Generalized System of Preferences Improvement Act - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to revise the prohibition against the President's designation of a beneficiary developing country for purposes of duty-free treatment of its products under the generalized system of preferences.
Prohibits the President from designating a country a beneficiary developing country if it: (1) enters into an agreement to afford preferential treatment to the products of a developed country other than the United States, unless the President certifies to Congress that it is in the U.S. national interests to make such designation; and (2) improperly uses sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, or other non-tariff trade barriers in a manner to negatively affect trade between the country and the United States.
Adds as one of the factors the President must take into account in determining whether to designate a country as a beneficiary developing country the extent, if any, to which such country adopts and follows international sanitary or phytosanitary standards and provides scientific justifications for deviations from such standards.
Requires the President to report annually to Congress on the status of market access within each covered beneficiary developing country, including findings with respect to whether or not it has adopted and followed international sanitary and phytosanitary standards and provides scientific justifications for any deviations from such standards.
[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6537 Introduced in House (IH)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6537
To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to make improvements to the Generalized
System of Preferences, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 21, 2012
Mr. Nunes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to make improvements to the Generalized
System of Preferences, 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 ``Generalized System of Preferences
Improvement Act''.
SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF BENEFICIARY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
Section 502 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2462) is amended--
(1) in subsection (b)(2)--
(A) in subparagraph (C)--
(i) by striking ``(C)'' and inserting
``(C)(i)''; and
(ii) by adding at the end the following:
``(ii) Such country enters into an agreement to
afford preferential treatment to the products of a
developed country, other than the United States, unless
the President determines and certifies to Congress that
it is in the national interests of the United States to
designate such country as a beneficiary developing
country under this title.'';
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (H) the
following:
``(I) Such country improperly uses sanitary and
phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, or
other non-tariff trade barriers through a sustained or
recurring course of action or inaction, in a manner
negatively affecting trade between the country and the
United States.''; and
(C) in the matter following subparagraph (I) (as
added by subparagraph (B) of this paragraph), by
striking ``and (H)'' and inserting ``(H), and (I)'';
and
(2) in subsection (c)--
(A) in paragraph (6), by striking ``and'' at the
end;
(B) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at the
end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
``(8) whether or not and the extent to which such country,
in accordance with its capacity, adopts and follows
international sanitary or phytosanitary standards and provides
scientific justifications for deviations from such
standards.''.
SEC. 3. REVIEW AND REPORT TO CONGRESS.
Section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2464) is amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``report'' and
inserting ``reports'';
(2) by striking ``The President'' and inserting ``(a)
report on Worker Rights and Child Labor.--The President''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(b) Report on Market Access.--
``(1) In general.--The President shall submit an annual
report to the Congress on the status of market access within
each covered beneficiary developing country, including findings
with respect to whether or not the beneficiary country, in
accordance with its capacity, has adopted and followed
international sanitary and phytosanitary standards and provides
scientific justifications for deviations from such standards.
The report shall also include findings as to whether or not
each covered beneficiary developing country has improperly used
sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to
trade, and other non-tariff trade barriers.
``(2) Covered beneficiary developing country.--In paragraph
(1), the term `covered beneficiary developing country ' means a
beneficiary developing country that is one of the top 20
beneficiary developing countries in terms of dollar value of
duty-free imports of articles under this title as identified on
an annual basis by the United States International Trade
Commission.''.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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