time. But the reports also 

considered the potential risks associated 

with these sources and, consequently, 

recommended phasing out their future 

use. NRC has not made any decision in 

this regard, but as a follow-up to the 

recommendations, NRC is seeking 

additional information that would 

provided relevant information for its 

decisionmaking process. 

In considering Issue No. 3, possible 

phase-out of CsCl sources, there are four 

main issues that should be considered 

and discussed: Issue 3.1: Potential 

rulemaking issues and justification for 

regulatory change; Issue 3.2: 

Transportation and storage issues 

associated with removal of CsCl sources 

from licensee facilities; Issue 3.3: 

Consideration of government incentives 

and voluntary actions by industry and 

manufacturers; and Issue 3.4: Impact of 

U.S. changes to regulating CsCl on the 

international community. Each of these 

issues are presented below. 

Issue No. 3.1: Potential Rulemaking 

Issues and Justification for Regulatory 

Change 

Q3.1–1. (a) What would be the 

medical consequences if CsCl was to be 

banned for medical (e.g., blood) 

irradiators? (b) What would be the 

impact to existing and future biomedical 

research using these devices? (c) Can 

alternative technologies be used for 

medical applications and/or biomedical 

research (research on animals and 

tissue?) 

Q3.1–2. (a) What would be the 

consequences if CsCl was to be banned 

for irradiators that are used for 

industrial and calibration purposes? (b) 

What is the impact on existing 

American National Standards Institute 

(ANSI) standards and licensee 

conditions that require the use of Cs-137 

for calibration purposes? 

Q3.1–3. What would be the economic 

consequences to users if CsCl was to be 

banned? 

Q3.1–4. What would be the economic 

consequences to vendors if CsCl was to 

be banned? 

Q3.1–5. (a) Should the NRC 

discontinue all new licensing and 

importation of these sources and 

devices? (b) What is the regulatory 

basis? (c) Who (NRC, DHS, or jointly) 

should conduct the risk analysis? 

Issue No. 3.2: Transportation and 

Storage Issues Associated With 

Removal of CsCl Sources From Licensee 

Facilities 

Q3.2–1. (a) Are there transportation 

packages available for transportation? 

(a) Who should bear the transportation 

costs? 

Q3.2–2. (a) How could the current 

CsCl sources be disposed given that 

CsCl is defined as a ‘‘Greater Than Class 

C’’ source and currently has no disposal 

mechanism in the U.S.? (b) If disposal 

was made available by DOE, what 

would be the cost of disposal? 

Q3.2–3. (a) Where could the 

decommissioned sources be stored? (b) 

What disposition options are needed in 

the United States? 

Issue No. 3.3: Consideration of 

Government Incentives and Voluntary 

Actions by Industry and Manufacturers 

Q3.3–1. Should the Federal 

government issue incentives to 

implement replacements? 

Q3.3–2. (a) Are there feasible 

incentives to shift users away from 

radioactive CsCl for users? (b) 

Manufacturers? 

Q3.3–3. (a) What incentives should 

the Federal government provide to 

licensees to decommission their existing 

sources or devices because the devices 

still have use value? (b) For licensees 

that are defined as ‘‘not-for-profit’’ (e.g., 

hospitals), what type of incentives could 

be made available to change 

technologies? 

Q3.3–4. How can the Federal 

government compensate licensees when 

they are forced to decommission these 

sources? Should compensation include 

the cost of the replacement technology? 

Decommissioning? 

Issue No. 3.4: Impact of Potential U.S. 

Changes to Regulating CsCl on the 

International Community 

Q3.4–1. How can the U.S. prevent 

recovered sources from 

decommissioned devices (or the devices 

themselves) from being sold outside the 

U.S.? 

Q3.4–2. (a) If the U.S. decides to ban 

the use of CsCl sources, should the U.S. 

have a position in denying or 

eliminating after-market sales of CsCl 

irradiators outside the U.S.? (b) Would 

this be potentially denying medical care 

to developing countries? 

Q3.4–3. What should the role of the 

International Atomic Energy Agency 

(IAEA) be in assisting the U.S. in 

ensuring the safe and secure use of CsCl 

sources and devices? 

Issue No. 4—Additional Requirements 

for Enhanced Security of CsCl Sources 

In considering Issue No. 4, additional 

requirements for enhanced security of 

CsCl sources, there are three main issues 

that should be considered and 

discussed: 

Q4.1. Should the NRC and Agreement 

States require more stringent security 

measures than those currently mandated 

(e.g., should additional requirements be 

implemented for IAEA Category 1 and 2 

sources)? 

