Executive Office of the President 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On December 14, 2007, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published notice of the Procurement Thresholds for Implementation of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (72 FR 71166). That Notice included three incorrect procurement threshold values due to inadvertent calculation errors. This notice provides the corrected thresholds. Now, therefore, I, Susan C. Schwab, United States Trade Representative, in conformity with the provisions of Executive Order 12260, and in order to carry out the trade agreement obligations of the United States under the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (WTO/GPA), Chapter 15 of the United States- Australia Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Australia FTA), Chapter 9 of the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Bahrain FTA), Chapter 9 of the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Chile FTA), Chapter 9 of the Dominican Republic-Central American-United States (DR- CAFTA), Chapter 9 of the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Morocco FTA), and Chapter 13 of the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Singapore FTA), do hereby determine, effective on January 1, 2008, for the calendar years 2008-2009, the following thresholds shall apply and replace those set out in the Determination published on December 14, 2007 (72 FR 71166): $7,443,000for the procurement of construction services by all entities listed in the WTO/GPA, U.S.-Australia FTA, U.S.-Chile FTA, DR- CAFTA, U.S.-Morocco FTA, and the U.S.-Singapore FTA. $528,000for the procurement of goods and services by sub-central entities listed in the WTO/GPA, U.S.-Australia FTA, U.S.-Chile FTA, DR- CAFTA, U.S.-Morocco FTA, and the U.S.-Singapore FTA. $595,000for the procurement of goods and services by entities listed in U.S. Annex 3 of the WTO/GPA; List B in Annex 15-A of the U.S.-Australia FTA; List B in Annex 9-A, Section 3 of the U.S.-Bahrain FTA; List B in Annex 9.1, Section C of the U.S.-Chile FTA; List B in Annex 9.1, Section C of the DR-CAFTA; List B in Annex 9.1, Section C of the U.S.-Morocco FTA; and Annex 13A, Section C of the U.S.-Singapore FTA.

In accordance with relevant provisions of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of its determination of the trade surplus in certain sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products of Chile, Morocco, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. As described below, the level of a country's trade surplus in these goods relates to the quantity of sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products for which the United States grants preferential tariff treatment under (i) the United StatesChile Free Trade Agreement (Chile FTA), in the case of Chile; (ii) the United StatesMorocco Free Trade Agreement (Morocco FTA), in the case of Morocco; and (iii) the Dominican RepublicCentral AmericaUnited States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), in the case of the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Executive Order 12260 requires the United States Trade Representative to set the U.S. dollar thresholds for application of Title III of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2511 et seq.), which implements U.S. trade agreement obligations, including those under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement, Chapter 15 of the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Australia FTA), Chapter 9 of the United States- Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Bahrain FTA), Chapter 9 of the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Chile FTA), Chapter 9 of the Dominican Republic-Central American-United States (DR-CAFTA), Chapter 9 of the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (U.S.- Morocco FTA), Chapter 10 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and Chapter 13 of the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (U.S.-Singapore FTA). These obligations apply to covered procurements valued at or above specified U.S. dollar thresholds. Now, therefore, I, Susan C. Schwab, United States Trade Representative, in conformity with the provisions of Executive Order 12260, and in order to carry out U.S. trade agreement obligations under the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement, Chapter 15 of the U.S.- Australia FTA, Chapter 9 of the U.S.-Bahrain FTA, Chapter 9 of the U.S.-Chile FTA, Chapter 9 of DR-CAFTA, Chapter 9 of the U.S.-Morocco FTA, Chapter 10 of NAFTA, and Chapter 13 of the U.S.-Singapore FTA, do hereby determine, effective on January 1, 2008: For the calendar years 2008-2009, the thresholds are as follows:

A conference of leaders in the field of medical education and healthcare policy will be held on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Washington, DC on Capitol Hill, New Jersey Ave., NW., and Washington DC, starting at 8 a.m. and concluding at 5:30 p.m. The overall objectives of the Leadership Conference are to advance widespread use of screening and brief intervention procedures designed to identify and promote behavioral change in populations engaged in risky, problematic substance use, or that have a diagnosis of abuse/ addiction. Abuse of illicit drugs, alcohol, or prescription drugs adversely affects the health of millions of Americans. Wide-spread implementation of screening and brief intervention procedures can have a major, positive impact on public health. The specific conference objectives are: (1) To share with medical educators and other contributors to improving in public health, the positive benefits of screening and brief interventions; (2) To devise strategies to implement and sustain Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) procedures for substance abuse in various healthcare settings; (3) To promote adoption and use of new reimbursable healthcare procedural codes (screening and brief intervention) and examine cost-effectiveness of implementing the codes; (4) To address best practices for performing these procedures in various healthcare settings; (5) To identify challenges to implementation of these procedures in various healthcare settings and conceptualize strategies to address these challenges; (6) To generate business models for the procedures applicable to specific heath care environments; (7) To address training and educational needs for the medical community and devise efficient methods for widespread dissemination of these practices. Members of the public who wish to attend the meeting should telephone ONDCP's Leadership Conference on Medical Education telephone line at (202) 395-6750 to arrange building access.

The Office of Management and Budget is consolidating and replacing four existing financial reporting forms (SF-269, SF-269A, SF- 272, and SF-272A) with a single Federal Financial Report (FFR). The purpose of the FFR is to give recipients of grants and cooperative agreements a standard format for reporting the financial status of their grants and cooperative agreements (hereby referred to collectively as awards). Federal awarding agencies developed the FFR as part of their implementation of the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999 (Pub. L. 106-107).

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (``USTR'') is providing notice that on November 8, 2007, Brazil requested the establishment of a dispute settlement panel under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (``WTO Agreement'') regarding U.S. domestic support measures for agricultural products. That request may be found at https://www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS365/13. USTR is also providing notice that on the same date, Canada made a revised request for the establishment of a dispute settlement panel under the WTO Agreement in a similar dispute. Canada's request may be found at https://www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS357/12. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in these disputes.

As required by the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (IG Act), this notice provides a list of Designated Federal Entities and Federal Entities.

Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (``NAFTA'') provides for the establishment of a roster of individuals to serve on binational panels convened to review final determinations in antidumping or countervailing duty (``AD/CVD'') proceedings and amendments to AD/CVD statutes of a NAFTA Party. The United States annually renews its selections for the Chapter 19 roster. Applications are invited from eligible individuals wishing to be included on the roster for the period April 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (``USTR'') is providing notice that pursuant to a request of the European Communities, the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (``WTO'') has established a compliance panel under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (``WTO Agreement'') concerning the dispute United StatesLaws, Regulations and Methodology for Calculating Dumping Margins (``zeroing'')Recourse to Article 21.5 of the DSU by the European Communities. That request may be found at https://www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS294/25. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice that the United States has requested, in accordance with the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (WTO Agreement), that the WTO Dispute Settlement Body establish a dispute settlement panel to review the U.S. claims concerning: (1) Certain measures that restrict trading rights with respect to imported films for theatrical release, audiovisual home entertainment products (e.g., video cassettes and DVDs), sound recordings, and publications (e.g., books, magazines, newspapers, and electronic publications); (2) certain measures that restrict market access for, or discriminate against, foreign suppliers of distribution services for publications, foreign suppliers of audiovisual services (including distribution services) for audiovisual home entertainment products, and foreign suppliers of sound recording distribution services; (3) certain measures that provide less favorable distribution opportunities for imported films for theatrical release than for like domestic films; and (4) certain measures that provide less favorable opportunities for foreign suppliers of sound recording distribution services and for the distribution of imported sound recordings than are provided to like service suppliers and like products. The panel request may be found at https://www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS363/5. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.