TEXT: FCC PUBLIC NOTICE RELEASE ON APEC TELECOMMUNICATIONS MRA
(Sixteen APEC economies have agreed to participate.)

Washington -- The Telecommunications and Information Ministers of the eighteen Member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum endorsed a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for conformity assessment of telecommunications equipment at their meeting in Singapore an June 5, 1998.

According to a public notice published by the Federal Communications Commission June 5, the MRA is intended to streamline the Conformity Assessment Procedures for a wide range of telecommunications equipment and thereby facilitate trade among the participating parties. The MRA would allow exporters to test and/or certify equipment to an importing economy's technical requirements.

The notice notes that, while participation in the APEC MRA is voluntary, once an economy agrees to participate, it agrees to follow all provisions of the MRA. Thus far, the notice said, sixteen of the eighteen economies have agreed to a schedule whereby they would be willing to participate in the arrangement.

Following is the text of the notice:

(begin text)

PUBLIC NOTICE

APEC MINISTERS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
ENDORSE COMPLETION OF MUTUAL RECOGNITION ARRANGEMENT
FOR CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

The Telecommunications and Information Ministers of the eighteen Member economies of the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) endorsed a Declaration to liberalize trade among participating economies by adopting a text for a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) for conformity assessment of telecommunications equipment. The Declaration was endorsed by to APEC Ministers for Telecommunications and Information at their meeting in Singapore an June 5, 1998.

The MRA is intended to streamline the Conformity Assessment Procedures for a wide range of telecommunications equipment and thereby facilitate trade among the participating Parties. The MRA would allow exporters to test and/or certify equipment to an importing economy's technical requirements.

The MRA is expected to facilitate trade in telecommunications grid information equipment among APEC member economies and thereby add to the gains expected from the Information Technology Agreement, which provides for the elimination of tariffs an information technology products by the year 2000. The MRA facilitates trade in products with ever-shortening product life cycles by eliminating the redundancy of steps necessary to satisfy importing economies approval processes.

While participation in the APEC MRA is voluntary, once an economy agrees to participate, it agrees to follow all provisions of the MRA. Sixteen of the eighteen economies have agreed to a schedule whereby they would be willing to participate in the arrangement. The participating economies are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.

APEC consists of eighteen member economics: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Now Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. The APEC Telecommunications Working Group is a biannual forum in which telecommunications officials of APEC economies undertake cooperative endeavors to liberalize trade in telecommunications goods and services; to facilitate private sector interaction with telecommunications authorities on policy and business issues; to coordinate efforts to promote human resources development in the regional telecommunications industry; and to improve regional telecommunications infrastructure.

1998. The FCC Notice of Proposed Rule Making, ET Docket No. 98-88, invites interested parties to comment on a specific proposal to amend the FCC Rules to allow for the implementation of the MRA. A copy of the proposal is an the FCC Web Site at http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Notices/1998/

Any questions regarding the APEC MRA text may be directed to Art Wall at (301) 725-1585 ext. 205 (or e-mail [email protected]) or Irene Wu at (202) 418-1623(or e-mail [email protected]).

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