[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 71 (Thursday, April 12, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15786-15788]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-07584]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
U.S. Strategy To Address Trade-Related Forced Localization
Barriers Impacting the U.S. ICT Hardware Manufacturing Industry
AGENCY: International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The International Trade Administration is seeking information
to support the development of a comprehensive strategy to address
trade-related forced localization policies, practices, and measures
impacting the U.S. information and communications technology (ICT)
hardware manufacturing industry. Comments will be used to support the
development of a holistic strategic plan for counteracting and
deterring the expansion of barriers to trade and trade-related measures
put in place by U.S. trading partners that are specifically designed to
localize the production and technology development of ICT hardware, and
unfairly harm U.S. ICT hardware manufacturers and exports.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 14, 2018.
Comments must be in English.
ADDRESSES: You may submit responses to the questions below by one of
the following methods. Comments should be submitted under docket ITA-
2008-0001:
(a) Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov. The
materials in the docket will not be edited to remove identifying or
contact information, and
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the Department cautions against including any information in an
electronic submission that the submitter does not want publicly
disclosed. Attachments to electronic comments will be accepted in
Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF formats only. Comments containing
references, studies, research, and other empirical data that are not
widely published should include copies of the referenced materials.
Please do not submit additional materials. If you want to submit a
comment with business confidential information that you do not wish to
be made public, submit the comment as a written/paper submission in the
manner detailed below.
(b) Written/Paper Submission: Send all written/paper submissions
to: Cary Ingram, U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade
Administration, Office of Health and Information Technologies, 1401
Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20230; Submissions of ``Business
Confidential Information'': Any submissions containing ``business
confidential information'' must be delivered in a sealed envelope
marked ``confidential treatment requested'' to the address listed
above. Please provide an index listing the document(s) or information
that the submitter would like the Department to withhold. The index
should include information such as numbers used to identify the
relevant document(s) or information, document title and description,
and relevant page numbers and/or section numbers within a document.
Provide a statement explaining the submitter's grounds for objecting to
disclosure of the information to the public. The Department also
requests that submitters of business confidential information include a
non-confidential version (either redacted or summarized) of those
confidential submissions, which will be available for public viewing
and posted on https://www.regulations.gov. In the event that the
submitter cannot provide a non-confidential version of its submission,
the Department requests that the submitter post a notice in the docket
stating that it has provided the Department with business confidential
information. Should a submitter fail to docket either a non-
confidential version of its submission or to post a notice that
business confidential information has been provided, the Department
will note the receipt of the submission on the docket with the
submitter's organization or name (to the degree permitted by law) and
the date of submission.
For alternatives to online or mail submissions, please contact Mr.
Cary Ingram at (202) 482-2872 or [email protected]. The public is
strongly encouraged to file submissions electronically.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions regarding the submission of
comments should be directed to Mr. Cary Ingram at (202) 482-2872, or
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: Over the past five years, there has been a rapid
expansion of laws, regulations, trade policies, directives, and
practices by various U.S. trading partners to further multilayered
campaigns to force the domestic localization of production and
technology development of information and communications technology
(ICT) hardware. Various forms of domestic production requirements,
local content requirement (LCR) mandates, coerced technology transfer
rules, and other barriers to trade have been put in place to supplant
U.S. technology products in international ICT markets. These are
measures that arbitrarily discriminate against foreign products,
intellectual property (IP), or hardware suppliers, and are
distinctively designed to force the production and development of ICT
hardware to be localized within a country's territorial boundaries,
while also cultivating and incubating select domestic industries,
technologies, or intellectual property at the expense of imported
goods, or foreign-owned or developed IP.
The ICT hardware sector has become a leading target for
discriminatory measures in markets throughout the world at an
accelerated level of proliferation. Examples of trade-related barriers
and measures impacting the industry include:
Local content requirements (LCRs) for ICT products sold in
the domestic market;
Subsidies or other government preferences made contingent
upon the use of local ICT products, indigenous technology, or
domestically owned IP;
Mandates for service providers to purchase domestically-
manufactured ICT hardware or ICT products with specific levels of
domestic content;
Measures to force the transfer of technology or IP to
local entities;
Unjustified requirements to conduct conformity assessment
and certification procedures in-country.
The competitiveness of the U.S. ICT manufacturing sector is
increasingly coming under threat by the continued expansion of forced
localization policies and practices in geographic and technological
scope. These forced localization measures and barriers not only
threaten U.S. production of ICT hardware currently in the market, but
also threaten the United States' competitive position in new and
emerging technology sectors across the entire ICT-enabled industrial
base as these policies expand to broader technology segments.
Recognizing the need to address current forced localization measures
impacting the U.S. ICT hardware manufacturing sector on a strategic
basis, and to deter additional localization barriers, the U.S.
Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration is
reviewing the landscape of policy options and potential remedies that
can be utilized to develop a strategic response to the expanding forced
localization trend causing harm to the U.S. ICT manufacturing base. The
Department is seeking to develop a comprehensive, holistic set of
actionable tools, tactics, and strategies to counteract the spread of
policies, practices, and barriers-to-trade specifically designed to
discriminate against U.S. ICT products and exports, while instigating
the domestic localization of ICT hardware production and technology
development.\1\ Respondents may address any, all, or none of the
following questions, and may address additional topics that may help
the Department in developing a comprehensive strategy to address trade-
related forced localization barriers affecting the U.S. ICT
manufacturing industry. While the Department welcomes all input
considered relevant to the development of a comprehensive strategy, the
Department specifically seeks the following types of information:
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\1\ Data localization policies or restrictions on cross-border
data flows will not be covered in this edition of the strategy
review or this current request for comments.
1. Laws, regulations, policies, trade practices, non-tariff
barriers, and other trade-related measures put in place by U.S.
trading partners that appear to be specifically structured to force
the localization of production and technology development of ICT
hardware, and unfairly harm U.S. ICT hardware manufacturers and
exports.
2. The estimated burden and harm caused by the identified trade-
related localization laws, regulations, policies, trade practices,
non-tariff barriers, and other trade-related localization measures
in terms of lost revenue, market share, exports, employment, income,
or other measures to quantify the damage and harm to the U.S. ICT
hardware manufacturing industry and related export opportunities.
The information obtained from written submissions will be used to
inform the strategic planning to address
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and deter the expanding use of trade-related localization measures,
practices and other barriers harming the U.S. ICT manufacturing
industry. The scope of products included in this strategic review are
ICT goods that fall under NAICS codes 3341, 3342, 3343, 3344, 3345,
3346, and 3359; or the following HS codes: 8443, 8471, 8473, 8486,
8504, 8517, 8518, 8519, 8520, 8521, 8522, 8523, 8525, 8528, 8529, 8533,
8534, 8541, 8542, 854420, 854470, 900110, 9030, 903141, 850440, 850450,
850490.
The U.S. Department of Commerce invites comments from stakeholders
from the private sector, academia, think-tanks, civil society, and
other interested parties concerned with the continued growth and
competitiveness of the U.S. ICT manufacturing industry in the global
economy. Entities making submissions may be contacted for further
information or explanation, and, in some cases, meetings with
individual submitters may be requested. The Department may also hold
additional forums for comment such as roundtables or workshops to
attain expanded input for strategy development.
Ian Steff,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing.
[FR Doc. 2018-07584 Filed 4-11-18; 8:45 am]
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