Free Trade Area of the Americas: Request for Public Comment on Identification of a Private Sector Expert on Consumer Issues Related to Electronic Commerce

OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Free Trade Area of the Americas: Request for Public Comment on

Identification of a Private Sector Expert on Consumer Issues Related to

Electronic Commerce

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Joint Government-Private

Sector Experts Committee on Electronic Commerce (Joint Committee)

request for public comment on the identification of a private sector

expert on consumer issues related to electronic commerce who may wish

to participate in the work of the Joint Committee.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Joint Committee on Electronic Commerce was established by

the 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere participating in the Free

Trade Area of the Americas. The Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC)

seeks to identify a U.S. private sector expert on consumer issues

related to electronic commerce who may be interested in participating

in the work of the Joint Committee. Interested members of the public

are invited to submit written notice of their interest and their

qualifications.

DATES: Written expressions of interest in participating in the work of

the Joint Committee should be submitted no later than May 28, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For procedural questions concerning

public comments contact Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy

Staff Committee, Office of the United States Trade Representative,

(202) 395-3475. All questions concerning the Joint Committee may be

directed to Regina Vargo, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western

Hemisphere, U.S. Department of Commerce (202) 482-5324,

Regina__V[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: At the Second Summit of the Americas in

April 1998, in Santiago, Chile, the 34 democratically elected Western

Hemisphere countries initiated negotiations to create the FTAA by the

year 2005 and to achieve concrete progress toward that objective by the

end of the century. They established nine initial negotiating groups, a

consultative group, and two committees, one of which is the Joint

Committee. The Joint Committee is chaired by Mr. Dale Marshall of the

Government of Barbados. Ms. Regina Vargo, Deputy Assistant Secretary

for the Western Hemisphere, U.S. Department of Commerce, leads the

joint U.S. government--private sector delegation to the Joint

Committee.

Joint Committee Terms of Reference: The objective of the Committee

is to make recommendations to Ministers on how to increase and broaden

the benefits of electronic commerce and how electronic commerce should

be dealt with in the context of the FTAA negotiations. The Joint

Committee is to provide recommendations to the Vice-Ministerial Trade

Negotiations Committee (TNC) four weeks before the November 3-4, 1999

Trade Ministerial meeting. In order to develop its recommendations, the

Joint Committee is focusing on:

Increasing understanding of the potential benefits of

electronic commerce to countries in the hemisphere;

[[Page 26812]]

Identifying the environment that will allow electronic

commerce to flourish;

Discussing infrastructure questions; and

Identifying how electronic commerce can facilitate the

operation of trade obligations.

Joint Committee Update: The Joint Committee is not a negotiating

group; rather it is examining a broad range of electronic commerce

issues relevant to identifying the environment that will extend the

advantages of ecommerce throughout the Western Hemisphere, in part by

keeping itself apprised of related developments in other international

fora.

A meeting of Joint Committee government representatives addressed

organizational issues in Miami in October 1998. They scheduled four

additional meetings in Miami for 1999. At the meeting on January 6-8,

the topics covered included small business, smaller economies,

governments as model users, business-to-business applications, raising

skills and awareness, network access and reliability and standards for

forms of transmissions. The meeting on April 24-26 covered trade, tax

and selected legal issues related to electronic commerce and included

expert presentations by World Trade Organization (WTO) personnel and

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) personnel. The meeting

on June 14-16 is scheduled to discuss issues related to jurisdiction

and contract law, privacy, security and reliability, authentication,

and consumer protection, and to include expert presentations by

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) personnel

and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

personnel. The fourth meeting on August 30-September 1, will focus on

other issues and on the report to Ministers.

Joint Committee Private Sector Representation: FTAA governments

decided that the Joint Committee would include private sector

representatives, which is consistent with President Clinton's principle

that the private sector should take the lead in developing the rules

for global electronic commerce. FTAA Vice Ministers for trade

determined that individual governments would identify private sector

participants, with a view toward balanced hemispheric representation in

terms of geography and electronic commerce issue expertise. On August

6, 1998, a Federal Register notice (63 FR 42090) was published inviting

expressions of interest and qualifications to participate in the work

of the Joint Committee. Based on responses, U.S. private sector

representatives were selected to reflect a balance of interests and

electronic commerce issue expertise. At that time, however, no

submissions were received from interested consumer groups. The TPSC is

now seeking to expand private sector participation on the Joint

Committee to include an expert on consumer issues related to electronic

commerce.

Public Comments

In order to assist the TPSC in identifying a U.S. private sector

expert on consumer issues related to electronic commerce, which are

scheduled to be discussed at the June 14-16 meeting, members of the

public are invited to submit written notice of their interest and

describe their qualifications. Qualifications of interest include:

demonstrated expertise in one or more aspects of electronic commerce

and consumer protection; an ability and willingness to broadly solicit

views from and disseminate information to consumer groups; and

familiarity with U.S. and foreign trade and investment policies and

obligations. Knowledge of the Western Hemisphere, including established

contacts with foreign private sector interests in the region, would be

helpful.

Those persons wishing to make written submissions should provide

twenty (20) typed copies (in English) no later than noon, Friday, May

28, 1999 to Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, Trade Policy Staff

Committee, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Room 122, 600 17th

Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20508.

Written submissions in connection with this request will be

available for public inspection in the USTR Reading Room, Room 101,

Office of the United States Trade Representative, 600 17th St., NW,

Washington, D.C. An appointment to review the file may be made by

calling Brenda Webb (202) 395-6186. The Reading Room is open to the

public from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon, and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday

through Friday.

Frederick L. Montgomery,

Chairman, Trade Policy Staff Committee.

[FR Doc. 99-12377 Filed 5-14-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3901-01-P