[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 42 (Thursday, March 3, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11760-11762]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4862]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
Request for Public Comments Concerning Regulatory Cooperation
Activities That Would Help Eliminate or Reduce Unnecessary Regulatory
Divergences in North America That Disrupt U.S. Exports
AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Government recognizes that economic recovery and job
creation will depend significantly on its ability to work
collaboratively with key trading partners to promote free and open
trade and investment. In our trade and investment relationships with
Mexico and Canada, and within North America as a whole, the main
impediments to greater trade and investment--and more open foreign
markets for U.S. exporters and investors--are not tariffs or quotas,
but rather unnecessary differences in product regulations that increase
costs for producers and consumers in the United States, Canada, and
Mexico. With this Notice, the Commerce Department, on behalf of the
Administration, is seeking public input to help identify such
divergences in North America, so that the U.S. Government can work
cooperatively with Mexico and Canada to address them.
President Obama explicitly linked trade to job creation when he
announced the National Export Initiative in his 2010 State of the Union
address, and set the ambitious goal of doubling U.S. exports in the
next five years to support millions of jobs here at home. The President
has focused particularly on efforts to remove unnecessary divergences
in regulations with Canada and Mexico, our first and second largest
export markets, respectively, and officials from the three countries
have discussed strengthening regulatory cooperation to promote better
regulation and facilitate trade, both bilaterally and trilaterally.
President Obama met with President Felipe Calder[oacute]n of Mexico and
Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada at the the North American
Leaders' Summit on August 10, 2009, in Guadalajara, Mexico. In the
joint statement they issued at the end of that meeting they noted the
progress that each of their governments had made in reducing
unnecessary regulatory differences and they instructed their respective
governments, ``* * * to continue this work by building on the previous
efforts, developing focused priorities and a specific timeline.'' The
United States Government is working with both Mexico and Canada to
reduce unnecessary regulatory differences and to explore further
regulatory cooperation activities aimed at reducing or eliminating such
differences where they hinder trade and reduce competitiveness. In
order to do so, the United States has established a High-Level
Regulatory Cooperation Council with Mexico and a Regulatory Cooperation
Council with Canada. While these councils are bilateral, regulatory
divergences exist that have consequences for firms in all three
countries. Therefore, with this Notice, the Department of Commerce's
International Trade Administration (ITA), in support of the National
Export Initiative (NEI) and pursuant to the Secretary of Commerce's
role as the chair of Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, is
requesting stakeholders to assist the Administration to identify
opportunities for cooperation between or among the United States,
Canada, and Mexico to reduce or eliminate regulatory divergences that
disrupt trade in goods in the region, as well as any existing or
emerging sectors that may benefit from regulatory coordination between
these countries. Canada has already solicited similar input from its
stakeholders, and Mexico has committed to do the same.
DATES: The agency must receive comments on or before April 4, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Submissions should be made via the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov under docket ITA-2011-0003-0001. Please direct
written submissions to Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and Constitution
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230. The public is strongly encouraged to
file submissions electronically rather than by mail.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding this notice should
be directed to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In his January 2010 State of the Union
address, President Obama announced the NEI to double U.S. exports over
five years and support the creation of new jobs. As the President's
Export Promotion Cabinet has undertaken to implement the NEI, regional
and sectoral plans are being developed to tailor the U.S. Government's
NEI efforts based on the realities of trade in certain regions. For
example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) created the
world's largest free trade area, linking 444 million people and
producing $17 trillion in goods and services. Trilateral trade among
Canada, Mexico, and the United States was $944.6 billion in 2010.
Despite this extensive trade among NAFTA partners, U.S. exporters
indicate that they continue to encounter unnecessary divergences in
regulatory measures in North America that disrupt trade.
ITA has developed a Mature Markets Initiative (MMI) to evaluate how
best to grow exports, create jobs, and support U.S. business growth in
areas where trade is robust. Regulatory cooperation is a key component
of the MMI. Accordingly, ITA has identified Canada and Mexico as mature
markets and will seek ways to ease or eliminate regulatory differences
that hinder competitiveness and negatively impact trade for U.S. firms,
including new-to-market and new-to-export businesses, particularly
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Trade may be impeded, for example, because countries apply
different standards or technical requirements to address common
environmental, health, safety, or other concerns with respect to
certain products or product categories. In some instances, such
divergences may be arbitrary and can lead to delays, additional costs,
and burdens on U.S. suppliers, particularly SMEs, and, in some cases,
can make it difficult or impossible for U.S. suppliers to penetrate
foreign markets. These divergences can also increase regulatory burdens
for governments and costs for consumers. In other cases, regulatory
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measures, despite the burdens they impose, may be necessary in order to
achieve legitimate objectives such as the protection of the
environment, health, or safety.
Regulatory cooperation with respect to regulatory measures can help
reduce unjustified divergences and lower costs and burdens for
businesses, especially SMEs, as well as for governments and consumers.
