[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 134 (Thursday, July 11, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36606-36607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17661]
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OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
Trade Policy Staff Committee: Request for Comments Concerning
Basic Telecommunications Services Negotiations Under World Trade
Organization's General Agreement on Trade in Services
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is
soliciting a second round of public comments on the requests made to
U.S. negotiating partners in the Group of Basic Telecommunications
(GBT) of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The GATS is
one of the Uruguay Round agreements administered by the World Trade
Organization. Interested persons are invited to submit their comments
on market-opening commitments that should be sought in the basic
telecommunications services sector by August 1, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
William Corbett, Office of Services, Investment and Intellectual
Property, Office of the United States Trade Representative, at (202)
395-4510 or Laura B. Sherman, Office of the General Counsel, Office of
the United States Trade Representative, at (202) 395-3150.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Group on Basic Telecommunications (GBT)
was created in April 1996 by a Decision on Commitments on Basic
Telecommunications of the WTO Council on Trade in Services. It is the
successor to the Negotiating Group on Basic Telecommunications (NGBT),
which was created in April 1994 by a Marrakesh Ministerial Decision
with a mandate to conclude talks by April 30, 1996. The New group's
charge is to continue negotiations on liberalization of trade in
telecommunications transport networks and services within the framework
of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The Decision set the
date for entry into force of a prospective agreement as January 1, 1998
and established the period of January 15 through February 15, 1997
during which current negotiating offers could be modified or
supplemented and MFN exceptions could be taken.
These arrangements, sought by the United States, effectively
extended the life of negotiations to obtain more and better offers and
thereby the critical mass necessary for the United States to maintain
its offer.
The United States is in the process of refining requests for
market-opening commitments from other countries participating in the
GBT. These requests must be submitted by the end of September 1996. A
list of countries participating in and observing the GBT is attached.
The United States objective in the negotiations is to obtain levels
of openness in the telecom markets of other participants equivalent to
the level in the United States. Interested persons are invited to
submit their comments on commitments the United States should seek in
wire or wireless communications, satellite systems, regulatory schemes,
interconnection issues, foreign ownership restrictions, and competition
safeguards, among other things.
Comments should be filed no later than August 1, 1996. Comments
must be in English and provided in twenty copies to Mr. William
Corbett, Office of Services, Investment and Intellectual Property,
Office of the United States Trade Representative, Room 301, 600 17th
Street, Washington D.C. 20508. Non-confidential information received
will be available for public inspection by appointment, in the USTR
Reading Room, Room 101, Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. For an appointment call Brenda Webb on 202-
395-6186. Business confidential information will be subject to the
requirements of 15 CFR Sec. 2003.6. Any business confidential material
must be clearly marked as such on the cover letter or page and each
succeeding page, and must be accompanied by a non-confidential summary
thereof.
Frederick L. Montgomery,
Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.
WTO Group on Basic Telecommunications
Participants in the NGBT
Argentina
Australia
Barbados*
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Colombia
Cote d'Ivoire
Cuba*
Cyprus*
Czech Republic
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt*
European Union
Austria
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Israel
Japan
Korea
Mauritius
Mexico
Morocco
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Singapore
Slovak Republic
Switzerland
Thailand
Tunisia*
Turkey
United States
Venezuela
Observes in the NGBT
Bolivia
Brunei
Bulgaria
China
Chinese Taipei
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Guatemala
Honduras
Indonesia
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Latvia
Madagascar
Malaysia
Myanmar
Nicaragua
Pakistan
Panama
Romania
Russian Federation
Slovenia
South Africa
Trinidad & Tobago
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Participants making offers = 48 governments
[[Page 36607]]
(*) Participants not making offers = 4 governments
[FR Doc. 96-17661 Filed 7-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-M
