Mainland China’s Compliance with WTO Commitments Is Focus of Annual Review

The inter-agency Trade Policy Staff Committee is accepting input and holding a public hearing to assist USTR in preparing its annual report to Congress on mainland China’s compliance with the commitments it made in connection with its accession to the World Trade Organisation. Input may be submitted on a range of topics, including the following.

• trading rights

• import regulation (e.g., tariffs, tariff-rate quotas, quotas, import licences)

• 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. The hearing will be held in Washington, D.C., on 2 October. Requests to appear at the hearing, as well as pre-hearing briefs, statements or comments, are due by 18 September.