4264 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 14 / Friday, January 23, 2009 / Notices 

for Intellectual Property and Innovation 

and Chair of the Special 301 Committee, 

Office of the United States Trade 

Representative, at (202) 395–4510. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to section 182 of the Trade Act, USTR 

must identify those countries that deny 

adequate and effective protection for 

intellectual property rights or deny fair 

and equitable market access to U.S. 

persons who rely on intellectual 

property protection. Those countries 

that have the most onerous or egregious 

acts, policies, or practices and whose 

acts, policies, or practices have the 

greatest adverse impact (actual or 

potential) on relevant U.S. products are 

to be identified as Priority Foreign 

Countries. Acts, policies, or practices 

that are the basis of a country’s 

designation as a Priority Foreign 

Country are normally the subject of an 

investigation under the section 301 

provisions of the Trade Act. 

USTR may not identify a country as 

a Priority Foreign Country if that 

country is entering into good faith 

negotiations, or making significant 

progress in bilateral or multilateral 

negotiations, to provide adequate and 

effective protection of intellectual 

property rights. 

USTR requests that, where relevant, 

submissions mention particular regions, 

provinces, states, or other subdivisions 

of a country in which an act, policy, or 

practice deserve special attention in this 

year’s report. Such mention may be 

positive or negative. For example, 

submissions may address China’s 

protection and enforcement of 

intellectual property rights at the 

provincial level, including, where 

relevant, areas that were the focus of 

USTR’s review of provincial and local 

issues in China conducted in 2008 (2008 

Special 301 Report, pp. 25–33, available 

at http://www.ustr.gov). 

Section 182 contains a special rule 

regarding actions of Canada affecting 

United States cultural industries. The 

USTR must identify any act, policy, or 

practice of Canada that affects cultural 

industries, which is adopted or 

expanded after December 17, 1992, and 

is actionable under Article 2106 of the 

North American Free Trade Agreement 

(NAFTA). Any act, policy, or practice so 

identified shall be treated the same as 

an act, policy, or practice which was the 

basis for a country’s identification as a 

Priority Foreign Country under section 

182(a)(2) of the Trade Act, unless the 

United States has already taken action 

pursuant to Article 2106 of the NAFTA. 

USTR must make the abovereferenced identifications within 30 

days after publication of the National 

Trade Estimate (NTE) report, i.e., 

approximately April 30, 2009. 

Requirements for Comments: 

Comments should include a description 

of the problems experienced and the 

effect of the acts, policies, and practices 

on U.S. industry. Comments should be 

as detailed as possible and should 

provide all necessary information for 

assessing the effect of the acts, policies, 

and practices. Any comments that 

include quantitative loss claims should 

be accompanied by the methodology 

used in calculating such estimated 

losses. Comments must be in English. 

All comments should be sent 

electronically to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, docket number 

USTR–2009–0001. 

To submit comments to http:// 

www.regulations.gov, enter docket 

number USTR–2009–0001 on the home 

page and click ‘‘go.’’ 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 ‘‘Send a Comment or 

Submission.’’ (For further information 

on using the http://www.regulations.gov 

Web site, please consult the resources 

provided on the Web site by clicking on 

‘‘How to Use This Site’’ on the left side 

of the home page). 

The http://www.regulations.gov site 

provides the option of providing 

comments by filling in a ‘‘General 

Comments’’ field, or by attaching a 

document. 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 ‘‘General Comments’’ 

field. 

A person requesting that information 

contained in a comment submitted by 

that person 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, the submission must be marked 

‘‘BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL’’ at the top 

and bottom of the cover page and each 

succeeding page, and should indicate 

using brackets the specific information 

which is confidential. Any comment 

containing business confidential 

information must be accompanied by a 

non-confidential summary of the 

confidential information. The nonconfidential summary will be placed in 

the docket and open to public 

inspection. 

USTR will maintain a docket on the 

2009 Special 301 Review, accessible to 

the public. The public file will include 

non-confidential comments received by 

USTR from the public, including foreign 

governments, with respect to the 2009 

Special 301 Review. 

