Temporary Duty Suspension Process Act of 2013 - Directs the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) to establish a process in which it will: (1) review each article in which a temporary duty suspension or reduction has been recommended at its own initiative or pursuant to a petition, and (2) submit a draft bill to the appropriate congressional committees containing each duty suspension or reduction that meets certain requirements.
Requires the USITC to report to Congress on: (1) recommendations with respect to sectors of the U.S. economy that could benefit from duty suspensions or reductions without causing harm to other domestic interests, and (2) the feasibility of suspending or reducing duties on a sectoral basis rather than on individual articles.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 790 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 790
To require the United States International Trade Commission to
recommend temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 23, 2013
Mrs. McCaskill (for herself, Mr. Portman, Mr. Coats, Mr. Coburn, Mr.
Toomey, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Flake, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Johnson of Wisconsin)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the United States International Trade Commission to
recommend temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, 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 ``Temporary Duty Suspension Process
Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on
Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of
the House of Representatives.
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United
States International Trade Commission.
(3) Duty suspension or reduction.--The term ``duty
suspension or reduction'' means an amendment to subchapter II
of chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States--
(A) extending an existing temporary suspension or
reduction of duty on an article under that subchapter;
or
(B) providing for a new temporary suspension or
reduction of duty on an article under that subchapter.
SEC. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS BY UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
FOR DUTY SUSPENSIONS AND REDUCTIONS.
(a) Establishment of Review Process.--Not later than 90 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete
all actions necessary to establish a process pursuant to which the
Commission will--
(1) review each article with respect to which a duty
suspension or reduction may be made--
(A) at the initiative of the Commission; or
(B) pursuant to a petition submitted or referred to
the Commission under subsection (b); and
(2) submit a draft bill to the appropriate congressional
committees under subsection (d).
(b) Petitions.--
(1) In general.--As part of the process established under
subsection (a), the Commission shall establish procedures under
which a petition requesting the Commission to review a duty
suspension or reduction pursuant to that process may be--
(A) submitted to the Commission by a member of the
public; or
(B) referred to the Commission by a Member of
Congress.
(2) Requirements.--A petition submitted or referred to the
Commission under paragraph (1) shall be submitted or referred
at such time and in such manner and shall include such
information as the Commission may require.
(3) No preferential treatment for members of congress.--A
petition referred to the Commission by a Member of Congress
under subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) shall receive treatment
no more favorable than the treatment received by a petition
submitted to the Commission by a member of the public under
subparagraph (A) of that paragraph.
(c) Public Comments.--As part of the process established under
subsection (a), the Commission shall establish procedures for--
(1) notifying the public when the Commission initiates the
process of reviewing articles with respect to which duty
suspensions or reductions may be made and distributing
information about the process, including by posting information
about the process on the website of the Commission;
(2) except as provided in subsection (d)(4)(C), notifying
the public of the duty suspensions and reductions the
Commission is considering including in the draft bill not later
than 45 days before submitting a draft bill to the appropriate
congressional committees under subsection (d)(1); and
(3) providing the public with an opportunity to submit
comments with respect to any of those duty suspensions or
reductions.
(d) Submission of Draft Bill.--
(1) In general.--The Commission shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a draft bill that contains
each duty suspension or reduction that the Commission
determines, pursuant to the process established under
subsection (a) and after conducting the consultations required
by subsection (e), meets the requirements described in
subsection (f), not later than--
(A) the date that is 60 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act;
(B) February 1, 2015; and
(C) February 1, 2018.
(2) Effective period of duty suspensions and reductions.--
Duty suspensions and reductions included in a draft bill
submitted under paragraph (1) shall be effective for a period
of not less than 3 years.
(3) Authority to make certain modifications.--In including
a duty suspension or reduction the Commission determines
otherwise meets the requirements of subsection (f) in a draft
bill to be submitted under paragraph (1), the Commission may--
(A) modify the article description for the duty
suspension or reduction--
(i) to ensure that U.S. Customs and Border
Protection can administer the duty suspension
or reduction; or
(ii) to correct a technical deficiency in
the article description;
(B) modify the duty rate for the duty suspension or
reduction so that the estimated loss in revenue to the
United States from the duty suspension or reduction
does not exceed the amount specified in subsection
(f)(1)(B); or
(C) consolidate the duty suspension or reduction
with other duplicative or overlapping duty suspensions
or reductions.
