(Sec. 1) Revises certain factors the International Trade Commission (ITC) must consider when investigating to determine whether an article is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury (or threat) to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported article. Repeals, similarly, the requirement that such injury be substantial.
Directs the ITC, when a petition filed by an industry (or a request by the President, United States Trade Representative (USTR), a resolution of specified congressional committees, or on the ITC's own motion) requesting a positive adjustment to import competition alleges that critical circumstances exist, to make a serious injury (or threat) determination with respect to such competition not later than 45 days (currently 60 days) after such petition or request is filed. Requires the President within 20 days (currently, 30 days) after receiving an affirmative determination to provide provisional relief to prevent or remedy such injury. Requires with respect to the implementation of such provisional relief that it will not have an adverse impact on the United States substantially out of proportion to the benefits of such action.
Requires provisional relief recommended by the ITC to take effect upon the enactment of a joint resolution of Congress within the 60 day (currently, 90 day) period beginning on the date that the President reports to Congress on what action, if any, is to be taken.
(Sec. 2) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize an entity (including a trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers which is representative of a domestic industry that produces an article that is like or directly competitive with an imported article) to file a request to monitor to such imports, based on a petition that alleges that an article is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to cause serious injury (or threat) to the domestic industry. Requires the President to determine whether to monitor within 45 days after receiving a request.
(Sec. 3) Authorizes the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in order to facilitate the early identification of potentially disruptive import surges, to grant an exception to the publication dates established for the release of data on U.S. international trade in goods and services in order to permit public access to preliminary international trade import data, if the Director notifies Congress of the early release of such data.
(Sec. 4) Amends the Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act of 1978 to authorize appropriations to establish a Steel Import Monitoring and Enforcement Support Center in the Customs Service.
(Sec. 5) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the ITC to establish a suffix to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States for merchandise that is subject to countervailing duty orders or antidumping duty orders.
(Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary of Commerce to monitor, and report to Congress on, imports (including steel mill products and other import-sensitive products) on a monthly basis for import surges and potential unfair trade through 2000.
(Sec. 7) Directs the ITC to investigate, collect information, and report to specified congressional committees on anticompetitive practices in international steel trade. Requires the ITC's findings to be included in the National Trade Estimate report.
(Sec. 8) Authorizes appropriations.
[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1120 Introduced in House (IH)]
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1120
To modify the standards for responding to import surges under section
201 of the Trade Act of 1974, to establish mechanisms for import
monitoring and the prevention of circumvention of United States trade
laws, and to strengthen the enforcement of United States trade remedy
laws.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 16, 1999
Mr. Levin (for himself and Mr. Houghton) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To modify the standards for responding to import surges under section
201 of the Trade Act of 1974, to establish mechanisms for import
monitoring and the prevention of circumvention of United States trade
laws, and to strengthen the enforcement of United States trade remedy
laws.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 1 OF TITLE II OF THE TRADE ACT OF
1974.
(a) Test for Positive Adjustments to Import Competition.--Section
201(a) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2251(a)) is amended by
striking ``be a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat
thereof,'' and inserting ``cause or threaten to cause serious injury''.
(b) Investigations and Determinations.--Section 202 of such Act (19
U.S.C. 2252) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ``be a substantial
cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof,'' and inserting
``cause or threaten to cause serious injury'';
(2) by amending subsection (b)(1)(B) to read as follows:
``(B) For purposes of this section, the term `cause' refers
to a cause that contributes significantly to serious injury, or
the threat thereof, to the domestic industry but need not be
equal to or greater than any other cause.'';
(3) in subsection (c)--
(A) by amending paragraph (1)(A) to read as
follows:
``(A) with respect to serious injury--
``(i) change in the level of sales,
production, productivity, capacity utilization,
profits and losses, and employment,
``(ii) the significant idling of productive
facilities in the domestic industry,
``(iii) the inability of a significant
number of firms to carry out domestic
production operations at a reasonable level of
profit, and
``(iv) significant unemployment or
underemployment within the domestic
industry;'';
(B) in paragraph (1)(B)--
(i) in clause (iii) by striking ``; and''
and inserting ``, and''; and
(ii) by inserting after clause (iii) the
following:
``(iv) foreign production capacity, foreign
inventories, the level of demand in third
country markets, and the availability of other
export markets to absorb any additional
exports; and'';
(C) by amending paragraph (1)(C) to read as
follows:
``(C) with respect to cause--
``(i) the rate, amount, and timing of the
increase in imports of the product concerned in
absolute and relative terms, including whether
there has been a substantial increase in
imports over a short period of time, and
``(ii) the share of the domestic market
taken by increased imports.'';
(D) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (6) as
paragraphs (5) through (8), respectively;
(E) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the
following:
``(2) In making determinations under paragraph (1)(A) and
(B), if domestic producers internally transfer significant
production of the article like or directly competitive with the
imported article for the production of a downstream article and
sell significant production of the article like or directly
competitive with the imported article in the merchant market,
and the Commission finds that--
``(A) the article like or directly competitive with
the imported article produced that is internally
transferred for processing into that downstream article
does not enter the merchant market for the article like
or directly competitive with the imported article,
``(B) the article like or directly competitive with
the imported article is the predominant material input
in the production of that downstream article, and
``(C) the production of the article like or
directly competitive with the imported article sold in
the merchant market is not generally used in the
production of the downstream article,
then the Commission, in determining market share and the
factors affecting financial performance set forth in paragraph
(1)(A) and (B), shall focus primarily on the merchant market
for the article like or directly competitive with the imported
article.