Public Inspection of Submissions: 

Comments will be placed in the docket 

and open to public inspection pursuant 

to 15 CFR 2006.13, except confidential 

business information exempt from 

public inspection in accordance with 15 

CFR 2006.15. Comments may be viewed 

on the http://www.regulations.gov Web 

site by entering docket number USTR– 

2009–0001 in the search field on the 

home page. 

Stanford K. McCoy, 

Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property and 

Innovation. 

[FR Doc. E9–1392 Filed 1–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–W9–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

Determination Regarding Waiver of 

Discriminatory Purchasing 

Requirements With Respect to Goods 

and Services Covered by Chapter Nine 

of the United States-Peru Trade 

Promotion Agreement 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Determination under Trade 

Agreements Act of 1979. 

DATES: Effective Date: February 1, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean 

Heilman Grier, Senior Procurement 

Negotiator, Office of the United States 

Trade Representative, (202) 395–9476, 

or Katherine Tai, Associate General 

Counsel, Office of the United States 

Trade Representative, (202) 395–9589. 

On April 12, 2006, the United States 

and Peru entered into the United StatesPeru Trade Promotion Agreement 

(‘‘Peru TPA’’). Chapter Nine of the Peru 

TPA sets forth certain obligations with 

respect to government procurement of 

goods and services, as specified in 

Annex 9.1 of the Peru TPA. On 

December 14, 2007, the President signed 

into law the United States-Peru Trade 

Promotion Agreement Implementation 

Act (‘‘the Peru TPA Act’’) (Pub. L. No. 

110–138, 121 Stat. 1455) (19 U.S.C. 3805 

note). In section 101(a) of the Peru TPA 

Act, the Congress approved the Peru 

TPA. The Peru FTA will enter into force 

on February 1, 2009. 

Section 1–201 of Executive Order 

12260 of December 31, 1980 (46 FR 

1653) delegates the functions of the 

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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 14 / Friday, January 23, 2009 / Notices 4265 

1The six hormones at issue are estradiol 17–b, 

testosterone, progesterone, zeranol, trenbolone 

acetate (‘‘TBA’’) and melengestrol acetate (‘‘MGA’’). 

President under Sections 301 and 302 of 

the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (‘‘the 

Trade Agreements Act’’) (19 U.S.C. 

2511, 2512) to the United States Trade 

Representative. 

Now, therefore, I, Susan C. Schwab, 

United States Trade Representative, in 

conformity with the provisions of 

sections 301 and 302 of the Trade 

Agreements Act, and Executive Order 

12260, and in order to carry out U.S. 

obligations under Chapter Nine of the 

Peru TPA, do hereby determine that: 

1. Peru is a country, other than a 

major industrialized country, which, 

pursuant to the Peru TPA, will provide 

appropriate reciprocal competitive 

government procurement opportunities 

to United States products and suppliers 

of such products. In accordance with 

section 301(b)(3) of the Trade 

Agreements Act, Peru is so designated 

for purposes of section 301(a) of the 

Trade Agreements Act. 

2. With respect to eligible products of 

Peru (i.e., goods and services covered by 

the Schedules of the United States in 

Annex 9.1 of the Peru TPA) and 

suppliers of such products, the 

application of any law, regulation, 

procedure, or practice regarding 

government procurement that would, if 

applied to such products and suppliers, 

result in treatment less favorable than 

accorded— 

(A) To United States products and 

suppliers of such products; or 

(B) To eligible products of another 

foreign country or instrumentality 

which is a party to the Agreement on 

Government Procurement referred to in 

section 101(d)(17) of the Uruguay 

Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 

3511(d)(17)) and suppliers of such 

products, shall be waived. 

With respect to Peru, this waiver shall 

be applied by all entities listed in the 

Schedules of the United States in 

Section A and in List A of Section C of 

Annex 9.1 of the Peru TPA. 

3. The designation in paragraph 1 and 

the waiver in paragraph 2 are subject to 

modification or withdrawal by the 

United States Trade Representative. 

Susan C. Schwab, 

United States Trade Representative. 

