February 27, 2003 -- NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies strongly supports the United States/Chile free trade agreement, and urges swift congressional approval. Marking the importance of the newly concluded agreement between the United States and Chile, NPES International Trade Committee Chairman, Don Ohlig, Managing Director, OLEC Corporation, Irvine, California, stated "opening up free trade between the U.S. and Chile will have a positive economic impact for our industry and opens the doors for future trade agreements throughout the Americas that also benefit the industry." The U.S-Chile trade agreement would: • Create new market access for U.S. consumer and industrial products; • More than 85 percent of bilateral trade in consumer and industrial products becomes duty-free immediately upon entry into the agreement. • Key U.S. export sectors gain immediate duty-free access to Chile; duty-free printing equipment will retain that status, and products that have a tariff will become duty-free under the agreement. • Establish fair trade in services- a right to invest and establish a local services presence; • Provide new protections for U.S. investors - offering a secure, predictable legal framework for U.S. investors working in Chile; • Protects intellectual property rights-including copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets; • Protects U.S. firms against anti-competitive and monopolistic behavior; • Protects workers, wildlife and resources - the agreement fully meets Trade Promotion Authority environmental provisions. "The Association and its members will work aggressively for passage of this important trade agreement," said Regis J. Delmontagne, NPES President. To that end, key government trade officials, including United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert Zoellick, Senators Charles E. Grassley (R-IA), and Max Baucus (D-MT), and Representative Phil Crane (R-8-IL) recently met with NPES representatives and other members of the U.S.-Chile Coalition, to launch efforts seeking the early authorization of the agreement by the 108th Congress. Coalition members’ objective is implementation of the agreement by the end of 2003. NPES is a U.S. trade association representing more than 460 companies engaged in manufacturing and importing for sale or distribution machinery, equipment, systems, software and supplies used in every printing, publishing and converting process from desktop design and image generation and processing to multiple output options and targeted dissemination systems. NPES is a co-sponsor of PRINT, GRAPH EXPO and CONVERTING EXPO, the leading expositions of printing, publishing and converting technologies in the Americas, and the regional exhibitions GRAPHIC ARTS THE CHARLOTTE SHOW in North Carolina; THE GUTENBERG FESTIVAL in Long Beach, California, and the Vue/Point Conference in Washington, DC. Complete information about the Association, its programs and its member companies is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.npes.org, by e-mail at [email protected], by telephone at 703/264-7200, or by fax at 703/620-0994.