The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) is coming to the Silicon Valley, and it wants to hear from local businesses and entrepreneurs.

The USITC is an independent agency that investigates significant trade issues and prepares reports for key U.S. policymakers. The agency will hold two public hearings at the NASA Ames Research Center on September 25 and 26, 2013, to hear from local businesses in connection with two such investigations.

The first hearing concerns digital trade -- trade in products and services that is facilitated by use of the Internet and Internet-based technologies.

• The USITC wants to hear from firms of all sizes and in all sectors about their digital trade experiences.
• The USITC especially hopes to hear from high tech firms engaged in hardware, software, and semiconductor manufacturing; networking; cloud computing; social media; application development; and venture capital.
• The information gathered will be used for a report that the USITC is preparing for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance entitled Digital Trade in the U.S. and Global Economies, Part 2 (Inv. No. 332-540).
• This hearing will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 25, 2013, at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field near Mountain View, CA.

The second hearing concerns the challenges faced by small and medium-sized businesses in exporting goods or services to the European Union (EU).

• The USITC wants to hear from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Northern California that export to the EU about trade barriers they face (EU-wide and in individual EU countries) and suggestions on ways to increase exports to the EU from U.S. SMEs.
• These SMEs could include (but are not limited to) companies providing high-tech and bio-tech products and services, as well as those in the wine, olive oil, fruit, nut, and other agricultural industries.
• The U.S. Trade Representative is leading negotiations with the EU on a possible US-EU free trade agreement and has requested the USITC to prepare a report entitled Trade Barriers that U.S. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Perceive as Affecting Exports to the European Union (Inv. No. 332-541).
• This hearing will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 26, 2013, also at the NASA Ames Research Center.

For detailed information about the investigations and the kinds of information the Commission is seeking, see: http://www.usitc.gov/press_room/featured_news/silicon_valley_field_hearing_digital_trade.htm.

Requests to appear at either hearing should be filed with the Secretary to the Commission and must be received no later than 5:15 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Thursday, September 12, 2013.

• Written requests to appear at either hearing may be mailed to the Secretary to the Commission, 500 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20436.
• Email requests to appear at the Digital Trade hearing may be sent to digitaltrade@usitc.gov.

• Email requests to appear at the Trade Barriers hearing may be sent to SMEhearing@usitc.gov.

Requests to appear at either hearing should include the names of witnesses and should identify the topics to be addressed and the amount of time requested. After receiving these requests, Commission staff will notify participants of their time allotments.

Persons testifying at the hearings are encouraged to file written statements before the hearings; the deadline for filing such statements is Thursday, September 18, 2013. Statements can be filed by mail or email at the addresses cited above.

If statements are submitted at the hearings, persons testifying are asked to provide at least 50 copies.

Questions about appearing at the hearings should be directed to William R. Bishop in the USITC Office of the Secretary at 202-205-2000 or william.bishop@usitc.gov, or Jennifer Powell, the outreach coordinator for these hearings, at 202-205-3450, or jennifer.powell@usitc.gov. News media inquiries should be directed to Peg O'Laughlin, Public Affairs Officer, at 202-205-1819 or margaret.olaughlin@usitc.gov.

Written submissions: In addition to or in lieu of appearing at the hearings, the USITC also welcomes written submissions for the record in connection with these investigations.

Written submissions for the Digital Trade investigation should be filed with the Secretary to the Commission by mail or email at the addresses cited above and must be received by 5:15 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on Friday, March 21, 2014. For information on filing written submissions for this investigation, see: http://www.usitc.gov/secretary/fed_reg_notices/332/332_540_notice08152013sgl.pdf

Written submissions for the Trade Barriers investigation should be filed with the Secretary to the Commission by mail or email at the addresses cited above and must be received by 5:15 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on Tuesday, October 15, 2013. For information on filing written submissions for this investigation, see: http://www.usitc.gov/secretary/fed_reg_notices/332/332_541_notice08162013sgl.pdf

All written submissions, except for confidential business information, will be available for public inspection.

Further information about both investigations and the hearings are available on a special section of the USITC web site devoted to these hearings at: https://www.usitc.gov/press_room/featured_news/silicon_valley_field_hearing_digital_trade.htm.

The USITC is an independent, nonpartisan, factfinding federal agency. USITC general factfinding investigations 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 findings 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.