[FR Doc. E9–1451 Filed 1–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3190–W9–P 

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES 

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 

[Docket No. USTR–2008–0036] 

Modification of Action Taken in 

Connection With WTO Dispute 

Settlement Proceedings on the 

European Communities’ Ban on 

Imports of U.S. Beef and Beef Products 

AGENCY: Office of the United States 

Trade Representative. 

ACTION: Notice and modification of 

action. 

SUMMARY: The United States Trade 

Representative (‘‘Trade Representative’’) 

has decided to modify the action taken 

in July 1999 in connection with the 

World Trade Organization (‘‘WTO’’) 

authorization to the United States in the 

EC-Beef Hormones dispute to suspend 

concessions and related obligations with 

respect to the European Communities 

(‘‘EC’’). In particular, as described in 

this notice and its annex, the Trade 

Representative has decided: (1) To 

remove some products from the list of 

products currently subject to 100 

percent ad valorem duties; (2) to impose 

100 percent ad valorem duties on some 

new products from certain EC member 

States; (3) to modify the coverage with 

respect to particular EC member States; 

and (4) to raise the level of duties on 

one of the products that is being 

maintained on the product list. The 

trade value of the products subject to 

the modified action continues not to 

exceed the $116.8 million per year level 

authorized by the WTO in July 1999. 

DATES: Effective Date: The modifications 

described in the Annex to this notice 

shall be effective with respect to 

products that are entered, or withdrawn 

from warehouse, for consumption on or 

after March 23, 2009. Any merchandise 

subject to increased duties under this 

determination that is admitted to U.S. 

foreign-trade zones on or after March 23, 

2009 must be admitted as ‘‘privileged 

foreign status’’ as defined in 19 CFR 

146.41. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Roger Wentzel, Director, Agricultural 

Affairs, (202) 395–6127 or David 

Weiner, Director for the European 

Union, (202) 395–4620 for questions 

concerning the EC-Beef Hormones 

dispute; or William Busis, Associate 

General Counsel and Chair of the 

Section 301 Committee, (202) 395–3150, 

for questions concerning procedures 

under Section 301. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A. The EC-Beef Hormones Case 

The EC bans the import of beef and 

beef products produced from animals to 

which any of six hormones 1 have been 

administered for growth promotion 

purposes. The effect of the EC ban is to 

prohibit the import of substantially all 

U.S.-produced beef and beef products. 

In February 1998, the WTO Dispute 

Settlement Body (‘‘DSB’’) found that the 

EC ban was inconsistent with EC 

obligations under the WTO Agreement. 

In July 1999, a WTO arbitrator 

determined that the EC import ban on 

U.S. beef and beef products has 

nullified or impaired U.S. benefits 

under the WTO Agreement in the 

amount of $116.8 million each year. On 

July 26, 1999, the DSB authorized the 

United States to suspend the application 

to the EC, and member States thereof, of 

WTO tariff concessions and related 

obligations covering trade in an amount 

of $116.8 million per year. Pursuant to 

that authorization, the Office of the 

United States Trade Representative 

(‘‘USTR’’) announced a list of EC 

products that would be subject to a 100 

percent rate of duty effective with 

respect to products entered, or 

withdrawn from warehouse, for 

consumption on or after July 29, 1999. 

See 64 FR 40638. 

Since that time, the United States and 

the EC have continued to consult in an 

effort to resolve this dispute. Those 

discussions include the possibility of an 

interim agreement that would provide 

meaningful market access for U.S. beef 

products produced without growthpromoting hormones, in return for a 

suspension of the increased duties on 

EC products. 

The EC argues that EC legislation of 

2003 amending the import ban on beef 

and beef products produced from 

animals treated with certain hormones 

brought the EC into compliance with its 

WTO obligations. In January 2005, the 

EC requested the establishment of a 

WTO dispute settlement panel to 

consider the EC claim that the United 

States was no longer authorized to 

suspend concessions as a result of the 

EC’s adoption of the new legislation 

amending the import ban. (See 70 FR 

8655 for a description of this dispute 

brought by the EC.) 

On October 16, 2008, the WTO 

Appellate Body issued a report rejecting 

the EC claim and confirming that the 

July 1999 DSB authorization to suspend 

concessions remains in effect unless and 

until the DSB rules that the EC has 

brought its measures into compliance 

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