[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 25, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20846-20847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-10207]


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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Trade Policy Staff Committee; Notice of Initiation of 
Environmental Review and Request for Comment on Scope of Environmental 
Review of Mandated Multilateral Trade Negotiations on Agriculture and 
Services in the World Trade Organization

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Executive Order 13141 (64 FR 63169), this 
publication gives notice that the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative (USTR) is initiating an environmental review of the 
multilateral trade negotiations on agriculture and services in the 
World Trade Organization (WTO). The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) 
requests written comment from the public concerning what should be 
included in the scope of the environmental review (including the 
potential environmental effects that might flow from agreements on 
agriculture and services and the potential implications for 
environmental laws, regulations, and other obligations) and the best 
time to conduct the analysis.

DATES: Public comments should be received no later than July 27, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning 
public comments, contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, TPSC, Office 
of the USTR, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508, telephone (202) 
395-3475. Questions concerning the environmental review should be 
addressed to Joseph Ferrante, Environment and Natural Resources 
Section, telephone 202-395-7320.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Executive Order 13141--Environmental Review of Trade Agreements in 
November, 1999, 64 FR 13141 (Nov. 16, 1999), and its implementing 
guidelines, 65 FR 79442 (Dec. 19, 2000), formalize the U.S. policy of 
conducting environmental reviews for certain major trade agreements. 
Reviews are used to identify potentially significant environmental 
impacts (both positive and negative), and information from the review 
may facilitate consideration of appropriate responses where impacts are 
identified.
    The Executive Order identifies certain types of agreements for 
which an environmental review is mandatory: Comprehensive multilateral 
trade rounds; bilateral or plurilateral free trade agreements; and 
major new trade liberalization agreements in natural resource sectors. 
For other types of agreements, the Executive Order and guidelines 
direct USTR, through the TPSC, to determine whether a review is 
warranted based on such factors as the potential significance of 
reasonably foreseeable positive and negative environmental impacts.
    The World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture and the 
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) call for WTO members to 
undertake further negotiations to liberalize trade in agriculture and 
services, respectively. The agriculture and services negotiations 
(known as the ``built-in agenda'' for agriculture and services) are 
currently underway in the WTO. USTR provided general background on the 
negotiations and requested public comment on general U.S. negotiating 
objectives as well as country and item-specific export priorities for 
agriculture and services in previous Federal Register notices. See 65 
FR 16450 (Mar. 28, 2000); 66 FR 18141 (April 5, 2001).
    In June, 2000, the United States submitted a proposal for long-
term, comprehensive agricultural reform in the WTO. The proposal calls 
for substantial reductions or elimination of tariffs, expansion of 
remaining tariff-rate quotas, elimination of export subsidies, 
disciplines on the use of export restrictions on agricultural products, 
simplification of rules applying to domestic support, and establishment 
of a ceiling on trade-distorting support that applies equally to all 
countries. The United States presented a more detailed position on the 
tariff rate quota element of the proposal. The U.S. proposals are 
available on USTR's website at www.ustr.gov.
    In July, 2000, the United States submitted a comprehensive proposal 
concerning the conduct of the services negotiations and presented 12 
detailed negotiating proposals in December, 2000, addressing 11 
services sectors (accountancy services; audiovisual and related 
services; distribution services; education and training services; 
energy services; environmental services; express delivery services; 
financial services; legal services; telecommunications, value-added 
network, and complementary services; and tourism services) and one GATS 
``mode of supply'' (movement of natural persons). The U.S. proposals 
(also available on the USTR website) seek to remove market access, 
national treatment, and other restrictions affecting services and 
services suppliers in these and other areas, while maintaining the 
ability to regulate in the public interest. Thus, the sectoral coverage 
of the services negotiations is broad. This notice requests commenters' 
views, in particular, on which service sectors to address or not to 
address in the environmental review.
    Pursuant to the Executive Order and guidelines, USTR has determined 
through the TPSC that the built-in agenda negotiations in agriculture 
and services warrant an environmental review. The volume of trade 
affected in both agriculture and services is significant. U.S. 
agricultural trade in 2000 was over $100 billion. U.S. exports of 
commercial services (i.e., excluding military and government) were $255 
billion in 1999, supporting over 4 million services and manufacturing 
jobs in the United States. Cross-border trade in services accounts for 
more than 25 percent of world trade, or about $1.4 trillion annually. 
U.S. commercial services exports have more than doubled over the last 
11 years, increasing from $118 billion in 1989 to $255 billion in 1999.
    Agricultural trade can be expected to have implications for land 
resource use, which in turn may have implications for the environment 
(e.g., water quality and quantity issues). In addition, the United 
States has previously undertaken analyses that have indicated potential 
environmental benefits resulting from elimination of agricultural 
export subsidies, a key U.S. objective in the negotiations. Further 
examination of this issue might be appropriate in the environmental 
review.
    The Executive Order and guidelines provide flexibility concerning 
the appropriate time for undertaking the analytical work supporting an 
environmental review, once it is initiated. In recognition of the fact 
that the agriculture and services negotiations are still at a 
preliminary stage, the

[[Page 20847]]

public is requested to provide comments with as much specificity as 
possible concerning both the scope of the review and the appropriate 
time for conducting the analysis. (Comments received in response to 
previous notices will also be considered for this purpose.) The scope 
and timing of the review will also be informed by internal U.S. 
government economic and environmental analyses. Moreover, as 
developments in the negotiations further clarify the scope of the 
potential agreements, USTR anticipates that there will be other 
opportunities for the public to provide additional input as 
appropriate.

Written Comments

    Persons submitting written comments should provide twenty (20) 
copies no later than close of business, July 27, 2001, to Gloria Blue 
at the address noted above. If possible, written comments should be 
supplemented with a computer disk of the submission. The disk should 
have a label identifying the software used and the submitter.
    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 public inspection in the USTR Reading 
Room, in Room 3 of the annex of the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative, 1724 F Street, NW., Washington DC. An appointment to 
review the file may be made by calling Brenda Webb at (202) 395-6186. 
The Reading Room is open to the public from 10-12 a.m. and from 1-4 
p.m., Monday through Friday.
    Business confidential information will be subject to the 
requirements of 15 CFR 2003.6. If the submission contains business 
confidential information, it must be accompanied by twenty copies of a 
public version that does not contain business confidential information. 
A justification as to why the information contained in the submission 
should be treated confidentially must be included with 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 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.''

Carmen Suro-Bredie,
Chair, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
[FR Doc. 01-10207 Filed 4-24-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-M