Office of the United States Trade Representative 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Each year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative conducts a Special 301 review to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection. Based on this review, the United States Trade Representative (Trade Representative) determines which, if any, of these countries to identify as Priority Foreign Countries. USTR requests written comments that identify acts, policies, or practices that may form the basis of a country's identification as a Priority Foreign Country or placement on the Priority Watch List or Watch List. USTR also requests notices of intent to appear at the public hearing.

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has determined that large residential washers are being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury to the domestic industry producing an article that is like or directly competitive with the imported articles. The Commissioners who voted in the affirmative are now conducting a process to recommend a remedy (or safeguard measure) for the President to apply. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), on behalf of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), is announcing a process so that, once the ITC makes its recommendation, domestic producers, importers, exporters, and other interested parties may submit their views and evidence on the appropriateness of the recommended safeguard measure and whether it would be in the public interest. USTR also invites interested parties to participate in a public hearing regarding this matter.

Import statistics for the first nine months of 2017 relating to competitive need limitations (CNLs) under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program are available on the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). These import statistics identify some articles for which the 2017 trade levels may exceed statutory CNLs. In a Federal Register notice dated August 11, 2017, USTR said it would announce the procedures to receive petitions requesting waivers of CNLs. This notice provides those procedures. Interested parties may find the import statistics useful in deciding whether to submit a petition to waive the CNLs for individual beneficiary developing countries (BDCs) with respect to specific GSP-eligible articles. USTR will announce decisions on the petitions accepted for review, a schedule for any related public hearings, and the opportunity to provide comments, in the Federal Register at a later date.

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) has determined that certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV) cells (whether or not partially or fully assembled into other products) are being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the domestic industry producing an article that is like or directly competitive with the imported articles. The Commissioners who voted in the affirmative are now conducting a process to recommend a safeguard measure for the President to apply. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), on behalf of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC), is announcing a process so that, once the ITC makes its recommendation, domestic producers, importers, exporters, and other interested parties may submit their views and evidence on the appropriateness of the recommended safeguard measure and whether it would be in the public interest. USTR also invites interested parties to participate in a public hearing regarding this matter.

The United States and Singapore intend to hold a meeting on implementation of Chapter 18 (Environment) of the United States- Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requests written comments or suggestions concerning any relevant issues.

In the 2017 Special 301 Report, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that, in order to monitor progress on specific intellectual property rights (IPR) issues, USTR would conduct an out-of-cycle review of Colombia. At this time, USTR requests written comments concerning any act, policy, or practice that is relevant to the decision regarding whether and how USTR should identify Colombia based on Colombia's protection for intellectual property rights or market access Columbia provides to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is publishing the names of the members selected to serve on its Senior Executive Service Performance Review Board (PRB). This notice supersedes all previous PRB membership notices.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a document in the Federal Register of August 22, 2017, providing notice of its determination that Togo has adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent the unlawful transshipment of textile and apparel articles and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with the shipment of such articles, and has implemented and follows, or is making substantial progress towards implementing and following, the custom procedures required by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and therefore, imports of eligible products from Togo qualify for the textile and apparel benefits provided under the AGOA. This notice corrects an error in that document.

The United States Trade Representative has initiated an investigation pursuant to the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the Trade Act), to determine whether acts, policies, and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation are actionable under the Trade Act. The inter- agency Section 301 Committee is holding a public hearing and seeking comments in connection with this investigation.

