TEXT: U.S., JAPAN REACH DEREGULATION INITIATIVE
(Market access for telecom, medical devices targeted)

Denver -- The United States and Japan have announced a deregulation initiative that aims at increasing foreign access into the Japanese market of telecommunication goods, medical devices and pharmaceutical products, housing and construction products and financial services.

Following is the text of a statement issued June 19 by the White House:

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Denver -- Today President Clinton and Prime Hashimoto announced a new initiative on deregulation of the Japanese economy, aimed at increasing market access for foreign producers of goods and services and at benefiting consumers with greater choice and lower costs. Today's announcement follows from the President and Prime Minister's decision at their meeting in April 1997 to pursue an enhanced initiative on deregulation under the U.S.-Japan Framework Agreement.

"This agreement puts us on a course to address some of the most pressing barriers to fair and open competition in the Japanese economy, and ensures that U.S. concerns will be addressed in Japan's deregulation efforts," said U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. "We have identified several areas of the Japanese economy which present major opportunities for U.S. industries that are the most competitive in the world. OUr objective is to see concrete progress within a year in achieving market-opening reforms."

"This agreement augments our multi-faceted approach to opening the Japanese market. There is no single approach that will address all our market access concerns. We will also continue to address the full range of market access barriers in Japan through enforcement of our existing bilateral agreements, pursuit of our rights under the WTO, and other bilateral and multilateral avenues as appropriate."

The deregulation agreement identifies specific sectoral areas for reform including telecommunications, medical devices and pharmaceutical products, housing and construction products, and financial services. Initial structural issues of concern will include competition policy and distribution, transparency and other government practices.

Under terms of the new agreement, experts from the two countries will meet this summer to work out concrete measures to improve market access and enhance consumer benefits in these areas. The experts will report their progress in writing to a high-level officials group, which will meet regularly to resolve issues that the experts are unable to resolve. The high-level group will report progress directly to the leaders of the two countries.

"This enhanced initiative on deregulation strengthens the Framework agreement and builds on the many successful market opening agreements negotiated by the Clinton Administration. In several areas such as insurance, wood products, and auto parts replacement, trade agreements aimed at deregulation have produced significant market-opening results."

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