40213
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 163 / Thursday, August 24, 2017 / Notices
ADDRESSES
: Submit completed loan
applications to: U.S. Small Business
Administration, Processing And
Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport
Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
: A.
Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance,
U.S. Small Business Administration,
409 3rd Street SW., Suite 6050,
Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205–6734.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
: The notice
of an Administrative declaration for the
State of CALIFORNIA, dated 07/31/
2017, is hereby amended to establish the
incident closing date as 08/01/2017.
Incident: Detwiler Fire.
Incident Period: 07/16/2017 through
08/01/2017.
All other information in the original
declaration remains unchanged.
(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
Number 59008)
Linda E. McMahon,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2017–17915 Filed 8–23–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8025–01–P
OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
[Docket No. USTR–2017–0016]
Initiation of Section 301 Investigation;
Hearing; and Request for Public
Comments: China’s Acts, Policies, and
Practices Related to Technology
Transfer, Intellectual Property, and
Innovation
AGENCY
: Office of the United States
Trade Representative.
ACTION
: Notice of initiation of
investigation; hearing; and request for
comments.
SUMMARY
: The United States Trade
Representative has initiated an
investigation pursuant to the Trade Act
of 1974, as amended (the Trade Act), to
determine whether acts, policies, and
practices of the Government of China
related to technology transfer,
intellectual property, and innovation are
actionable under the Trade Act. The
inter-agency Section 301 Committee is
holding a public hearing and seeking
comments in connection with this
investigation.
DATES
: The United States Trade
Representative initiated the
investigation on August 18, 2017. The
schedule and due dates are as follows:
To be assured of consideration,
written comments and requests to
appear at the hearing must be submitted
by Thursday, September 28, 2017 at
11:59 p.m. The request to appear must
include a summary of testimony.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017: The
Section 301 Committee will convene a
public hearing in the main hearing room
of the U.S. International Trade
Commission, 500 E Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20436, beginning at
9:30 a.m. If necessary, the hearing may
continue on the next business day.
To be assured of consideration, post-
hearing rebuttal comments must be
submitted by Friday, October 20, 2017
at 11:59 p.m.
ADDRESSES
: You should submit written
comments through the Federal
eRulemaking Portal: http://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments in
section II below. For alternatives to on-
line submissions, please contact
Gwendolyn Diggs at (202) 395–3150
before transmitting a comment and in
advance of the relevant deadline.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
: For
procedural questions concerning written
comments or participating in the public
hearing, contact Gwendolyn Diggs at
(202) 395–3150. Direct all other
questions regarding this notice to
William Busis, Deputy Assistant U.S.
Trade Representative for Monitoring
and Enforcement and Chair of the
Section 301 Committee, or Katherine
Linton and Arthur Tsao, Assistant
General Counsels at (202) 395–3150.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
A. The President’s Memorandum
On August 14, 2017, the President
issued a Memorandum (82 FR 39007) to
the United States Trade Representative
stating inter alia:
China has implemented laws, policies, and
practices and has taken actions related to
intellectual property, innovation, and
technology that may encourage or require the
transfer of American technology and
intellectual property to enterprises in China
or that may otherwise negatively affect
American economic interests. These laws,
policies, practices, and actions may inhibit
United States exports, deprive United States
citizens of fair remuneration for their
innovations, divert American jobs to workers
in China, contribute to our trade deficit with
China, and otherwise undermine American
manufacturing, services, and innovation.
The Memorandum included the
following instruction:
The United States Trade Representative
shall determine, consistent with section
302(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2412(b)), whether to investigate any of
China’s laws, policies, practices, or actions
that may be unreasonable or discriminatory
and that may be harming American
intellectual property rights, innovation, or
technology development.
Pursuant to the President’s
Memorandum, on August 18, 2017, the
United States Trade Representative
initiated an investigation under section
302(b) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2412(b)) to determine whether acts,
policies, and practices of the
Government of China related to
technology transfer, intellectual
property, and innovation are
unreasonable or discriminatory and
burden or restrict U.S. commerce.
B. The Chinese Government’s Acts,
Policies and Practices
The acts, policies and practices of the
Government of China directed at the
transfer of U.S. and other foreign
technologies and intellectual property
are an important element of China’s
strategy to become a leader in a number
of industries, including advanced-
technology industries, as reflected in
China’s ‘‘Made in China 2025’’
industrial plan, and other similar
industrial policy initiatives. The
Chinese government’s acts, policies, and
practices take many forms. The
investigation initially will consider the
following specific types of conduct:
First, the Chinese government
reportedly uses a variety of tools,
including opaque and discretionary
administrative approval processes, joint
venture requirements, foreign equity
limitations, procurements, and other
mechanisms to regulate or intervene in
U.S. companies’ operations in China, in
order to require or pressure the transfer
of technologies and intellectual property
to Chinese companies. Moreover, many
U.S. companies report facing vague and
unwritten rules, as well as local rules
that diverge from national ones, which
are applied in a selective and non-
transparent manner by Chinese
government officials to pressure
technology transfer.
Second, the Chinese government’s
acts, policies and practices reportedly
deprive U.S. companies of the ability to
set market-based terms in licensing and
other technology-related negotiations
with Chinese companies and undermine
U.S. companies’ control over their
technology in China. For example, the
Regulations on Technology Import and
Export Administration mandate
particular terms for indemnities and
ownership of technology improvements
for imported technology, and other
measures also impose non-market terms
in licensing and technology contracts.
Third, the Chinese government
reportedly directs and/or unfairly
facilitates the systematic investment in,
and/or acquisition of, U.S. companies
and assets by Chinese companies to
obtain cutting-edge technologies and
VerDate Sep<11>2014 15:29 Aug 23, 2017 Jkt 241001 PO 00000 Frm 00084 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\24AUN1.SGM 24AUN1
rmajette on DSKBCKNHB2PROD with NOTICES