Aug 17 -- The interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is seeking public comment to assist the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in the preparation of its annual report to Congress on China's compliance with its obligations as a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This notice includes the schedule for the submission of comments to the TPSC for the China report and a public hearing.
Deadline for submission of written comments, requests to testify, and summaries of written testimony: September 20, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. EDT
The TPSC will convene a public hearing to receive oral testimony: October 4, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. EDT
China became a Member of the WTO on December 11, 2001. In accordance with section 421 of the U.S.-China Relations Act of 2000 (Pub. L. 106–286), USTR is required to submit, on or about December 11 of each year, a report to Congress on China's compliance with commitments made in connection with its accession to the WTO, including both multilateral commitments and any bilateral commitments made to the United States. In accordance with section 421, and to assist it in preparing this year's report, the TPSC is soliciting public comments. You can find last year's report on USTR's website at
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2023-02/2022%20USTR%20Report%20to%20Congress%20on%20China's%20WTO%20Compliance%20-%20Final.pdf.
The terms of China's accession to the WTO are contained in the Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China (including its annexes) (Protocol), the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of China (Working Party Report), and the WTO agreements. You can find the Protocol and Working Party Report on the WTO website at
http://docsonline.wto.org (document symbols: WT/L/432, WT/MIN(01)/3, WT/MIN(01)/3/Add.1, WT/MIN(01)/3/Add.2).
USTR will convene a public hearing on October 4, 2023, related to China's compliance with its WTO commitments. Persons wishing to observe the public hearing will find a link on USTR's web page for China on the day of the hearing at
https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/china-mongolia-taiwan.
To ensure participation, you must submit requests to present oral testimony at the hearing and written testimony by midnight on September 20, 2023, via Regulations.gov, using Docket Number USTR–2023–0008.
Written comments and/or oral testimony should address China's compliance with the commitments made in connection with its accession to the WTO, including, but not limited to, commitments in the following areas:
A. Trading rights.
B. Import regulation (e.g., tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, quotas, import licenses).
C. Export regulation.
D. Internal policies affecting trade (e.g., subsidies, standards and technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, government procurement, trade-related investment measures, taxes and charges levied on imports and exports).
E. Intellectual property rights (including intellectual property rights enforcement).
F. Services.
G. Rule of law issues (e.g., transparency, judicial review, uniform administration of laws and regulations) and status of legal reform.
H. Other WTO commitments.
In addition, given the United States' view that China should be held accountable as a full participant in, and beneficiary of, the international trading system, USTR requests that interested persons specifically identify unresolved compliance issues that warrant review and evaluation by USTR.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-17633