Unfair Foreign Competition Act of 2007 - Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize a petitioning party, in an antidumping or countervailing duty investigation, to elect, within 30 days after the investigation has started, to bring a civil action in a U.S. district court for determination that a U.S. industry is materially injured or is threatened with material injury, or the establishment of an industry in the United States is materially retarded, by reason of imports, or sales (or the likelihood of sales) for importation, of the merchandise subject to the investigation, and that imports of the subject merchandise are not negligible.
Authorizes such a petitioning party, within 30 days after a five-year review of an antidumping or countervailing duty order is initiated, to bring a civil action in a U.S. district court for determination of whether revocation of the antidumping or countervailing duty order, or termination of a suspended investigation, would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury.
Provides for preliminary relief and expedited action.
Applies this Act to goods from Canada and Mexico.
[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1440 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1440
To provide for judicial determination of injury in certain cases
involving dumped and subsidized merchandise imported into the United
States, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 21, 2007
Mr. Specter (for himself, Mr. Rockefeller, and Mr. Casey) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for judicial determination of injury in certain cases
involving dumped and subsidized merchandise imported into the United
States, 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 ``Unfair Foreign Competition Act of
2007''.
SEC. 2. JUDICIAL DETERMINATION OF INJURY.
(a) In General.--Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1671 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new
subtitle:
``Subtitle E--Judicial Determination of Injury
``SEC. 791. CIVIL ACTION.
``(a) Injury Determination.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
this title, in an antidumping or countervailing duty investigation
initiated under section 702 or 732, a petitioning party, may, not later
than 30 days after the date an investigation is initiated under such
sections, elect to bring a civil action in a United States district
court, for a determination that--
``(1) an industry in the United States--
``(A) is materially injured, or
``(B) is threatened with material injury, or
``(2) the establishment of an industry in the United States
is materially retarded,
by reason of imports, or sales (or the likelihood of sales) for
importation, of the merchandise subject to the investigation, and that
imports of the subject merchandise are not negligible.
``(b) Five-Year Reviews.--Not later than 30 days after a 5-year
review of an antidumping or countervailing duty order is initiated
under section 751(c), a party, who was a petitioning party in the
initial investigation that resulted in the antidumping or
countervailing duty order, may bring a civil action in a United States
district court for a determination of whether revocation of the
antidumping or countervailing duty order or termination of the
investigation suspended under section 704 or 734 would likely lead to
continuation or recurrence of material injury based on the standards
set forth in section 752.
``(c) Effect of Election; Relief.--
``(1) Effect of election.--
``(A) In general.--An election under subsection (a)
or (b) of this section shall be for a determination by
the district court in lieu of a determination by the
Commission under section 703(a), section 733(a),
section 705(b), section 735(b), or chapter 1 of
subtitle C, as the case may be.
``(B) Commission to compile record.--If an election
is made under this subtitle, the Commission shall
conduct an investigation and compile evidence with
respect to the petition in the same manner and to the
same extent under this title as if an election had not
been made. Any information compiled by the Commission
shall be made available to the parties to the
proceeding and furnished to the district court in a
timely manner.
``(C) Notification by the administering authority
and commission.--If an election is made under this
subtitle, any notification the administering authority
is required to provide the Commission under this title
shall be provided to the district court and any
notification the Commission is required to provide the
administering authority shall be provided to the
district court.
``(2) Relief.--
``(A) In general.--In an action brought under
subsection (a) or (b), the district court shall apply
the same standards and make the same determinations and
findings, that would be made by the Commission under
this title if an election had not been made.
``(B) Findings and conclusions.--The court shall
issue findings of fact and conclusions of law and any
order issued by the court shall have the same effect as
a determination of the Commission under this title.
``(3) Special rules.--The following rules shall apply to
actions initiated under subsection (a) or (b):
``(A) Appeal.--An order issued by a United States
district court under this title shall be appealable to
a United States Court of Appeals.
``(B) Order not stayed.--An order issued under this
section shall not be stayed pending appeal to a United
States Court of Appeals.
``(C) Precedential effect of decisions of the
international trade commission.--The decisions of the
Commission in other investigations initiated under this
title shall not be binding on the court.
``(D) Hearings.--The court shall provide a
petitioning party and any interested party an
opportunity to file briefs and argue orally to the
court based on the information compiled by the
Commission.
``(E) Attendance by defendant.--There shall be no
obligation on any defendant interested party to attend
a meeting or hearing, and failure to do so shall not be
prejudicial to that party's case.
