[Federal Register: February 7, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 26)]
[Notices]
[Page 6529-6530]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07fe03-132]
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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 United States--Morocco Free Trade
Agreement
AGENCIES: Office of the United States Trade Representative and
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.-Morocco 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 noon, March 28, 2003, to be assured of timely consideration
in the preparation of the report.
ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: FR0067@ustr.gov. Submissions
by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff
Committee, 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
[[Page 6530]]
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
Trade Act of 2002, the United States Trade Representative notified the
Congress of the President's intent to enter into trade negotiations
with Morocco. The notification letters to the Congress can be found on
the USTR Web site at http://www.ustr.gov/releases/2002/2002-10-01-morocco-house.PDF
and http://www. ustr.gov/releases/2002/2002-10-01-
morocco-senate.PDF, respectively. The TPSC received written submissions
and, on November 21, 2003, conducted a public hearing to assist USTR in
formulating positions and proposals with respect to all aspects of the
negotiations (67 FR 63187) (Oct. 10, 2002). The first round of the
U.S.-Morocco FTA negotiations took place January 21-24 in Washington,
DC. The next round is scheduled for March 24 in Morocco and
negotiations are expected to be completed before the end of 2003.
The U.S.-Morocco FTA will build on the bilateral work that began in
1995 under the U.S.-Morocco Trade and Investment Framework Agreement.
The U.S.-Morocco FTA will seek to eliminate duties and unjustified
barriers to trade for both U.S.- and Moroccan-origin goods and also
address trade in services, trade in agricultural products, 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. The FTA will also help to support and accelerate
economic and political reforms already underway in Morocco.
Section 2102(c)(5) of the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Act of 2002,
19 U.S.C. 3805(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 public.''
USTR and the Department of Labor will be conducting the employment
reviews through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (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.
2. 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: FR0067@ustr.gov.
Persons making submissions by e-mail should use the following subject
line: a Morocco Employment Review.'' Documents should be submitted in
WordPerfect, MSWord, or text (.TXT) format. 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. 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 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 shall
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. 03-2971 Filed 2-6-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P