International Trade: Improvements Needed to Track and Archive Trade Agreements
NSIAD-00-24
Published: Dec 14, 1999. Publicly Released: Dec 14, 1999.
Skip to Highlights
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on improvements needed to track and archive trade agreements, focusing on: (1) the number of trade agreements the United States is party to; (2) the way in which the executive branch notifies Congress when trade agreements are entered into; and (3) the extent to which the public has ready access to information from government sources about trade agreements.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Commerce | In order to improve the accuracy and completeness of its trade agreement archive, the Secretary of Commerce should clarify that the archive is intended to contain all trade agreements. |
Closed – Implemented
Commerce clarified its criteria for including trade agreements in its database, and has applied that criteria. However, Commerce decided that the database would not include agreements involving agriculture or trade and investment framework agreements.
|
| Department of Commerce | In order to improve the accuracy and completeness of its trade agreement archive, the Secretary of Commerce should establish, in consultation with USTR, State, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other appropriate federal agencies, clear criteria for the types of agreements to be included. |
Closed – Implemented
Commerce has developed clear criteria for inclusion of trade agreements in its database.
|
| Department of Commerce | In order to improve the accuracy and completeness of its trade agreement archive, the Secretary of Commerce should develop procedures, in consultation with other federal agencies that negotiate trade agreements, to ensure that these agencies regularly forward trade agreements to Commerce. |
Closed – Implemented
Commerce took action to address this recommendation with the Department of Agriculture and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
|
| Department of Commerce | In order to improve the accuracy and completeness of its trade agreement archive, the Secretary of Commerce should describe at its Internet site the criteria used in determining which agreements are included in the archive and procedures by which users can obtain authenticated copies of the agreements. |
Closed – Implemented
Commerce has modified its web site to include a description of the criteria used to include trade agreements in its database.
|
| Office of the U.S. Trade Representative | The U.S. Trade Representative, as chair of the Trade Policy Staff Committee, should ask the group to consider how its member agencies can assist Commerce's efforts to obtain accurate and timely information on trade agreements concluded by those agencies. |
Closed – Implemented
USTR reconciled its list of trade agreements with Commerce's list, helped clarify that agriculture agreements be maintained on USDA's web site, periodically reviews the list for scope and coverage on behalf of Trade Policy Staff Committee participants, and directs these participants to submit appropriate trade agreements to Commerce and USDA.
|
| Office of the U.S. Trade Representative | To comply with the statutory requirement that Congress receive copies of all agreements that qualify as international agreements, USTR should transmit to State's Office of Treaty Affairs the text of each substantive trade agreement that it has negotiated that is in force and that does not appear in the Department of State's record of in-force international agreements. |
Closed – Implemented
In response, USTR helped develop and implement a series of procedures to improve record keeping within the Executive Branch for trade agreements.
|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should direct the Office of Treaty Affairs to review each of these agreements to determine whether the agreement is an international agreement under State's criteria and, if so, notify Congress of such agreements no later than 60 days after receiving them. |
Closed – Not Implemented
State has not implemented this recommendation.
|
Full Report
Office of Public Affairs
Topics
Archivesexecutive relationsForeign trade agreementsGovernment information disseminationInternational agreementsManagement information systemsReporting requirementsTreatiesInformation accessTrade agreements