``(3) In making determinations under subsection (b), the
Commission shall--
``(A) consider the condition of the domestic
industry over the course of the relevant business
cycle, but may not aggregate the causes of declining
demand associated with a recession or economic downturn
in the United States economy into a single cause of
serious injury or threat of injury; and
``(B) examine factors other than imports which may
cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the
domestic industry.
The Commission shall include the results of its examination
under subparagraph (B) in the report submitted by the
Commission to the President under subsection (e).
``(4) In making determinations under subsection (b), the
Commission shall consider whether any change in the volume of
imports that has occurred since a petition under subsection (a)
was filed or a request under subsection (b) was made is related
to the pendency of the investigation, and if so, the Commission
may reduce the weight accorded to the data for the period after
the petition under subsection (a) was filed or the request
under subsection (b) was made in making its determination of
serious injury, or the threat thereof.''; and
(F) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated--
(i) by striking ``and (B)'' and inserting
``, (B), and (C)''; and
(ii) by striking ``be a substantial cause
of serious injury, or the threat thereof,'' and
inserting ``cause or threaten to cause serious
injury'';
(4) in subsection (d)--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by striking ``be, or
likely to be a substantial cause of serious injury, or
the threat thereof,'' and inserting ``cause, or be
likely to cause, or threaten to cause, or be likely to
threaten to cause, serious injury'';
(B) in paragraph (1)(C), in the matter following
clause (ii), by striking ``a substantial cause of
serious injury, or the threat thereof,'' and inserting
``causing or threatening to cause serious injury'';
(C) by amending paragraph (2)(A) to read as
follows:
``(2)(A) When a petition filed under subsection (a) or a
request filed under subsection (b) alleges that critical
circumstances exist and requests that provisional relief be
provided under this subsection with respect to imports of the
article identified in the petition or request, the Commission
shall, not later than 45 days after the petition or request is
filed, determine, on the basis of available information,
whether--
``(i) there is clear evidence that increased
imports (either actual or relative to domestic
production) of the article are causing or threatening
to cause serious injury to the domestic industry
producing an article like or directly competitive with
the imported article; and
``(ii) delay in taking action under this chapter
would cause damage to that industry that would be
difficult to repair.
In making the evaluation under clause (ii), the Commission
should consider, among other factors that it considers
relevant, the timing and volume of the imports, including
whether there has been a substantial increase in imports over a
short period of time, and any other circumstances indicating
that delay in taking action under this chapter would cause
damage to the industry that would be difficult to repair.'';
and
(D) in paragraph (2)(D), by striking ``30'' and
inserting ``20''.
(c) Presidential Determinations.--
(1) Action by president.--Section 203(a) of the Trade Act
of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)) is amended--
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ``and provide
greater economic and social benefits than costs'' and
inserting ``and will not have an adverse impact on the
United States substantially out of proportion to the
benefits of such action'';
(B) in paragraph (2)(F), by striking the semicolon
at the end of clause (iii) and inserting the following:
``except that the President shall give substantially
greater weight to the factors set out in clause (i)
than to those set out in clauses (ii) and (iii);''; and
(C) by amending paragraph (2)(I) to read as
follows:
``(I) the potential for harm to the national
security of the United States; and''.
(2) Implementation of action recommended by commission.--
(A) Section 203(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2253(c))
is amended by striking ``90'' and inserting ``60''.
(B) Section 152(c)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2192(c)(1)) is amended by striking ``not counting any day which
is excluded under section 154(b),'' and inserting ``counting
all calendar days in the case of a resolution described in
subsection (a)(1)(A), and not counting any day which is
excluded under section 154(b) in the case of a resolution
described in subsection (a)(1)(B),''.
(d) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Section 203(e)(6)(B) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19
U.S.C. 2253(e)(6)(B)) is amended by striking ``substantially''.
(2) Section 264(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2354(c)) is amended by striking ``a substantial cause of
serious injury or threat thereof'' and inserting ``causing or
threatening to cause serious injury''.
(3) Section 154(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2194(b)) is amended by striking the matter that precedes
paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
``(b) The 60-day period referred to in section 203(c) and the 90-
day period referred to in section 407(c)(2) shall be computed by
excluding--''.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 332 OF THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930.
Section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1332) is amended
by adding at the end the following:
``(h)(1) Any entity, including a trade association, firm, certified
or recognized union, or group of workers, which is representative of a
domestic industry that produces an article that is like or directly
competitive with an imported article, may file a request with the
President pursuant to paragraph (2) for the monitoring of imports of
such article under subsection (g).