(4) Special rules for first submission.--For purposes of
submitting the draft bill required to be submitted on the date
specified in paragraph (1)(A), the Commission--
(A) may use the evaluations conducted by the
Commission of bills providing for duty suspensions or
reductions introduced in the Senate or the House of
Representatives during the 112th Congress;
(B) shall be required to include only duty
suspensions and reductions with respect to which the
Commission has sufficient time to make a determination
under paragraph (1) before the draft bill is required
to be submitted; and
(C) shall notify the public of the duty suspensions
and reductions the Commission is considering including
in the draft bill not later than 30 days before
submitting the draft bill.
(e) Consultations.--In determining whether a duty suspension or
reduction meets the requirements described in subsection (f), the
Commission shall, not later than 30 days before submitting a draft bill
to the appropriate congressional committees under subsection (d),
conduct consultations with the Commissioner responsible for U.S.
Customs and Border Protection, the Secretary of Commerce, the United
States Trade Representative, and the heads of other relevant Federal
agencies.
(f) Requirements for Duty Suspensions and Reductions.--
(1) In general.--A duty suspension or reduction meets the
requirements described in this subsection if--
(A) the duty suspension or reduction can be
administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection;
(B) the estimated loss in revenue to the United
States from the duty suspension or reduction does not
exceed $500,000 in a calendar year during which the
duty suspension or reduction would be in effect; and
(C) on the date on which the Commission submits a
draft bill to the appropriate congressional committees
under subsection (d) that includes the duty suspension
or reduction, the article to which the duty suspension
or reduction would apply is not produced in the United
States and is not expected to be produced in the United
States during the subsequent 12-month period.
(2) Consideration of relevant information.--In determining
whether a duty suspension or reduction meets the requirements
described in paragraph (1), the Commission may consider any
information the Commission considers relevant to the
determination.
(3) Judicial review precluded.--A determination of the
Commission with respect to whether or not a duty suspension or
reduction meets the requirements described in paragraph (1)
shall not be subject to judicial review.
(g) Reports Required.--
(1) In general.--Each time the Commission submits a draft
bill under subsection (d), the Commission shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a report on the duty
suspensions and reductions contained in the draft bill that
includes--
(A) the views of the head of each agency consulted
under subsection (e); and
(B) any objections received by the Commission
during consultations conducted under subsection (e) or
through public comments submitted under subsection (c),
including--
(i) objections with respect to duty
suspensions or reductions the Commission
included in the draft bill; and
(ii) objections that led to the Commission
to determine not to include a duty suspension
or reduction in the draft bill.
(2) Initial report on process.--Not later than one year
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report that includes--
(A) an assessment of the effectiveness of the
process established under subsection (a) and the
requirements of this section;
(B) to the extent practicable, a description of the
effects of duty suspensions and reductions recommended
pursuant to that process on the United States economy
that includes--
(i) a broad assessment of the economic
effects of such duty suspensions and reductions
on producers, purchasers, and consumers in the
United States; and
(ii) case studies describing such effects
by industry or by type of articles, as
available data permits;
(C) to the extent practicable, a comparison of the
actual loss in revenue to the United States resulting
from duty suspensions and reductions recommended
pursuant to that process to the loss in such revenue
estimated during that process, based on data available
at the time of the submission of the report;
(D) to the extent practicable, information on how
broadly or narrowly duty suspensions and reductions
recommended pursuant to that process were used by
importers; and
(E) any recommendations of the Commission for
improving that process and the requirements of this
section.
(h) Form of Draft Bill and Reports.--Each draft bill submitted
under subsection (d) and each report required by subsection (g) shall
be--
(1) submitted to the appropriate congressional committees
in electronic form; and
(2) made available to the public on the website of the
Commission.
SEC. 4. REPORTS ON BENEFITS OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS OR REDUCTIONS TO
SECTORS OF THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY.
Not later than January 1, 2014, and annually thereafter, the
Commission shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a
report that--
(1) makes recommendations with respect to sectors of the
United States economy that could benefit from duty suspensions
or reductions without causing harm to other domestic interests;
and
(2) assesses the feasibility and advisability of suspending
or reducing duties on a sectoral basis rather than on
individual articles.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
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