Subject: ITC Study Will Explore Small and Medium Enterprise Services Exports and Barriers All SME Exporters Face; December 7, 2009
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Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:13:27 -0500

December 7, 2009
News Release 09-101
Inv. No.332-510
Contact: Peg O'Laughlin, 202-205-1819

EXPORTS BY SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED U.S. ENTERPRISES TO BE EXAMINED BY U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION

Third Study Will Explore SME Services Exports and Barriers All SME Exporters Face

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) has launched the third of three studies that will examine the extent and composition of U.S. exports by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and factors that may disproportionately impede U.S. SME exports.

The USITC, an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency, is conducting the investigations in response to a request from the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), received in a letter on October 6, 2009.

The third report, U.S. Exports from Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Characteristics and Performance, will report on the characteristics of SMEs that export services, the growth in exports of services, and differences between large firms and SMEs that export services. The report will also identify gaps in the data and ways in which the gaps might be overcome; identify barriers to increasing exports of both goods and services, particularly those barriers that disproportionately affect SMEs; describe possible linkages between exports and the performance of SMEs; and describe the global operations of SMEs, including an assessment of SMEs' operations as multinational firms or affiliate firms and SMEs' indirect contribution to exports by supplying inputs that large firms use to produce exports.

The USITC will deliver the report to the USTR by October 6, 2010.

The USITC will hold a public hearing in connection with this investigation in Washington, DC, on February 9, 2010. (The public hearing will be held concurrently with the public hearing in Commission investigation No. 332-509, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: U.S. and EU Export Activities, and Barriers and Opportunities Experienced by U.S. Firms.) Requests to appear at the public hearing should be filed no later than 5:15 p.m., January 26, 2010, with the Secretary, U.S. International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436. The Commission also will consider holding two field hearings outside of Washington, DC; information on any such hearings will be announced at a later time. For further information, call 202-205-2000.

The USITC also welcomes written submissions for the record in connection with this investigation. Written submissions (one original and 14 copies) should be addressed to the Secretary of Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436, and should be submitted at the earliest practical date, but no later than 5:15 p.m. on May 28, 2010. All written submissions, except for confidential business information, will be available for public inspection.

Further information on the scope of the investigation is available in the USITC's notice of investigation, dated December 7, 2009, which can be obtained from the USITC Internet site (http://www.usitc.gov/) or by contacting the office of the Secretary at the above address or at 202-205-2000.

USITC general factfinding investigations, such as this one, cover matters related to tariffs or trade and are generally conducted at the request of the U.S. Trade Representative, the House Committee on Ways and Means, or the Senate Committee on Finance. The resulting reports convey the Commission's objective findings and independent analyses on the subject investigated. The Commission makes no recommendations on policy or other matters in its general factfinding reports. Upon completion of each investigation, the USITC submits its finding and analyses to the requester. General factfinding investigation reports are subsequently released to the public, unless they are classified by the requester for national security reasons.

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