Request for Public Comment With Respect to the Annual National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, 49745-49746 [E7-17118]
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 167 / Wednesday, August 29, 2007 / Notices
Further information regarding this
meeting can be obtained by contacting
the Designated Federal Official between
8:15 a.m. and 5 p.m. (ET). Persons
planning to attend this meeting are
urged to contact the above named
individual at least 2 working days prior
to the meeting to be advised of any
potential changes in the agenda.
Dated: August 23, 2007.
Antonio F. Dias,
Branch Chief, ACNW&M.
[FR Doc. 07–4256 Filed 8–27–07; 10:07 am]
BILLING CODE 7590–01–P
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Public Comment With
Respect to the Annual National Trade
Estimate Report on Foreign Trade
Barriers
Office of the United States
Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice.
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 303 of the
Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, as
amended, USTR is required to publish
annually the National Trade Estimate
Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE).
With this notice, the Trade Policy Staff
Committee (TPSC) is requesting
interested parties to assist it in
identifying significant barriers to U.S.
exports of goods, services and overseas
direct investment for inclusion in the
NTE. Particularly important are
impediments materially affecting the
actual and potential financial
performance of an industry sector. The
TPSC invites written comments that
provide views relevant to the issues to
be examined in preparing the NTE.
DATES: Public comments are due not
later than Thursday, November 8, 2007.
ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic
mail: FR0717@USTR.EOP.GOV.
Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue,
Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff
Committee, Office of the United States
Trade Representative (202–395–6143).
The public is strongly encouraged to
submit documents electronically rather
than by facsimile. (See requirements for
submissions below.)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Questions regarding the report, its
subject matter or procedural questions
concerning submissions should be
directed to Ms. Gloria Blue, Office of
Policy Coordination, Office of the
United States Trade Representative
(202–395–3475).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Last year’s
report may be found on USTR’s Internet
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:04 Aug 28, 2007
Jkt 211001
Home Page (www.ustr.gov) in the
Document Library under the section on
Reports. In order to ensure compliance
with the statutory mandate for reporting
foreign trade barriers that are
significant, we will focus particularly on
those restrictions where there has been
active private sector interest.
The information submitted should
relate to one or more of the following
ten categories of foreign trade barriers:
(1) Import policies (e.g., tariffs and
other import charges, quantitative
restrictions, import licensing, and
customs barriers);
(2) standards, testing, labeling, and
certification (including unnecessarily
restrictive application of phytosanitary
standards, refusal to accept U.S.
manufacturers’ self-certification of
conformance to foreign product
standards, and environmental
restrictions);
(3) government procurement (e.g.,
‘‘buy national’’ policies and closed
bidding);
(4) export subsidies (e.g., export
financing on preferential terms and
agricultural export subsidies that
displace U.S. exports in third country
markets);
(5) lack of intellectual property
protection (e.g., inadequate patent,
copyright, and trademark regimes);
(6) services barriers (e.g., limits on the
range of financial services offered by
foreign financial institutions, regulation
of international data flows, restrictions
on the use of data processing, quotas on
imports of foreign films, and barriers to
the provision of services by
professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors,
accountants, engineers, nurses, etc.));
(7) investment barriers (e.g.,
limitations on foreign equity
participation and on access to foreign
government-funded R&D consortia, local
content, technology transfer and export
performance requirements, and
restrictions on repatriation of earnings,
capital, fees and royalties);
(8) anticompetitive practices with
trade effects tolerated by foreign
governments (including anticompetitive
activities of both state-owned and
private firms that apply to services or to
goods and that restrict the sale of U.S.
products to any firm, not just to foreign
firms, that perpetuate the practices);
(9) trade restrictions affecting
electronic commerce (e.g., tariff and
non-tariff measures, burdensome and
discriminatory regulations and
standards, and discriminatory taxation);
and
(10) other barriers (i.e., barriers that
encompass more than one category, e.g,
bribery and corruption, or that affect a
single sector).
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
49745
As in the case of last year’s NTE, we
are asking that particular emphasis be
placed on any practices that may violate
U.S. trade agreements. We are also
interested in receiving any new or
updated information pertinent to the
barriers covered in last year’s report as
well as new information. Please note
that the information not used in the
NTE will be maintained for use in future
negotiations.