``(2) If the request filed under paragraph (1) alleges that an
article is being imported into the United States in such increased
quantities as to cause serious injury, or threat thereof, to a domestic
industry, the President, within 45 days after receiving the request,
shall determine if monitoring is appropriate.
``(3) If the determination under paragraph (2) is affirmative, the
President shall request, under subsection (g), the Commission to
monitor and investigate the imports concerned for a period not to
exceed 2 years.''.
SEC. 3. EARLY RELEASE OF IMPORT DATA.
In order to facilitate the early identification of potentially
disruptive import surges, the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget may grant an exception to the publication dates established for
the release of data on United States international trade in goods and
services in order to permit public access to preliminary international
trade import data, if the Director notifies the Congress of the early
release of the data.
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF IMPORT MONITORING CENTER.
Section 301 of the Customs Procedural Reform and Simplification Act
of 1978 (19 U.S.C. 2075) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(h) Steel Import Monitoring and Enforcement Support Center.--
There are authorized to be appropriated for a Steel Import Monitoring
and Enforcement Support Center in the United States Customs Service, in
addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes, $250,000 for
fiscal year 1999, and $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2000.''.
SEC. 5. AMENDMENT TO TARIFF ACT OF 1930.
Section 484(f) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(f)) is
amended--
(1) by striking ``The Secretary'' and inserting ``(1) The
Secretary''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and
the International Trade Commission shall establish a suffix to the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States for merchandise that is
subject to countervailing duty orders or antidumping duty orders under
title VII of this Act, or subject to actions by the President under
chapter 1 of title II, or section 406, of the Trade Act of 1974.''.
SEC. 6. PRODUCT MONITORING.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Commerce shall monitor imports on
a monthly basis for import surges and potential unfair trade through
the year 2000. Products to be monitored shall be determined by the
Secretary of Commerce based on the import surge data compiled by the
Secretary, but shall include, at a minimum, steel mill products and
other import-sensitive products identified by United States industries
or entities representative of a United States industry that meet the
necessary criteria established by the Secretary. In determining whether
to monitor imports of a specific product, the Secretary shall consider
the percentage increase in imports, the volume or value of imports, as
appropriate, the level of import penetration, and any other factors the
Secretary considers necessary.
(b) Reporting Requirements.--Within 30 days after the release of
the official December import statistics for calendar year 1999 and for
calendar year 2000, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit a report to
the Congress summarizing the monitoring activities under this section
for that calendar year and identifying products to be monitored in the
next calendar year. In addition, in the report to the Congress covering
calendar year 1999, the Secretary of Commerce shall determine whether
trade conditions during the calendar year 1999 merit extending the
import monitoring program beyond the program's scheduled expiration at
the end of calendar year 2000.
SEC. 7. ITC INVESTIGATION OF ANTICOMPETITIVE PRACTICES IN INTERNATIONAL
STEEL TRADE.
(a) In General.--Within 30 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the United States International Trade Commission shall
commence an investigation under section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930--
(1) to collect information on anticompetitive practices in
international steel trade;
(2) to assess the adverse effects of such practices on
United States producers, workers, and consumers;
(3) to collect information on import licensing arrangements
of other members of the World Trade Organization; and
(4) to report to the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives, the Committee on Finance of the
Senate, and the United States Trade Representative on its
findings within 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
(b) Inclusion in National Trade Estimate Report.--The United States
Trade Representatives shall include the findings of the International
Trade Commission under subsection (a) in a special section of the
report submitted under section 181(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 after
the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act,
in which the Trade Representative shall identify and explain any
anticompetitive practices in international steel trade, evaluate the
compatibility of import licensing programs with obligations under the
World Trade Organization, and propose steps to be taken to address
anticompetitive practices and practices inconsistent with the World
Trade Organization.
(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the term
``anticompetitive practices in international steel trade'' means--
(1) monopolies or cartels, whether or not sanctioned by
government authorities, which restrict the output, delivery, or
pricing of steel products;
(2) agreements between steel producers, whether or not
sanctioned by government authorities, to restrict the flow of
steel products or limit price competition in international
steel trade; and
(3) coercion or threats by manufacturers to distributors or
consumers which have the effect of restricting imports of steel
products.
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) Department of Commerce.--(1) There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Department of Commerce, in addition to the amounts
otherwise available for such purposes, $1,200,000 for fiscal year 1999
and $5,200,000 for fiscal year 2000 for additional staff to conduct
import monitoring, subsidy enforcement, and prompt antidumping
investigations under subtitle B of title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930.
(b) USTR.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Office of
the United States Trade Representative, in addition to amounts
otherwise available for such purposes, $250,000 for fiscal year 1999
and $750,000 for fiscal year 2000 for additional staff--
(1) to promote and defend policy with respect to United
States import safeguards and countervailing or antidumping duty
actions if challenged in the World Trade Organization; and
(2) to identify foreign trade-distorting measures and
develop policies and responsive actions to address them.
(c) ITC.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the Office of
the United States International Trade Commission, in addition to
amounts otherwise available for such purposes, such sums as may be
necessary for fiscal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for
each of fiscal years 2000 through 2002, for additional staff to make
prompt determinations under section 202 (b) and (d) of the Trade Act of
1974.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
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