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ATP Eligibility Criteria for
U.S. Subsidiaries of Foreign-owned Companies
3. Foreign Eligibility RequirementsCompanies incorporated or organized in the United States with a parent company incorporated in another country must satisfy not only the project selection criteria outlined in Chapter 2 that apply to all companies, but also four additional eligibility requirements as specified in the ATP Statute and described below. 5 The Secretary of Commerce (or the Secretary's designee) must find that:
This requirement is partly covered under the potential for broad-based economic benefits to the United States project selection criterion, which is one of two project selection criteria that all funded projects must pass, as described earlier. In the project selection criterion, the emphasis is on the project's potential for providing net broad-based economic benefits to the United States. The emphasis in the foreign eligibility finding is on the effect on project outcomes of the participation of the foreign-owned company. It is possible that a particular foreign-owned company's participation in a joint venture project is not in the economic interest of the United States, even if the project scored high on broad-based economic benefits to the United States. In such a case, the joint venture may be given the opportunity to replace the ineligible foreign member and go forward as an award recipient. The next three eligibility requirements pertain not to the project or the company, but rather to the national policies of the country in which the parent company is incorporated; consequently, these are generally beyond the control of the individual company applicant. The Secretary of Commerce (or the Secretary's designee) must find that:
This requirement looks to whether similar programs to ATP exist in the parent country and whether U.S.-owned firms are allowed to participate under the same conditions as domestic firms. Rules on eligibility and participation of U.S. firms are gathered. The Secretary of Commerce (or the Secretary's designee) must find that:
This requirement focuses on the opportunities for U.S.-owned companies to make investments in the parent country under the same conditions as domestic firms, including mergers, acquisitions, and other forms of investment in all sectors of the economy. Laws, regulations, and any informal barriers to entry are examined. The Secretary of Commerce (or the Secretary's designee) must find that:
This requirement pertains to whether the parent country adequately and effectively protects the intellectual property rights (i.e., patents, trademarks, copyrights) of U.S.-owned companies. Enforcement procedures and process for dispute settlement of infringement cases are considered. To be clear, for a foreign eligibility finding to be determined positive, each of the four foreign eligibility requirements must be met. If one of the requirements is found to be negative, the finding will be negative. If one requirement falls short, but another requirement is more than adequate, the finding will still be negative. A positive foreign eligibility finding means that the applicant is determined eligible to participate in an ATP project, provided all other ATP criteria-common to all ATP award candidates-are met.____________________ Return to Table of Contents or go to Chapter 4 . Date created: January
1998 |
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ATP website comments: webmaster-atp@nist.gov / Technical ATP inquiries: InfoCoord.ATP@nist.gov. NIST is an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department |
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