Note: The current requirements for 

increased security of certain high-risk 

radioactive sources in the U.S. are: (a) 

Compensatory Measures for panoramic 

irradiators; (b) Additional Security Measures 

for manufacturers and distributors; (c) 

Increased Controls for licensees with 

Category 1 and 2 devices and sources; (d) 

Fingerprinting for access to radioactive 

material (see http://www.nrc.gov/security/ 

byproduct/orders.html). 

Q4.2. Should the NRC and Agreement 

States require more stringent security 

measures for lower than Category 2 CsCl 

sources and devices (e.g., Category 3 

sources)? 

Q4.3. Would additional security 

requirements for CsCl create a 

disincentive for owning them? 

Issue No. 5—Role of Risk Analysis in 

Potential Future CsCl Requirements 

In considering Issue No. 5, the role of 

risk analysis in NRC and Agreement 

State requirements for CsCl, the main 

issues that should be considered and 

discussed: 

Q5.1. (a) How should the NRC 

determine the economic and social 

disruptions/impacts to the public, 

licensees, and the environment? (b) 

How should these factors be measured 

in decision making? 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 24th day 

of July 2008. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

John P. Jankovich, 

Team Leader, Office of Federal and State 

Materials and Environmental Management 

Programs. 

[FR Doc. E8–17545 Filed 7–30–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Request for Comments and Notice of 

Public Hearing Concerning China’s 

Compliance With WTO Commitments 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Request for comments and 

notice of public hearing concerning 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
44784 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 148 / Thursday, July 31, 2008 / Notices 

China’s compliance with its WTO 

commitments. 

SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy 

Staff Committee (TPSC) will convene a 

public hearing and seek public 

comment to assist the Office of the 

United States Trade Representative 

(USTR) in the preparation of its annual 

report to the Congress on China’s 

compliance with the commitments 

made in connection with its accession 

to the World Trade Organization (WTO). 

DATES: Persons wishing to testify at the 

hearing must provide written 

notification of their intention, as well as 

a copy of their testimony, by noon, 

Thursday, September 18, 2008. Written 

comments are due by noon, Monday, 

September 22, 2008. A hearing will be 

held in Washington, DC, on Thursday, 

October 2, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic 

mail: FR0810@ustr.eop.gov. 

Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, 

Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff 

Committee, Office of the United States 

Trade Representative, (202) 395–6143. 

The public is strongly encouraged to 

submit documents electronically rather 

than by facsimile. (See requirements for 

submissions below.) 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

procedural questions concerning written 

comments or participation in the public 

hearing, contact Gloria Blue, (202) 395–

3475. All other questions should be 

directed to Terrence J. McCartin, Deputy 

Assistant United States Trade 

Representative for China Enforcement, 

(202) 395–3900, or Claire E. Reade, 

Chief Counsel for China Trade 

Enforcement, (202) 395–9625. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

1. Background 

China became a Member of the WTO 

on December 11, 2001. In accordance 

with section 421 of the U.S.-China 

Relations Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106–286), 

USTR is required to submit, by 

December 11 of each year, a report to 

Congress on China’s compliance with 

commitments made in connection with 

its accession to the WTO, including 

both multilateral commitments and any 

bilateral commitments made to the 

United States. In accordance with 

section 421, and to assist it in preparing 

this year’s report, the TPSC is hereby 

soliciting public comment. Last year’s 

report is available on USTR’s Internet 

Web site (at http://www.ustr.gov/ 

World_Regions/North_Asia/China/ 

Section_Index.html). 

The terms of China’s accession to the 

WTO are contained in the Protocol on 

the Accession of the People’s Republic 

of China (including its annexes) 

(Protocol), the Report of the Working 

Party on the Accession of China 

(Working Party Report), and the WTO 

agreements. The Protocol and Working 

Party Report can be found on the 

Department of Commerce Web page, 

http://www.mac.doc.gov/China/ 

WTOAccessionPackage.htm, or on the 

WTO Web site, http:// 

docsonline.wto.org (document symbols: 

WT/L/432, WT/MIN(01)/3, WT/ 

MIN(01)/3/Add.1, WT/MIN(01)/3/ 

Add.2). 

2. Public Comment and Hearing 

USTR invites written comments and/ 

or oral testimony of interested persons 

on China’s compliance with 

commitments made in connection with 

its accession to the WTO, including, but 

not limited to, commitments in the 

following areas: (a) Trading rights; (b) 

import regulation (e.g., tariffs, tariff-rate 

quotas, quotas, import licenses); (c) 

export regulation; (d) internal policies 

affecting trade (e.g., subsidies, standards 

and technical regulations, sanitary and 

phytosanitary measures, government 

procurement, trade-related investment 

measures, taxes and charges levied on 

imports and exports); (e) intellectual 

property rights (including intellectual 

property rights enforcement); (f) 

services; (g) rule of law issues (e.g., 

transparency, judicial review, uniform 

administration of laws and regulations) 

and status of legal reform; and (h) other 

WTO commitments. In addition, given 

the Administration’s view that China 

should be held accountable as a full 

participant in, and beneficiary of, the 

international trading system (see ‘‘U.S.- 

China Trade Relations: Entering a New 

Phase of Greater Accountability and 

Enforcement,’’ issued by USTR in 

February 2006, http://www.ustr.gov/ 

World_Regions/North_Asia/China/ 

2006_Top-to-Bottom_Review/ 

Section_Index.html), USTR requests that 

interested persons also specifically 

identify unresolved compliance issues 

that warrant review and evaluation by 

USTR’s China Enforcement Task Force. 

