December 20, 1999

Ms. Gloria Blue

Executive Secretary

Trade Policy Staff Committee

Office of the United States Trade Representative

600 17^th Street NW

Room 122

Washington, DC 20508

Dear Ms. Blue:

In response to a Federal Register notice dated November 2, 1999, the USCIB would like to draw USTR’s attention to specific problems our member companies are experiencing with some WTO Members’ implementation of their commitments for market access, national treatment, and the Reference Paper under the WTO Agreement on Basic Telecommunications. We hope this information will be useful in your preparation of the upcoming publication, National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE), which catalogues significant barriers to U.S. exports of goods, services, and overseas direct investment.

We are concerned that some WTO Members are not implementing their existing commitments at all or have failed to do so in a satisfactory manner. The attached document provides specific examples for your consideration for Belgium, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Spain, and Turkey.

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all countries that may have failed to implement their commitments during 1998 and 1999, but represents those countries in which our member companies have the greatest concerns. We note also that five countries still have not accepted the Fourth Protocol: Brazil, Philippines, Dominica, Guatemala, and Papua New Guinea.

On behalf of the USCIB, I would like to thank you for your attention and would be pleased to provide additional information, if needed.

Sincerely,

Kenneth W. Leeson

Chair

USCIB International Telecommunications Committee

cc: Joseph Papovich, Assistant Trade Representative for Services, Investment and Intellectual Property, USTR

William Corbett, Director, Services and Telecommunications, USTR