[Federal Register: January 6, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 3)]
[Notices]
[Page 718-719]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06ja04-136]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Identification of Countries Under Section 182 of the Trade Act of
1974: Request for Public Comment
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Request for written submissions from the public.
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SUMMARY: Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 (Trade Act) (19 U.S.C.
2242) requires the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to
identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of
intellectual property rights or deny fair and equitable market access
to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. (Section
182 is commonly referred to as the ``Special 301'' provisions of the
Trade Act.) The USTR is required to determine which of these countries
should be identified as Priority Foreign Countries. Acts, policies, or
practices that are the basis of a country's identification as a
priority foreign country are normally the subject of an investigation
under the section 301 provisions of the Trade Act. Section 182 of the
Trade Act also contains a special rule for the identification of
actions by Canada affecting U.S. cultural industries.
USTR requests written submissions from the public concerning
foreign countries' acts, policies, and practices that are relevant to
the decision whether particular trading partners should be identified
under section 182 of the Trade Act.
DATES: Submissions must be received on or before 12:00 noon on Friday,
February 13, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Mark Wu, Director for
Intellectual Property, and/or Sybia Harrison, Special Assistant to the
Section 301 Committee, at the following e-mail address:
FR0408@ustr.gov, with ``Special 301 Review: [Country Name]'' in the
subject line. Only electronic submissions will be accepted.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Wu, Director for Intellectual
Property, (202) 395-6864; Victoria Espinel or Daniel Mullaney,
Assistant General Counsels, (202) 395-7305, Office of the United States
Trade Representative. In the event that none of the above are
available, questions should be directed to Claude Burcky, Deputy
Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property, Office of the United States
Trade Representative, (202) 395-6864.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to section 182 of the Trade Act,
the 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 it
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, or states of a country whose act, policy, or
practice deserve special highlighting in this year's report. Such
mention may be positive or negative, so long as it deviates from the
general norm in that country.
Section 182 contains a special rule regarding actions of Canada
affecting U.S. cultural industries. The USTR is obligated to identify
any act, policy, or practice of Canada that affects cultural
industries, is adopted or expanded after December 17, 1992, and is
actionable under Article 2106 of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA). Any such act, policy, or practice so identified
shall be treated the same as an act, policy, or practice that 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 above-referenced identifications within 30 days
after publication of the National Trade Estimate (NTE) report, i.e., no
later than April 30, 2004.
Requirements for comments: Comments should include a description of
the problems experienced and the effect of the acts, policies, or
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, or practices. Any comments that include
quantitative loss claims should be accompanied by the methodology used
in calculating such estimated losses.
[[Page 719]]
Comments must be in English and may only be submitted
electronically. No submissions will be accepted via postal service
mail. Documents should be submitted as either WordPerfect, MS Word, or
text (.TXT) files. Supporting documentation submitted as spreadsheets
are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel files. A submitter requesting
that information contained in a comment 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. A non-confidential version of the comment must also be
provided. For any document containing business confidential
information, 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 character ``P-''. The ``P'' or ``BC''
should be followed by the name of the submitter. Submissions should not
include separate cover letters; information that might appear in a
cover letter should be included in the submission itself. 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.
Comments should be sent to Mark Wu, Director for Intellectual
Property, and Sybia Harrison, Special Assistant to the Section 301
Committee, at the following e-mail address: FR0408@ustr.gov, with
``Special 301 Review: [Country Name]'' in the subject line. Only
electronic submissions will be accepted.
Public inspection of submissions: Within one business day of
receipt, non-confidential submissions will be placed in a public file,
open for inspection at the USTR reading room, Office of the United
States Trade Representative, Annex Building, 1724 F Street, NW., Room
1, Washington, DC. An appointment to review the file must be scheduled
at least 48 hours in advance and may be made by calling (202) 395-6186.
The USTR reading room is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Amber Cottle,
Acting Assistant United States Trade Representative for Services,
Investment, and Intellectual Property.
[FR Doc. 04-213 Filed 1-5-04; 8:45 am]