``(F) Default judgments.--The failure of an
interested party, described in subparagraph (A) or (B)
of section 771(9), to intervene in an action initiated
under this section or otherwise to participate in the
proceedings shall not result in judgment by default.
``(G) Venue.--A civil action under this section may
be brought in a judicial district where a manufacturing
facility, sales office, or administrative headquarters
of any plaintiff who is a petitioning party is located.
``(d) Service of Process.--Within 5 days of filing an action under
subsection (a) or (b), the filing party shall notify all known
interested parties described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section
771(9). Such notice shall include--
``(1) a copy of the complaint; and
``(2) notice that the party is entitled to participate in
the proceedings pursuant to subsection (e) of this section.
``(e) Intervention as of Right.--Any interested party described in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of section 771(9) shall be entitled to
intervene in an action initiated under this section.
``(f) Preliminary Relief.--
``(1) In general.--In an action brought under subsection
(a), the court shall, upon motion, issue a preliminary order
that contains a determination of whether there is a reasonable
indication that an industry in the United States is materially
injured, or is threatened with material injury, or the
establishment of an industry in the United States is materially
retarded, by reason of imports of the subject merchandise and
that imports of the subject merchandise are not negligible. The
order shall include a description of the essential facts under
consideration which form the basis of the decision.
``(2) Effect of order.--An order making an affirmative
determination under paragraph (1) shall have the same effect as
an affirmative preliminary determination by the Commission
under section 703(a) or 733(a).
``(3) Timing.--The court shall make a preliminary
determination under this subsection within 45 days after a
complaint has been filed.
``(g) Expedited Action.--
``(1) In general.--An action brought under subsection (a)
or (b) shall be advanced on the docket and expedited in every
way practicable.
``(2) Final determination in subsection (a) cases.--The
court shall make a final determination regarding material
injury in an action filed under subsection (a) before the later
of--
``(A) the 120th day after the date on which the
administering authority makes an affirmative
preliminary determination under section 703(b) or
733(b); or
``(B) the 45th day after the day on which the
administering authority makes an affirmative final
determination under section 705(a) or 735(a).
``(3) Final determination in five-year reviews.--The court
shall make a final determination regarding the likelihood of
continuation or recurrence of material injury under subsection
(b) before the later of--
``(A) the 360th day after the date on which the
review is initiated under section 751(c)(2); or
``(B) the 120th day after the date on which the
final determination of the administering authority is
published.
``(4) Extraordinarily complicated cases.--If the court
concludes that a case is extraordinarily complicated, as
defined in section 703(c) or 733(c), the court may extend the
time under paragraphs (2) or (3) by an additional 30 days.
``(h) Protection of Confidential Information.--The court shall make
arrangements to protect the confidentiality of information designated
as proprietary by an interested party pursuant to a judicial protective
order.''.
(b) Changed Circumstances Reviews.--Section 751(b) of the Tariff
Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675(b)) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``(5) Certain cases to be filed in united states district
court.--If the injury determination at issue was initially made
by a United States district court, the court shall retain
jurisdiction over the injury determination for purposes of this
section. Any party seeking revocation of an order or
termination of a suspended investigation shall seek review in
the district court that made the original injury determination
under section 791.''.
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for title VII of the
Tariff Act of 1930 is amended by inserting after the item relating to
section 783 the following:
``Subtitle E--Judicial Determination of Injury
``Sec. 791. Civil action.''.
(d) Conforming Amendment.--Section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930
(19 U.S.C. 1516a) is amended by striking ``Within 30 days'' and
inserting ``Except in the case where an interested party makes an
election under subtitle E of title VII for a judicial determination of
injury, within 30 days''.
(e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section apply to--
(1) countervailing duty investigations initiated under
section 702 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671a) on or
after the date of the enactment of this Act;
(2) antidumping duty investigations initiated under section
732 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1673a) on or after the
date of the enactment of this Act; and
(3) reviews initiated under section 751 of the Tariff Act
of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675) on or after the date of the enactment
of this Act.
SEC. 3. APPLICATION TO CANADA AND MEXICO.
Pursuant to article 1902 of the North American Free Trade Agreement
and section 408 of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act, the amendments made by this Act shall apply with
respect to goods from Canada and Mexico.
SEC. 4. NOTIFICATION TO WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION.
Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
pursuant to the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on
Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, the Secretary of State shall
notify the appropriate officials of the World Trade Organization of the
amendments made by this Act and that the United States district courts
shall be treated as competent authorities for purposes of injury
determinations under title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1671 et seq.).
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S6403-6404)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
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