It is most important that your
submission contain estimates of the
potential increase in exports that would
result from the removal of the barrier, as
well as a clear discussion of the
method(s) by which the estimates were
computed. Estimates should fall within
the following value ranges: Less than $5
million; $5 to $25 million; $25 million
to $50 million; $50 million to $100
million; $100 million to $500 million; or
over $500 million. Such assessments
enhance USTR’s ability to conduct
meaningful comparative analyses of a
barrier’s effect over a range of
industries.
Please note that interested parties
discussing barriers in more than one
country should, whenever possible,
provide a separate submission (i.e., one
that is self-contained) for each country
with the country indicated in the
subject line of each submission. If
separate, country-specific submissions
are not feasible, please identify all
countries covered by a submission in
the subject line of that submission.
Requirements for Submissions: In
order to facilitate prompt processing of
submissions, USTR strongly urges and
prefers electronic (e-mail) submissions
in response to this notice. In the event
an e-mail submission is impossible,
submissions should be made by
facsimile. Facsimile submissions should
not exceed a maximum of 20 pages.
E-mail submissions should be single
copy transmissions in English.
Submissions should use the following
subject line: ‘‘2008 National Trade
Estimate Report—Submission by (sector,
company, association) Documents must
be submitted as either WordPerfect
(‘‘WPD’’), MSWord (’’DOC’’), or text
(‘‘TXT’’) file. Documents should not be
submitted as electronic image files or
contain imbedded images (for example,
‘‘JPG’’, ‘‘PDF’’ ‘‘BMP’’, or ‘‘GIF’’), as
these type of files are generally
excessively large. Supporting
Documentation submitted as
spreadsheets are acceptable as Quattro
Pro or Excel, pre-formatted for printing
on 81⁄2 x 11 inch paper. To the extent
possible, any data attachments to the
submission should be included in the
same file as the submission itself, and
not as separate files.
E:\FR\FM\29AUN1.SGM
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49746
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 167 / Wednesday, August 29, 2007 / Notices
Petitions will be available for public
inspection by appointment with the
staff of the USTR Public Reading Room,
except for information granted
‘‘business confidential’’ status pursuant
to 15 CFR 2003.6. If the submission
contains business confidential
information, a non-confidential version
of the submission must also be
submitted that indicates where
confidential information was redacted
by inserting asterisks where material
was deleted. In addition, the
confidential submission must be clearly
marked ‘‘Business Confidential’’ in
large, bold letters at the top and bottom
of every page of the documents. The
public version that does not contain
business confidential information must
be clearly marked either ‘‘Public
Version’’ or ‘‘Non-Confidential’’ in
large, bold letters at the top and bottom
of every page. The file name of any
documents containing business
confidential information attached to an
e-mail transmission should begin with
the characters ‘‘BC-’’, and the file name
of the public version should begin with
the characters ‘‘P-’’. The ‘‘P-’’ or ‘‘BC-’’
should be followed by the name of the
person or party submitting the petition.
Submissions by e-mail should not
include separate cover letters or
messages in the message area of the email; information that might appear in
any cover letter should be included
directly in the submission. The e-mail
address for submissions is
FR0717@ustr.eop.gov. Public versions of
all documents relating to this review
will be available for review shortly after
the due date by appointment in the
USTR Public Reading Room, 1724 F
Street, NW., Washington, DC.
Availability of documents may be
ascertained and appointments may be
made from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m.
to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, by
calling (202–395–6186).
Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E7–17118 Filed 8–28–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190–W7–P
POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION
Sunshine Act Meetings
Postal Regulatory Commission.
Wednesday, August 29,
2007, at 2:30 p.m.
PLACE: Commission Conference Room,
901 New York Avenue, NW., Suite 200,
Washington, DC 20268–0001.
STATUS: Open.
AGENCY:
jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
TIME AND DATE:
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:04 Aug 28, 2007
Jkt 211001
MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED:
Consideration of fiscal years 2008 and
2009 budgets; Selection of vice
chairman.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel,
at 202–789–6820.
Dated: August 24, 2007.
Steven W. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 07–4254 Filed 8–24–07; 4:42 pm]
BILLING CODE 7710–FW–M
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Upon written request, copies available
from: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor
Education and Advocacy, Washington,
DC 20549–0213.
Extension: Form BD–N/Rule 15b11–1; SEC
File No. 270–498; OMB Control No.
3235–0556.
Notice is hereby given that, pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collection of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit this existing collection
of information to the Office of
Management and Budget for extension
and approval.