Section 3(e) of the Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American directs the Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative to assess the impacts of all United States free trade agreements and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) on the operation of Buy American Laws, including their impacts on the implementation of domestic procurement preferences. The Executive Order can be found here: https:// www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/18/presidential-e xecutive- order-buy-american-and-hire-american. In response to this Executive Order, the Department of Commerce (Department) and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) are conducting industry outreach in order to better understand how the U.S. government procurement obligations under all U.S. free trade agreements and the GPA affect U.S. manufacturers' and suppliers' access to and participation in the domestic government procurement process. In addition, because reciprocal access to trading partners' markets is an important motivation for including government procurement obligations in U.S. free trade agreements and for the United States' membership in the GPA, the Department and the USTR are also seeking information about the costs and benefits of these obligations to U.S. manufacturers and suppliers competing in U.S. trading partners' government procurement markets. The trading partners with which the United States has international government procurement obligations are: Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, the European Union (which includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom), Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore, Switzerland, and Ukraine. The Secretary of Commerce and the United States Trade Representative are required to conclude the assessment called for under Section 3(e) by September 15, 2017. Responses to this notice will be considered in the assessment as well as in the final report of findings and recommendations to strengthen the implementation of Buy American Laws that the Secretary of Commerce will submit to the President of the United States by November 24, 2017.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will consider petitions to modify the list of articles that are eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, and to modify the GSP status of certain GSP beneficiary developing countries because of country practices. USTR is extending the previously announced hearing on Bolivia's country practices to include a second day to provide interested parties with an opportunity to submit testimony on the following country practice petitions accepted in previous years that continue to be under review: Argentina, Ecuador, Georgia, Indonesia, Iraq, Laos, Thailand, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. USTR will announce the procedures to receive petitions requesting waivers of competitive need limitations (CNLs) and the schedule for a public hearing on the product review petitions and any new country practice petitions in the Federal Register at a later date.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of country-by-country reallocations of the fiscal year (FY) 2017 in-quota quantity of the World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported raw cane sugar.

The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is seeking comments and will convene a public hearing to assist the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to prepare its annual report to Congress on China's compliance with the commitments made in connection with its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of country-by-country allocations of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018) in-quota quantity of the tariff-rate quotas for imported raw cane sugar, certain sugars, syrups and molasses (also known as refined sugar), specialty sugar, and sugar-containing products.

This notice announces the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2018. The Subcommittee is requesting written public comments for this review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter. The Subcommittee will consider the written comments, written testimony, and oral testimony in developing recommendations for the President. Comments received related to the child labor criteria may also be considered by the Secretary of Labor in the preparation of the Department of Labor's report on child labor as required under section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974. This notice identifies the eligibility criteria under AGOA that must be considered under AGOA, and lists those sub-Saharan African countries that are currently eligible for the benefits of AGOA and those that were ineligible for such benefits in 2017.

Executive Order 13796 of April 29, 2017 (82 FR 20819), requires the United States Trade Representative and the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, to conduct comprehensive performance reviews of all bilateral, plurilateral, and multilateral trade agreements and investment agreements to which the United States is a party and all trade relations with countries governed by the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with which the United States does not have free trade agreements but with which the United States runs significant trade deficits in goods. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Commerce (DoC) are seeking comments that they will consider as part of these performance reviews and in the preparation of the subsequent report to the President.

The United States intends to commence negotiations with Canada and Mexico regarding modernization of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The NAFTA was negotiated more than 25 years ago, and, while our economy and U.S. businesses have changed considerably over that period, NAFTA has not. The United States seeks to support higher-paying jobs in the United States and to grow the U.S. economy by improving U.S. opportunities under NAFTA. Our specific objectives for this negotiation will comply with the specific objectives set forth by Congress in section 102 of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is seeking public comments on matters relevant to the modernization of NAFTA in order to inform development of U.S. negotiating positions.

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has determined not to list any countries as denying fair market opportunities for U.S. products, suppliers, or bidders in foreign government-funded airport construction projects pursuant to section 533 of the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982, as amended (49 U.S.C. 50104).

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a document in the Federal Register on December 28, 2016 (81 FR 95724) requesting comments and scheduling a public hearing on a request to reinstate action taken in connection with European Union measures on meat and meat products. The date specified for the submission of rebuttal comments has been extended to March 8, 2017.

This notice announces petitions submitted in connection with the 2016/2017 GSP Annual Product Review that have been accepted for further review. This notice also sets forth the schedule for submitting comments and for a public hearing associated with the review of these petitions and products. This notice also announces the closure of the country practices review of worker rights in Fiji and Niger without change to those countries' GSP trade benefits.