Free Trade Area of the Americas negotiations; Committee of Government Representatives on Participation of Civil Society operation; comment request,

Text

---

Federal Register: July 29, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 145)NoticesPage 40579-40581From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

DOCID:fr29jy98-124

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Free Trade Area of the Americas

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for public comment on the operation of the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society established in connection with the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations.

SUMMARY: The Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society (``Government Committee on Civil Society'' or ``Committee'') has been established by the 34 Western Hemisphere \1\ countries participating in the FTAA negotiations. The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) requests public comments on how the Committee should carry out its mandate to receive, analyze, and report on the full range of comments received from civil society from throughout the hemisphere on trade matters related to the FTAA process. Civil Society refers to interested non-governmental parties, including from environmental, business, consumer, academic and labor sectors. The TPSC also invites public comments on the U.S. positions described below.

\1\ Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, United States, and Venezuela.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For procedural questions concerning public comments contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade Representative, (202) 395- 3475. All questions concerning the Government Committee on Civil Society should be directed to Bryan Samuel, U.S. lead to the Committee and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, (202) 647-2532.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 18-19, 1998, at the second Summit of the Americas in Santiago, President Clinton and the 33 other democratically-elected leaders in the Western Hemisphere initiated the FTAA

[Page 40580]negotiations, agreed to conclude them by 2005, and committed to achieve concrete progress toward that objective by the end of the century. The FTAA negotiations will take into account the broad social and economic agenda defined by the leaders in 1994 at the first Summit of the Americas with a view to contributing to raising living standards, to improving the working conditions of all people in the Americas and to better protecting the environment.

The leaders have agreed that the FTAA will be a balanced and comprehensive agreement covering such matters as: Tariffs; non-tariff barriers affecting trade in goods and services; trade in agricultural products; subsidies; investment; intellectual property rights; government procurement; technical barriers to trade; safeguards against import surges; rules of origin; competition policy; antidumping and countervailing duties; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; and dispute resolution procedures. The leaders also have committed to strive to make trade liberalization and environmental policies mutually supportive and to further secure the observance and promotion of worker rights. In addition, the trade ministers of the 34 countries have repeatedly expressed their joint commitment to transparency in the FTAA process, with a growing recognition of the need for open communication with the public throughout the hemisphere. The participating countries have agreed to conduct the FTAA negotiations in a manner that will build broad public understanding of and support for the FTAA.

In preparation for the Santiago Summit meeting, the trade ministers in March 1998 jointly recognized and welcomed the interests and concerns expressed by a broad spectrum of interested non-governmental parties--particularly labor, business, environmental and academic groups in the hemisphere--regarding the FTAA. They encouraged these and other groups, such as those representing consumers, to provide their views on trade matters related to the FTAA. To facilitate this process, the ministers agreed to establish the Government Committee on Civil Society, thus creating for the first time a mechanism for any interested non-governmental parties from across the Hemisphere to provide their views directly to the FTAA process. The Committee will receive comments from interested non-governmental parties, analyze them, and provide a report on the full range of views for the trade ministers' consideration at their next meeting in October 1999.

Committee Procedures

At a June 1998 meeting, the FTAA governments established general guidelines for the Committee. The first meeting of the Committee will be convened by Canada in Miami in October 1998. The Committee will select a permanent Chair and draft a notice that will solicit written comment from interested non-governmental parties on trade matters related to the FTAA. These procedures are expected to be supplemented after the October meeting.

U.S. Objectives

The U.S. Government seeks to ensure that the Committee functions as a direct and effective channel of communication between governments participating in the FTAA negotiations and the full range of private, non-governmental interests in the hemisphere so that the views they represent can be taken into consideration. The U.S. view is that the establishment of the Committee should ensure that interested non- governmental parties in each FTAA country can provide their comments directly to the FTAA process without first being filtered by their governments. In the U.S. view, the Committee should establish an inclusive and transparent process for eliciting the views of a broad range of interested non-governmental parties throughout the Hemisphere and ensure that all comments provided are given serious consideration. In addition, the Committee's functions should be flexible and should be capable of modification over time as required to assist the negotiations.

The U.S. Government has proposed that the Committee provide several avenues for soliciting public comments, including the solicitation of written comments and public hearings. The United States also has proposed that comments received by the Committee be made available on the FTAA Homepage (www.FTAA-ALCA.org) both so that interested non- governmental parties can see the comments provided by others and so that the government negotiators have immediate access to those comments.

The United States has proposed that the Committee make publicly available its report well in advance of the October 1999 FTAA trade ministerial meeting so that interested non-governmental parties can comment to their governments on the report in advance of the ministerial meeting and thus facilitate a considered discussion of the report by the ministers at the meeting.

The solicitation of public comments by the Committee will complement, not replace, U.S. Government processes for seeking public comments. It also will supplement comments the U.S. Government has received and will continue to receive on an ongoing basis.

Public Comments

To prepare the U.S. position for the initial meeting of the Government Committee on Civil Society in October 1998, the TPSC invites written comments on the operation of the Committee and on the U.S. Government views and proposals described above, as well as any other comments on the Committee in relation to the FTAA process in general. A separate notice requesting comments on U.S. positions and objectives for the nine negotiating groups was published at 63 FR 36470-36473 (July 6, 1998). As stated in that notice, USTR will seek additional public comment at a later date on other issues related to the FTAA.

Those persons wishing to submit written comments should provide twenty (20) typed copies (in English) no later than Wednesday, August 26, 1998, to Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff Committee, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Room 501, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508.

If the submission contains business confidential information, twenty copies of a confidential version must also be submitted. A justification as to why the information contained in the submission should be treated confidentially must be included in the submission. In addition, any submissions containing business confidential information must be clearly marked ``Confidential'' at the top and bottom of the cover page (or letter) and of each succeeding page of the submission. The version that does not contain confidential information should also be clearly marked, at the top and bottom of each page, ``public version'' or ``non-confidential.''

Written comments submitted in connection with this request, except for information granted ``business confidential'' status pursuant to 15 CFR 2003.6, will be available for inspection in the USTR Reading Room, Room 101, Office of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC. An appointment to review the file may be made by calling Brenda Webb (202) 395-6186. The Reading Room is open to the public

[Page 40581]from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Frederick L. Montgomery, Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.

FR Doc. 98-20216Filed7-28-98; 8:45 amBILLING CODE 3190-01-M

---