[12492]
August 16, 2000
TO: INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE No. 26-00
RE: INSTITUTE LETTER TO TREASURY AND USTR REGARDING PENSION PRIORITIES
In response to comments submitted by the Institute1 and others, the Transatlantic Economic
Partnership (TEP) trade discussions between the US and the European Union will focus, in part, on
pension issues. We also expect pension issues to be an important topic in the World Trade Organization
(WTO) services discussions, which began this year. With this increased attention on pensions, the
Institute staff has been in discussions with the trade negotiators at USTR and Treasury regarding pension
issues of interest to Institute members.
To further delineate Institute members’ interest in opening pension markets around the world, the
Institute submitted the attached letter to USTR and Treasury outlining the Institute’s priorities with
respect to pensions. The letter discusses two areas of particular concern for members in managing
pension assets -- express market access restrictions and regulatory requirements that operate to deny
effective market access.
The letter also discusses additional pension issues in countries that are considering defined-
contribution types of retirement systems and describes a tax impediment to effective international
investment of retirement plan assets. Although these additional matters are not strictly trade priorities, we
wanted to make the trade negotiators aware of these issues, which also are of concern to members in
managing effectively pension assets.
Jennifer S. Choi
Assistant Counsel
Attachment
Attachment (in .pdf format)
1 See Letter from Mary S. Podesta, Senior Counsel, ICI, to Gloria Blue, Executive Secretary, USTR, dated
July 6, 1998.