Written comments must be received 

no later than noon, Monday, September 

22, 2008. 

A hearing will be held on Thursday, 

October 2, 2008, in Room 1, 1724 F 

Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508. If 

necessary, the hearing will continue on 

the next day. 

Persons wishing to testify orally at the 

hearing must provide written 

notification of their intention by noon, 

Thursday, September 18, 2008. The 

notification should include: (1) The 

name, address, and telephone number of 

the person presenting the testimony; 

and (2) a short (one or two paragraph) 

summary of the presentation, including 

the commitments at issue and, as 

applicable, the product(s) (with HTSUS 

numbers), service sector(s), or other 

subjects to be discussed. A copy of the 

testimony must accompany the 

notification. Remarks at the hearing 

should be limited to no more than five 

minutes to allow for possible questions 

from the TPSC. 

All documents should be submitted in 

accordance with the instructions in 

section 3 below. 

3. Requirements for Submissions 

In order to facilitate prompt 

processing of submissions, USTR 

strongly urges and prefers electronic 

(e-mail) submissions in response to this 

notice. In the event that an e-mail 

submission is impossible, submissions 

should be made by facsimile. 

Persons making submissions by 

e-mail should use the following subject 

line: ‘‘China WTO’’ followed by (as 

appropriate) ‘‘Written Comments,’’

‘‘Notice of Testimony,’’ or ‘‘Testimony.’’

Documents should be submitted as 

either Adobe PDF, WordPerfect, 

MSWord, or text (.TXT) files. 

Supporting documentation submitted as 

spreadsheets is acceptable as Quattro 

Pro or Excel. For any document 

containing business confidential 

information submitted electronically, 

the file name of the business 

confidential version should begin with 

the characters ‘‘BC-’’, and the file name 

of the public version should begin with 

the characters ‘‘P-’’. The ‘‘P-’’ or ‘‘BC-’’

should be followed by the name of the 

submitter. Persons who make 

submissions by e-mail should not 

provide separate cover letters; 

information that might appear in a cover 

letter should be included in the 

submission itself. Similarly, to the 

extent possible, any attachments to the 

submission should be included in the 

same file as the submission itself, and 

not as separate files. 

Written comments, notices of 

testimony, and testimony will be placed 

in a file open to public inspection 

pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.5, except for 

confidential business information 

exempt from public inspection in 

accordance with 15 CFR 2003.6. 

Confidential business information 

submitted in accordance with 15 CFR 

2003.6 must be clearly marked 

‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’ at the top 

of each page, including any cover letter 

or cover page, and must be accompanied 

by a nonconfidential summary of the 

confidential information. All public 

documents and nonconfidential 

summaries shall be available for public 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 148 / Thursday, July 31, 2008 / Notices 44785 

inspection in the USTR Reading Room. 

The USTR Reading Room is open to the 

public, by appointment only, from 10 

a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., 

Monday through Friday. An 

appointment to review the file may be 

made by calling (202) 395–6186. 

Appointments must be scheduled at 

least 48 hours in advance. 

General information concerning USTR 

may be obtained by accessing its 

Internet Web site (http://www.ustr.gov). 

Carmen Suro-Bredie, 

Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee. 

[FR Doc. E8–17574 Filed 7–30–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–W8–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Request for Public Comment With 

Respect to the Annual National Trade 

Estimate Report on Foreign Trade 

Barriers 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 303 of the 

Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, as 

amended, USTR is required to publish 

annually the National Trade Estimate 

Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). 

With this notice, the Trade Policy Staff 

Committee (TPSC) is requesting 

interested parties to assist it in 

identifying significant barriers to U.S. 

exports of goods, services and overseas 

direct investment for inclusion in the 

NTE. Particularly important are 

impediments materially affecting the 

actual and potential financial 

performance of an industry sector. The 

TPSC invites written comments that 

provide views relevant to the issues to 

be examined in preparing the NTE. 

DATES: Public comments are due not 

later than Thursday, November 6, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic 

mail: FR0717@USTR.EOP.GOV. 

Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, 

Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff 

Committee, Office of the United States 

Trade Representative (202–395–6143). 

