[Federal Register: March 19, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 53)]
[Notices]
[Page 13358-13359]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19mr03-144]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Trade Policy Staff Committee; Request for Public Comment on
Review of Employment Impact of Proposed United States--Central America
Free Trade Agreement
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative, Department of
Labor.
ACTION: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) gives notice that the
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the
Department of Labor (Labor) are initiating a review of the impact of
the proposed U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on United
States employment, including labor markets. This notice seeks written
public comment on potentially significant sectoral or regional
employment impacts (both positive and negative) in the United States as
well as other likely labor market impacts of the FTA.
DATES: USTR and Labor will accept any comments received during the
course of the negotiations of the FTA. However, comments should be
received by April 25, 2003, to be assured of timely consideration in
the preparation of the report.
ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: FR0071@ustr.gov. Submissions
by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office of the
USTR, at (202) 395-6143.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning
public comments, contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office
of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508, telephone (202)
395-3475. Substantive questions concerning the employment impact review
should be addressed to Jorge Perez-Lopez, Director, Office of
International Economic Affairs, Bureau of International Labor Affairs,
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20210, telephone (202) 693-4883; or William Clatanoff, Assistant U.S.
Trade Representative for Labor, telephone (202) 395-6120.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
1. Background Information
On October 1, 2002, in accordance with section 2104(a)(1) of the
Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002, 19 U.S.C. 3804(a)(1),
the United States Trade Representative notified the Congress of the
President's intent to enter into trade negotiations with the five
members of the Central American Economic Integration System (Costa
Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, hereinafter
``Central America''). The notification letters to the Congress can be
found on the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/10/
2002-10-01-centralamerica-house.PDF
and http://www.ustr.gov/releases/
2002-10-01-centralamerica-house.PDF and http://www.ustr.gov/releases/
2002/10/2002-10-01-centralamerica-senate.PDF
, respectively. The TPSC
invited the public to provide written comments and/or oral testimony at
a public hearing conducted on November 19, 2002, to assist USTR in
formulating positions and proposals with respect to all aspects of the
negotiations (67 FR 63954) (Oct. 16, 2002). The formal launch of the
negotiations occurred on January 8, 2003 in Washington, D.C. The first
round of negotiations took place January 27-31, 2003, in San Jose,
Costa Rica, and the second round of negotiations was held February 24-
28, 2003, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The FTA will build on the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI). Since
1985, the U.S. trade relationship with Central America has been driven
by U.S. unilateral trade preferences through the CBI. By moving from
unilateral trade preferences to a reciprocal trade agreement, the FTA
will seek to eliminate duties and unjustified barriers to trade in both
U.S.- and Central American-origin goods and also address trade in
services, trade in agricultural products, investment, trade-related
aspects of intellectual property rights, government procurement, trade-
related environmental and labor matters, and other issues. The FTA is
expected to contribute to stronger economies, the rule of law,
sustainable development, and more accountable institutions of
governance, complementing ongoing domestic, bilateral, and multilateral
efforts in the region. Finally, the FTA will lend momentum to
concluding the Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations by January
2005.
Two-way trade in goods between the United States and Central
America totaled $20 billion in 2001, consisting of $9 billion in U.S.
exports and $11 billion in U.S. imports. Leading U.S. exports to
Central America include textiles, machinery, electrical
[[Page 13359]]
machinery and equipment, and plastics. Leading U.S. imports from
Central America include apparel products and edible fruits.
2. Employment Impact Review
Section 2102(c)(5) of the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act
of 2002, 19 U.S.C. 3802(c)(5), directs the President to ``review the
impact of future trade agreements on United States employment,
including labor markets, modeled after Executive Order 13141 to the
extent appropriate in establishing procedures and criteria, report to
the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Finance of the Senate on such review, and make that report
available to the public.'' USTR and the Department of Labor will
conduct the employment reviews through the TPSC.
The employment impact review will be based on the following
elements, which are modeled to the extent appropriate after those in EO
13141. The review will be: (1) Written; (2) initiated through a Federal
Register notice soliciting public comment and information on the
employment impact of the FTA in the United States; (3) made available
to the public in draft form for public comment, to the extent
practicable; and (4) made available to the public in final form.
Comments may be submitted on potentially significant sectoral or
regional employment impacts (both positive and negative) in the United
States as well as other likely labor market impacts of the FTA. Persons
submitting comments should provide as much detail as possible in
support of their submissions.
3. Requirements for Submissions
To ensure prompt and full consideration of responses, the TPSC
strongly recommends that interested persons submit comments by
electronic mail to the following e-mail address: FR0071@ustr.gov.
Persons making submissions by e-mail should use the following subject
line: ``Central America Employment Review.'' Documents should be
submitted in WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) files. Supporting
documentation submitted as spreadsheets is acceptable in Quattro Pro or
Excel format. 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 character ``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. 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 will be placed in a file open to public inspection
pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.5, except 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 non-confidential summary of the confidential
information. All public documents and non-confidential summaries will
be available for public inspection in the USTR Reading Room in Room 3
of the Annex of the Office of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington,
DC 20508. An appointment to review the file may be made by calling
(202) 395-6186. The USTR Reading Room is generally open to the public
from 10 a.m.-12 noon and 1-4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Appointments
must be scheduled at least 48 hours in advance.
Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 03-6499 Filed 3-18-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P