Rule 15b11–1 (17 CFR 240.15b11–1)
and Form BD–N (17 CFR 249.501b)
serve as the form of notice for futures
commission merchants and introducing
brokers that register as broker-dealers by
notice pursuant to section 15(b)(11)(A)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.). Specifically, the
form requires a broker-dealer registering
by notice to indicate whether it is filing
a notice registration to conduct a
securities business in security futures
products and if so, that it satisfies the
statutory conditions for notice
registration.
The total annual burden imposed by
Rule 15b11–1 and Form BD–N is
approximately 8 hours, based on
approximately 16 responses (16 initial
filings + 0 amendments). Each initial
filing requires approximately 30
minutes to complete and each
amendment requires approximately 15
minutes to complete. There is no annual
cost burden.
The Commission will use the
information collected pursuant to Rule
15b11–1 to elicit basic identification
information as well as information that
PO 00000
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Fmt 4703
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will allow the Commission to ensure
that the futures commission merchants
and introducing brokers meet the
statutory conditions to register by notice
pursuant to section 15(b)(11) of the
Exchange Act. This information will
assist the Commission in fulfilling its
regulatory obligations.
Written comments are invited on: (a)
Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the
agency, including whether the
information shall have practical utility;
(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate
of the burden of the proposed collection
of information; (c) ways to enhance the
quality, utility and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d)
ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on
respondents, including through the use
of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Consideration will be given to
comments and suggestions submitted in
writing within 60 days of this
publication.
Comments should be directed to: R.
Corey Booth, Director/Chief Information
Officer, Securities and Exchange
Commission, C/O Shirley Martinson,
6432 General Green Way, Alexandria,
Virginia 22312 or send an e-mail to:
PRA_Mailbox@sec.gov. Comments must
be submitted within 60 days of this
notice.
Dated: August 22, 2007.
Florence E. Harmon,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. E7–17077 Filed 8–28–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8010–01–P
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE
COMMISSION
Proposed Collection; Comment
Request
Upon Written Request, Copies Available
From: Securities and Exchange
Commission, Office of Investor
Education and Advocacy,
Washington, DC 20549–0213.
Extension: Rule 15Ba2–5; OMB Control No.
3235–0088; SEC File No. 270–91.
Notice is hereby given that pursuant
to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Securities
and Exchange Commission
(‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments
on the collection of information
summarized below. The Commission
plans to submit this existing collection
of information to the Office of
Management and Budget for extension
and approval.
E:\FR\FM\29AUN1.SGM
29AUN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 167 (Wednesday, August 29, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49745-49746]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-17118]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Request for Public Comment With Respect to the Annual National
Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 303 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984,
as amended, USTR is required to publish annually the National Trade
Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). With this notice, the
Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is requesting interested parties to
assist it in identifying significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods,
services and overseas direct investment for inclusion in the NTE.
Particularly important are impediments materially affecting the actual
and potential financial performance of an industry sector. The TPSC
invites written comments that provide views relevant to the issues to
be examined in preparing the NTE.
DATES: Public comments are due not later than Thursday, November 8,
2007.
ADDRESSES: Submissions by electronic mail: FR0717@USTR.EOP.GOV.
Submissions by facsimile: Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade
Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade
Representative (202-395-6143). The public is strongly encouraged to
submit documents electronically rather than by facsimile. (See
requirements for submissions below.)
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding the report, its
subject matter or procedural questions concerning submissions should be
directed to Ms. Gloria Blue, Office of Policy Coordination, Office of
the United States Trade Representative (202-395-3475).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Last year's report may be found on USTR's
Internet Home Page (www.ustr.gov) in the Document Library under the
section on Reports. In order to ensure compliance with the statutory
mandate for reporting foreign trade barriers that are significant, we
will focus particularly on those restrictions where there has been
active private sector interest.
The information submitted should relate to one or more of the
following ten categories of foreign trade barriers:
(1) Import policies (e.g., tariffs and other import charges,
quantitative restrictions, import licensing, and customs barriers);
(2) standards, testing, labeling, and certification (including
unnecessarily restrictive application of phytosanitary standards,
refusal to accept U.S. manufacturers' self-certification of conformance
to foreign product standards, and environmental restrictions);
(3) government procurement (e.g., ``buy national'' policies and
closed bidding);
(4) export subsidies (e.g., export financing on preferential terms
and agricultural export subsidies that displace U.S. exports in third
country markets);
(5) lack of intellectual property protection (e.g., inadequate
patent, copyright, and trademark regimes);
(6) services barriers (e.g., limits on the range of financial
services offered by foreign financial institutions, regulation of
international data flows, restrictions on the use of data processing,
quotas on imports of foreign films, and barriers to the provision of
services by professionals (e.g., lawyers, doctors, accountants,
engineers, nurses, etc.));
(7) investment barriers (e.g., limitations on foreign equity
participation and on access to foreign government-funded R&D consortia,
local content, technology transfer and export performance requirements,
and restrictions on repatriation of earnings, capital, fees and
royalties);
(8) anticompetitive practices with trade effects tolerated by
foreign governments (including anticompetitive activities of both
state-owned and private firms that apply to services or to goods and
that restrict the sale of U.S. products to any firm, not just to
foreign firms, that perpetuate the practices);
(9) trade restrictions affecting electronic commerce (e.g., tariff
and non-tariff measures, burdensome and discriminatory regulations and
standards, and discriminatory taxation); and
(10) other barriers (i.e., barriers that encompass more than one
category, e.g, bribery and corruption, or that affect a single sector).
As in the case of last year's NTE, we are asking that particular
emphasis be placed on any practices that may violate U.S. trade
agreements. We are also interested in receiving any new or updated
information pertinent to the barriers covered in last year's report as
well as new information. Please note that the information not used in
the NTE will be maintained for use in future negotiations.
It is most important that your submission contain estimates of the
potential increase in exports that would result from the removal of the
barrier, as well as a clear discussion of the method(s) by which the
estimates were computed. Estimates should fall within the following
value ranges: Less than $5 million; $5 to $25 million; $25 million to
$50 million; $50 million to $100 million; $100 million to $500 million;
or over $500 million. Such assessments enhance USTR's ability to
conduct meaningful comparative analyses of a barrier's effect over a
range of industries.
Please note that interested parties discussing barriers in more
than one country should, whenever possible, provide a separate
submission (i.e., one that is self-contained) for each country with the
country indicated in the subject line of each submission. If separate,
country-specific submissions are not feasible, please identify all
countries covered by a submission in the subject line of that
submission.
Requirements for Submissions: In order to facilitate prompt
processing of submissions, USTR strongly urges and prefers electronic
(e-mail) submissions in response to this notice. In the event an e-mail
submission is impossible, submissions should be made by facsimile.
Facsimile submissions should not exceed a maximum of 20 pages.
E-mail submissions should be single copy transmissions in English.
Submissions should use the following subject line: ``2008 National
Trade Estimate Report--Submission by (sector, company, association)
Documents must be submitted as either WordPerfect (``WPD''), MSWord
(''DOC''), or text (``TXT'') file. Documents should not be submitted as
electronic image files or contain imbedded images (for example,
``JPG'', ``PDF'' ``BMP'', or ``GIF''), as these type of files are
generally excessively large. Supporting Documentation submitted as
spreadsheets are acceptable as Quattro Pro or Excel, pre-formatted for
printing on 8\1/2\ x 11 inch paper. To the extent possible, any data
attachments to the submission should be included in the same file as
the submission itself, and not as separate files.
[[Page 49746]]
Petitions will be available for public inspection by appointment
with the staff of the USTR Public Reading Room, except for information
granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.6. If
the submission contains business confidential information, a non-
confidential version of the submission must also be submitted that
indicates where confidential information was redacted by inserting
asterisks where material was deleted. In addition, the confidential
submission must be clearly marked ``Business Confidential'' in large,
bold letters at the top and bottom of every page of the documents. The
public version that does not contain business confidential information
must be clearly marked either ``Public Version'' or ``Non-
Confidential'' in large, bold letters at the top and bottom of every
page. The file name of any documents containing business confidential
information attached to an e-mail transmission should begin with the
characters ``BC-'', and the file name of the public version should
begin with the characters ``P-''. The ``P-'' or ``BC-'' should be
followed by the name of the person or party submitting the petition.
Submissions by e-mail should not include separate cover letters or
messages in the message area of the e-mail; information that might
appear in any cover letter should be included directly in the
submission. The e-mail address for submissions is FR0717@ustr.eop.gov.
Public versions of all documents relating to this review will be
available for review shortly after the due date by appointment in the
USTR Public Reading Room, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC.
Availability of documents may be ascertained and appointments may be
made from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through
Friday, by calling (202-395-6186).
Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. E7-17118 Filed 8-28-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-W7-P
