Office of the United States Trade Representative September 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is hereby requesting written submissions from the public identifying potential Internet and physical notorious markets that exist outside the United States and that may be included in the 2013 Notorious Markets List. In 2010, USTR began publishing the notorious market list as an ``Out-of-Cycle Review'' separately from the annual Special 301 report. This review of notorious markets (``Notorious Markets List'') results in the publication of examples of Internet and physical markets that have been the subject of enforcement action or that may merit further investigation for possible intellectual property infringements.

On January 15, 2013, the United States Trade Representative notified Congress of the Administration's intention to enter into negotiations for a Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) with an initial group of 20 trading partners. The January 15 notification states that the group negotiating TISA ``will expand as negotiations progress to include others who share our ambitious goals. This expansion will help further U.S. objectives for this agreement rather than change them.'' The TISA negotiating countries agree that two additional trading partners, Paraguay and Liechtenstein, are willing and able to meet the high standards envisioned for the agreement. The negotiating countries have formed a consensus to allow these new participants to join the negotiations. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is seeking public comments regarding particular priorities with respect to the participation of these two countries in the negotiations.