[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 157 (Thursday, August 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49412-49414]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17662]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
[Docket Number USTR-2020-0032]
Request for Comments and Notice of Public Hearing Concerning
Russia's Implementation of Its WTO Commitments
AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.
ACTION: Request for comments and notice of public hearing.
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SUMMARY: The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) will seek
public comment to assist the Office of the United States Trade
Representative (USTR) in the preparation of its annual report to
Congress on Russia's
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implementation of its obligations as a Member of the World Trade
Organization (WTO). Due to COVID-19, the TPSC will foster public
participation via written submissions rather than an in-person hearing.
This notice includes the schedule for submission of comments and
responses to questions from the TPSC for the Russia WTO implementation
report.
DATES:
September 21, 2020 (Monday) at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for
submission of written comments on 2020 Russia WTO implementation
report.
September 30, 2020 (Wednesday) at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for the
TPSC to pose questions on written comments.
October 9, 2020 (Friday) at 11:59 p.m. EDT: Deadline for submission
of responses to questions from the TPSC.
ADDRESSES: USTR strongly prefers electronic submissions made through
the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov
(Regulations.gov). Follow the instructions for submitting comments in
section III below. The docket number is USTR-2020-0032. For
alternatives to online submissions, please contact Yvonne Jamison at
[email protected] or (202) 395-3475 before transmitting a
comment and in advance of the relevant deadline.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning
written comments, contact Yvonne Jamison at
[email protected] or (202) 395-3475. Direct all other
questions to Betsy Hafner, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative
for Russia and Eurasia at [email protected] or (202) 395-
9124.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Russia became a Member of the WTO on August 22, 2012. On December
21, 2012, following the termination of the application of the Jackson-
Vanik amendment to Russia and the extension of permanent normal trade
relations to the products of Russia, the United States and Russia both
filed letters with the WTO withdrawing their notices of non-application
and consenting to have the WTO Agreement apply between them. In
accordance with section 201(a) of the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik
Repeal and Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012
(Pub. L. 112-208), USTR annually is required to submit a report to
Congress on the extent to which Russia is implementing the WTO
Agreement, including the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and
Phytosanitary Measures and the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights. The Russia WTO implementation report also
must assess Russia's progress on acceding to and implementing the
Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the Government Procurement
Agreement (GPA). In addition, to the extent that USTR finds that Russia
is not implementing fully any WTO agreement or is not making adequate
progress in acceding to the ITA or the GPA, USTR must describe in the
Russia WTO implementation report the actions it plans to take to
encourage Russia to improve its implementation and/or increase its
accession efforts. In accordance with section 201(a), and to assist it
in preparing this year's report, the TPSC is soliciting public
comments.
The terms of Russia's accession to the WTO are contained in the
Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization and the
Protocol on the Accession of the Russian Federation to the WTO
(including its annexes) (Protocol). The Report of the Working Party on
the Accession of the Russian Federation (Working Party Report) provides
detail and context to the commitments listed in the Protocol. You can
find the Protocol and Working Party Report on USTR's website at https://ustr.gov/node/5887 or on the WTO website at http://docsonline.wto.org
(document symbols: WT/ACC/RUS/70, WT/MIN(11)/2, WT/MIN(11)/24, WT/L/
839, WT/ACC/RUS/70/Add.1, WT/MIN(11)/2/Add.1, WT/ACC/RUS/70/Add.2, and
WT/MIN(11)/2/Add.1.)
II. Public Participation
Due to COVID-19, the TPSC will foster public participation via
written submissions rather than an in-person hearing on Russia's
implementation of its WTO commitments. USTR invites public comments on
Russia's implementation according to the schedule set out in the Dates
section above. Written comments should address Russia's implementation
of the commitments made in connection with its accession to the WTO,
including, but not limited to, commitments in the following areas:
a. Import regulation (e.g., tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, quotas,
import licenses).
b. Export regulation.
c. Subsidies.
d. Standards and technical regulations.
e. Sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
f. Trade-related investment measures (including local content
requirements).
g. Taxes and charges levied on imports and exports.
h. Other internal policies affecting trade.
i. Intellectual property rights (including intellectual property
rights enforcement).
j. Services.
k. Government procurement.
l. Rule of law issues (e.g., transparency, judicial review, uniform
administration of laws and regulations).
m. Other WTO commitments.
The TPSC will review comments and may ask clarifying questions to
commenters. The TPSC will post the questions on the public docket,
other than questions that include properly designated business
confidential information (BCI). USTR will send questions that include
properly designated BCI to the relevant commenters by email, and will
not post these questions on the public docket. Replies to questions
that contain BCI must follow the procedures in section IV below.
III. Requirements for Submissions
To ensure consideration, interested parties must submit comments
and responses to TPSC questions electronically via Regulations.gov by
the applicable deadlines in the Dates section above. The docket number
is USTR-2020-0032. All submissions must be in English. USTR will not
accept hand-delivered submissions.
To submit comments using Regulations.gov, enter docket number USTR-
2020-0032 in the `search for field on the home page and click `search.'
The site will provide a search-results page listing all documents
associated with this docket. Find a reference to this notice by
selecting `notice' under `document type' in the `filter results by'
section on the left side of the screen and click on the link entitled
`comment now.' Regulations.gov offers the option of providing comments
by filling in a `type comment' field or by attaching a document using
the `upload file(s)' field. USTR prefers that you provide submissions
in an attached document and, in such cases, that you write `see
attached in the `type' comment field, on the online submission form. In
addition, USTR prefers submissions in Microsoft Word (.doc) or Adobe
Acrobat (.pdf). If the submission is in an application other than those
two, please indicate the name of the application in the `type comment'
field. At the beginning of the submission, include the following text:
(1) 2020 Russia WTO Implementation Report, (2) your organization's
name, and (3) whether the document is a comment or an answer to a TPSC
question. Written comments should not exceed 30 single-spaced, standard
letter-size pages in 12-point type, including attachments. Include any
data
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attachments to the submission in the same file as the submission
itself, and not as separate files.
When you complete the submission procedure at Regulations.gov, you
will receive a tracking number confirming successful transmission into
Regulations.gov. For further information on using the
www.regulations.gov website, please consult the resources provided on
the website by clicking on `How to Use Regulations.gov' on the bottom
of the home page. USTR is not able to provide technical assistance for
Regulations.gov.
IV. Business Confidential (BCI) Submissions
A commenter requesting that USTR treat information contained in a
submission as BCI must certify that the information is business
confidential and they would not customarily release it to the public.
You must clearly designate BCI by marking the submission ``BUSINESS
CONFIDENTIAL'' at the top and bottom of the cover page and on each
succeeding page, and indicating, via brackets, the specific information
that is BCI. Additionally, you must include `business confidential' in
the `type comment' field and add the designation BCI to the end of the
file name for any attachments. For any submission containing BCI, you
must separately submit a non-confidential version, i.e., not as part of
the same submission with the BCI version, indicating where confidential
information has been redacted. USTR will post the non-confidential
version in the docket for public inspection.
V. Public Viewing of Review Submissions
USTR will post comments in the docket for public inspection, except
business confidential information. You can view comments at
Regulations.gov by entering docket number USTR-2020-0032 in the search
field on the home page. General information concerning USTR is
available at www.ustr.gov.
Edward Gresser,
Chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States
Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2020-17662 Filed 8-12-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F0-P