The public is strongly encouraged to 

submit documents electronically rather 

than by facsimile. (See requirements for 

submissions below.) 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions regarding the report, its 

subject matter or procedural questions 

concerning submissions should be 

directed to Ms. Gloria Blue, Office of 

Policy Coordination, Office of the 

United States Trade Representative 

(202–395–3475). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Last year’s 

report may be found on USTR’s Internet 

Home Page (http://www.ustr.gov) in the 

Document Library under the section on 

Reports. In order to ensure compliance 

with the statutory mandate for reporting 

foreign trade barriers that are 

significant, we will focus particularly on 

those restrictions where there has been 

active private sector interest. 

The information submitted should 

relate to one or more of the following 

ten categories of foreign trade barriers: 

(1) Import policies (e.g., tariffs and 

other import charges, quantitative 

restrictions, import licensing, and 

customs barriers); 

(2) Standards, testing, labeling, and 

certification (including unnecessarily 

restrictive application of phytosanitary 

standards, refusal to accept U.S. 

manufacturers’ self-certification of 

conformance to foreign product 

standards, and environmental 

restrictions); 

(3) Government procurement (e.g., 

‘‘buy national’’ policies and closed 

bidding); 

(4) Export subsidies (e.g., export 

financing on preferential terms and 

agricultural export subsidies that 

displace U.S. exports in third country 

markets); 

(5) Lack of intellectual property 

protection (e.g., inadequate patent, 

copyright, and trademark regimes); 

(6) Services barriers (e.g., limits on the 

range of financial services offered by 

foreign financial institutions, regulation 

of international data flows, restrictions 

on the use of data processing, quotas on 

imports of foreign films, and barriers to 

the provision of services by 

professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, 

accountants, engineers, nurses, etc.); 

(7) Investment barriers (e.g., 

limitations on foreign equity 

participation and on access to foreign 

government-funded R&D consortia, local 

content, technology transfer and export 

performance requirements, and 

restrictions on repatriation of earnings, 

capital, fees and royalties); 

(8) Anticompetitive practices with 

trade effects tolerated by foreign 

governments (including anticompetitive 

activities of both state-owned and 

private firms that apply to services or to 

goods and that restrict the sale of U.S. 

products to any firm, not just to foreign 

firms); 

(9) Trade restrictions affecting 

electronic commerce (e.g., tariff and 

non-tariff measures, burdensome and 

discriminatory regulations and 

standards, and discriminatory taxation); 

and 

(10) Other barriers (i.e., barriers that 

encompass more than one category, e.g., 

bribery and corruption, or that affect a 

single sector). 

As in the case of last year’s NTE, we 

are asking that particular emphasis be 

placed on any practices that may violate 

U.S. trade agreements. We are also 

interested in receiving any new or 

updated information pertinent to the 

barriers covered in last year’s report as 

well as new information. Please note 

that the information not used in the 

NTE will be maintained for use in future 

negotiations. 

It is most important that your 

submission contain estimates of the 

potential increase in exports that would 

result from the removal of the barrier, as 

well as a clear discussion of the 

method(s) by which the estimates were 

computed. Estimates should fall within 

the following value ranges: Less than $5 

million; $5 to $25 million; $25 million 

to $50 million; $50 million to $100 

million; $100 million to $500 million; or 

over $500 million. Such assessments 

enhance USTR’s ability to conduct 

meaningful comparative analyses of a 

barrier’s effect over a range of 

industries. 

Please note that interested parties 

discussing barriers in more than one 

country should, whenever possible, 

provide a separate submission (i.e., one 

that is self-contained) for each country 

with the country indicated in the 

subject line of each submission. If 

separate, country-specific submissions 

are not feasible, please identify all 

countries covered by a submission in 

the subject line of that submission. 

Requirements for Submissions: In 

order to facilitate prompt processing of 

submissions, USTR strongly urges and 

prefers electronic (e-mail) submissions 

in response to this notice. In the event 

an e-mail submission is impossible, 

submissions should be made by 

facsimile. Facsimile submissions should 

not exceed a maximum of 20 pages. 

E-mail submissions should be single 

copy transmissions in English. 

Submissions should use the following 

subject line: ‘‘2009 National Trade 

Estimate Report—Submission by (sector, 

company, association). Documents must 

be submitted as either WordPerfect 

(‘‘WPD’’), MSWord (‘‘DOC’’), or text 

(‘‘TXT’’) file. Documents should not be 

submitted as electronic image files or 

contain imbedded images (for example, 

‘‘JPG’’, ‘‘BMP’’, or ‘‘GIF’’), as these types 

of files are generally excessively large. 

Supporting Documentation submitted as 

spreadsheets is acceptable as Quattro 

Pro or Excel, pre-formatted for printing 

on 81⁄2 x 11 inch paper. To the extent 

possible, any data attachments to the 

submission should be included in the 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES