Fair Trade in Meat and Pork Products Act of 1997

Fair Trade in Meat and Pork Products Act of 1997 - Directs the United States Trade Representative (USTR), for purposes of identifying foreign countries not in compliance with the terms of any trade agreement with the United States, to determine whether the European Union has failed to implement its obligations under the Exchange of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other agreement. Requires the USTR, in the event of such a failure, to: (1) promptly request proceedings under the formal dispute settlement procedures applicable under the agreement; and (2) request the Secretary of Agriculture to direct the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture to review certifications for European Union facilities that import meat and other agricultural products into the United States.

[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
[H.R. 723 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 723

To require the United States Trade Representative to determine whether 
     the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its 
 obligations under certain trade agreements relating to United States 
      meat and pork exporting facilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 12, 1997

Mr. Hostettler introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the United States Trade Representative to determine whether 
     the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its 
 obligations under certain trade agreements relating to United States 
      meat and pork exporting facilities, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Trade in Meat and Pork Products 
Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The European Union's Third Country Meat Directive has 
        been used to decertify more than 400 United States facilities 
        exporting beef and pork products to the European Union even 
        though United States health inspection procedures are 
        equivalent to those provided for in the Third Country Meat 
        Directive.
            (2) An effect of the decertifications is to prohibit the 
        importation of United States beef and pork products into the 
        European Union.
            (3) As a result of the decertifications, the highly 
        competitive United States pork industry loses as much as 
        $60,000,000 each year from trade with European Union countries.
            (4) In July 1987 and November 1990, at the request of 
        affected United States industries, the United States initiated 
        investigations under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into 
        the European Union's administration of the Third Country Meat 
        Directive and sought resolution of the meat and pork trade 
        problems through the dispute settlement process established 
        under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
            (5) The United States Trade Representative preliminarily 
        concluded on October 10, 1992, that the European Union's 
        administration of the Third Country Meat Directive created a 
        burden on and restricted United States commerce.
            (6) Bilateral talks, initiated as a result of that finding, 
        resulted in an Exchange of Letters in which the United States 
        and the European Union concluded that the meat inspection 
        systems of the United States and the European Union provided 
        ``equivalent safeguards against public health risks'' and 
        agreed to take steps to resolve remaining differences regarding 
        meat inspection.
            (7) Even though the United States terminated the section 
        301 investigation as a result of the Exchange of Letters, the 
        United States determined that the practices under investigation 
        would have been actionable if an acceptable agreement had not 
        been reached.
            (8) United States meat and pork producers have displayed 
        consistent interest in exporting products to the European Union 
        and have undertaken substantial investment to take the steps 
        specified by the Exchange of Letters.
            (9) The European Union has failed to acknowledge changes in 
        plant safety and inspection procedures undertaken in the United 
        States specifically at the European Union's request and has not 
        fulfilled its obligation to inspect and relist United States 
        producers who have taken the steps specified by the Exchange of 
        Letters.
            (10) The actions of the European Union in conducting United 
        States plant inspections places the European Union in violation 
        of commitments made in the Exchange of Letters.
            (11) The European Union, in addition to being a party to 
        the Exchange of Letters, is a signatory to GATT 1994 and to the 
        Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary 
        Measures, which requires that meat and pork inspection 
        procedures under Department of Agriculture regulations be 
        treated as equivalent to inspection procedures required by the 
        European Union under the Third Country Meat Directive if the 
        regulations achieve the European level of sanitary protection.
            (12) Whenever a foreign country is not satisfactorily 
        implementing an international trade measure or agreement, the 
        United States Trade Representative is required under section 
        306(b)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416(b)(1)) to 
        determine the actions to be taken under section 301(a) of such 
        Act.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) Exchange of letters.--The term ``Exchange of Letters'' 
        means the exchange of letters concerning the application of the 
        Community Third Country Directive, signed in May 1991 and 
        November 1992, which constitute the agreement between the 
        United States and the European Economic Community regarding the 
        Third Country Meat Directive.
            (2) GATT 1994.--The term ``GATT 1994'' means the General 
        Agreement on Tariffs and Trade annexed to the World Trade 
        Organization Agreement, entered into on April 15, 1994.
            (3) Third country meat directive; community third country 
        directive.--The terms ``Third Country Meat Directive'' and 
        ``Community Third Country Directive'' mean the European Union's 
        Council Directive 72/462/EEC relating to inspection and 
        certification of slaughter and processing plants that export 
        meat and pork products to the European Union.

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR DETERMINATION BY UNITED STATES TRADE 
              REPRESENTATIVE.

    Not later than thirty days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the United States Trade Representative shall determine, for purposes of 
section 306(b)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, whether the European Union 
has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations under the 
Exchange of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures, or any other Agreement.

SEC. 5. REQUEST FOR DISPUTE SETTLEMENT.

    If the United States Trade Representative determines under section 
4 that the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its 
obligations under the Exchange of Letters, the Agreement on the 
Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other 
agreement, the United States Trade Representative shall promptly 
request proceedings on the matter under the formal dispute settlement 
procedures as set forth in section 301 of the United States Trade Act 
of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411).

SEC. 6. REVIEW OF CERTAIN MEAT FACILITIES.

    (a) Review by Food Safety and Inspection Service.--If the United 
States Trade Representative determines pursuant to section 4 that the 
European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations 
under the Exchange of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of 
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other Agreement, the United 
States Trade Representative shall request the Secretary of Agriculture 
(who, upon receipt of the request, shall) direct the Food Safety and 
Inspection Service of the Department of Agriculture to review 
certifications for European Union facilities that import meat and other 
agricultural products into the United States.
    (b) Relationship to USTR Authority.--The review authorized under 
subsection (a) is in addition to the authority of the United States 
Trade Representative to take actions described in section 301(c)(1) of 
the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411(c)(1)).
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