To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act to require the timely application to imported fruits and vegetables of grade, size, quality, and maturity requirements applicable to comparable domestically produced fruits and vegetables under agricultural marketing orders.

Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, to reduce the time period for the United States Trade Representative to advise the Secretary of Agriculture whether relevant grade, size, quality, or maturity restrictions on certain imported fruits and vegetables conflict with any trade agreement, including the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3335 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3335

    To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act to require the timely 
application to imported fruits and vegetables of grade, size, quality, 
    and maturity requirements applicable to comparable domestically 
  produced fruits and vegetables under agricultural marketing orders.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 4, 1998

 Mrs. Thurman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Agricultural Adjustment Act to require the timely 
application to imported fruits and vegetables of grade, size, quality, 
    and maturity requirements applicable to comparable domestically 
  produced fruits and vegetables under agricultural marketing orders.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. APPLICABILITY OF GRADE, SIZE, QUALITY, AND MATURITY 
              REQUIREMENTS OF AGRICULTURAL MARKETING ORDERS TO CERTAIN 
              IMPORTED FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

    Section 8e of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608e-1), 
reenacted with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act 
of 1937, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(2)--
                    (A) by striking ``advise the Secretary of 
                Agriculture, within 60 days of the notification under 
                paragraph (1), to ensure that'' and inserting ``have a 
                period of 10 calendar days, beginning on the date 
                notice is received under paragraph (1), to advise the 
                Secretary of Agriculture regarding whether''; and
                    (B) by striking ``is not inconsistent'' and 
                inserting ``is inconsistent''; and
            (2) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the following 
        new subsection:
    ``(d) As soon as possible after the expiration of the time period 
specified in subsection (c)(2) with respect to a proposed prohibition 
or regulation under this section, the Secretary of Agriculture shall 
implement the final prohibition or regulation, taking into 
consideration any advice submitted by the United States Trade 
Representative regarding the proposed prohibition or regulation during 
that time period.''.
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