China’s compliance with its World Trade Organization accession commitments will be the focus of a hearing and comment period designed to assist the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in preparing its annual report to Congress. Highlights of last year’s report, which took on a decidedly sharper tone than in previous years, can be found here.
The hearing will be held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 3. Comments and requests to appear at the hearing are due by Sept. 19. Specific topics on which input is being sought include the following.
– trading rights
– import regulation (e.g., tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, quotas, import licenses)
– export regulation
– 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)
– intellectual property rights (including enforcement)
– services
– rule of law issues (e.g., transparency, judicial review, uniform administration of laws and regulations) and status of legal reform
Interested persons should specifically identify unresolved compliance issues that warrant review and evaluation by USTR’s China Enforcement Task Force.