For example, when regulators in different countries share data,
studies, and other information on specific regulatory issues, they are
more likely to reach similar conclusions, such as on the risks
associated with a particular product, appropriate measures to mitigate
those risks, and the costs and benefits associated with alternative
regulatory approaches. This can lead regulators in these countries to
adopt regulatory measures that are more aligned with each other, allow
producers to develop economies of scale, reduce costs associated with
complying with divergent regulatory measures, and pass on costs savings
to consumers. It is critical for any alignment in regulatory approaches
that results from cross-border cooperation between regulators in the
United States and other countries, however, to be transparent and non-
discriminatory, reduce unnecessary costs and burdens on producers and
consumers, and continue to fulfill each country's health, safety,
environmental, and other legitimate policy objectives.
Although cooperation on regulatory measures can lead to regulatory
alignment, it can also result in other outcomes that help facilitate
trade. For example, governments may elect to conclude mutual
recognition agreements under which regulators in each country agree to
allow products from the other country to be placed on the market based
on tests or certifications carried out in that country, or equivalency
agreements under which a regulator in one country agrees to recognize
another country's standards as equivalent to its own, allowing products
to be placed on its market that meet the other country's standards. The
outcome of any such regulatory cooperation must ensure that each
country can continue to meet its legitimate policy objectives.
In addition, when regulators cooperate with regard to regulatory
measures, their cooperation may serve not only to facilitate trade, but
may also help to realize common public policy objectives. For example,
when regulators in different countries coordinate their efforts in
carrying out product recalls, it can help ensure that defective or
unsafe products are promptly removed from the market, thereby
increasing consumers' confidence in the products they buy and in the
global trading system.
Request for information. ITA invites public comment on the
following possible types of cooperative regulatory activities between
or among the United States, Mexico, and Canada: information-sharing
agreements; technical assistance; memoranda of understanding, mutual
recognition agreements; collaboration between regulators before
initiating rulemaking proceedings; agreements to align particular
regulatory measures; equivalency arrangements; and accreditation of
testing laboratories or other conformity assessment bodies. ITA
acknowledges that these types of cooperative agreements and activities
are not appropriate in all cases, so interested parties are asked to
provide a rationale for the proposed use of a particular cooperative
approach or specific activity. ITA is also seeking recommendations for
existing or emerging industry or product sectors that may benefit from
regulatory coordination across North America.
Submitters should be as specific as possible in describing the
relevant product or product sector, and the country or countries in
which they believe there is an opportunity to facilitate trade. In
addition, each proposal should include, where appropriate: (a) A
description of the specific measure or measures that the proposal would
address (e.g., laws or regulations setting out safety or testing
requirements for the relevant product or product sector); (b) an
Internet link to or a copy of the measure in English and documentation
that may assist ITA in understanding the measure; (c) identification of
the key markets in North America for the product or product sector; (d)
a description of how and to what degree the regulatory measures are
affecting trade and its related costs; (e) information that may affect
the proposal's feasibility (e.g., U.S. legal, regulatory, or policy
constraints, or any response from stakeholders or U.S. trading partners
the proposal may elicit); (f) estimates of the potential benefits that
would result from more closely aligning the regulatory measure, as well
as a description of the method by which the submitter has calculated
the benefits; (g) contact information, if known, for key government and
non-government stakeholders in the country or countries to which the
proposal applies; and (h) any other information that may assist ITA in
considering the proposal.
ITA is interested in receiving proposals concerning any product
sector that, due to the volume of trade in North America, is a
justifiable focus of enhanced regulatory cooperation. Submitters are
encouraged to work with counterparts and other interested stakeholders
in Canada and/or Mexico to submit comments jointly. ITA will give
positive consideration to proposals that demonstrate strong support
from stakeholders across North America.
Requirements for Submissions: In order to ensure the timely receipt
and consideration of comments, ITA strongly encourages commenters to
make on-line submissions, using the http://www.regulations.gov Web
site. Comments should be submitted under docket number ITA-2011-0003-
0001. To find this docket, enter the docket number in the ``Enter
Keyword or ID'' window at the http://www.regulations.gov home page and
click ``Search.'' The site will provide a search-results page listing
all documents associated with that docket number. Find a reference to
this notice by selecting ``Notice'' under ``Document Type'' on the
search-results page, and click on the link entitled ``Submit a
Comment.'' The www.regulations.gov Web site provides the option of
making submissions by filling in a comments field, or by attaching a
document. ITA prefers submissions to be provided in an attached
document. (For further information on using the www.regulations.gov Web
site, please consult the resources provided on the website by clicking
on the ``Help'' tab.)
All comments and recommendations submitted in response to this
notice will be made available to the public. For any comments submitted
electronically containing business confidential information, the file
name of the business confidential version should begin with the
characters ``BC''. The top of any page containing business confidential
information must be clearly marked ``BUSINESS CONFIDENTIAL''. Any
person filing comments that contain business confidential information
must also file in a separate submission a public version of the
comments. The file name of the public version of the comments should
begin with the character ``P''. The ``BC'' and ``P'' should be followed
by the name of the person or entity submitting the comments. If a
comment contains no business confidential information, the file name
should begin with the character ``P'', followed by the name of the
person or entity submitting the comments.
Please do not attach separate cover letters to electronic
submissions; rather, include any information that might appear in a
cover letter in the comments
[[Page 11762]]
themselves. Similarly, to the extent possible, please include any
exhibits, annexes, or other attachments in the same file as the
submission itself, not as separate files.
Dated: February 28, 2011.
Michelle O'Neill,
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade.
[FR Doc. 2011-4862 Filed 3-2-11; 8:45 am]
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