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Union Calendar No. 32

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 975

[Report No. 106–52]

To provide for a reduction in the volume of steel imports, and to establish

a steel import notification and monitoring program.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 4, 1999

Mr. VISCLOSKY (for himself, Mr. QUINN, Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. NEY, Mr.

KUCINICH, Mr. ENGLISH, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. KLINK, Mr.

REGULA, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. WELLER, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. GEKAS, Mr.

BONIOR, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. GANSKE, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. FRANKS of

New Jersey, Mr. COYNE, Mr. BERRY, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania,

Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. GOODLING, Ms. KAPTUR, Ms. MCCARTHY of Missouri, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. WISE, Mr. EHRLICH, Mr. MOAKLEY, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr.

MATSUI, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. EVANS, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. SANDLIN,

Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. BRADY of

Pennsylvania, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. ANDREWS, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr.

RODRIGUEZ, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. MEEKS of

New York, Mr. LARSON, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr.

MALONEY of Connecticut, Mr. OLVER, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. HINCHEY, Ms.

STABENOW, Mr. MASCARA, Mr. PASTOR, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr.

HILLIARD, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Ms. HOOLEY of Oregon, Mr.

BOSWELL, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. DELAHUNT, Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. FILNER, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr.

BRYANT, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. MCNULTY,

Mr. BORSKI, Mr. KLECZKA, Mr. FORBES, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. SAWYER,

and Mr. CANNON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

MARCH 15, 1999

Additional sponsors: Mr. SERRANO, Mr. VENTO, Mr. MOORE, Ms. DEGETTE,

Mr. JENKINS, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. METCALF, Mr.

MICA, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. GOODE, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. SOUDER, Mr.
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WALSH, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. BROWN of California,

Mr. BACHUS, Mr. REYES, Mr. HOLT, Mr. LAMPSON, Mr. FORD, Ms.

CARSON, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr.

DIXON, Ms. DANNER, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. RUSH, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. HORN, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr.

GREEN of Texas, Mr. BALDACCI, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. CALLAHAN,

Mrs. CAPPS, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. CLAY, Mr. CLEMENT, Mr. COBURN,

Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. NADLER, Ms. LEE, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. THOMPSON

of Mississippi, Mr. WYNN, Mr. HOYER, Mr. SPRATT, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr.

INSLEE, Mr. COOK, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. HALL of Ohio, Mr. SKEEN, Mr.

SHOWS, Mr. CAPUANO, Mrs. LOWEY, Mr. BARCIA, Ms. NORTON, Ms.

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr.

HILL of Indiana, Mr. MINGE, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. RANGEL,

Ms. SANCHEZ, Mr. TIERNEY, Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. SABO,

Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr.

BLUMENAUER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. EVERETT,

Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. ROTHMAN, Ms.

SLAUGHTER, Mr. WEYGAND, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. HEFLEY, Mr. RILEY, Mr.

UNDERWOOD, Mr. ROMERO-BARCELO ́, Ms. WATERS, Mr. KASICH, Mr.

WATT of North Carolina, Mr. WAMP, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. PETERSON of

Minnesota, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. MARKEY,

Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr.

HOSTETTLER, Mr. MARTINEZ, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. SISISKY, Mr. FROST, Mr. LUTHER, Ms. RIVERS, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr.

BOYD, Mr. BENTSEN, and Mr. SHUSTER

MARCH 15, 1999

Reported adversely from the Committee on Ways and Means, committed to

the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

A BILL

To provide for a reduction in the volume of steel imports,

and to establish a steel import notification and monitoring program.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. REDUCTION IN VOLUME OF STEEL IMPORTS.

2 (a) REDUCTION.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of law, within 60 days after the date of the enactment

4 of this Act, the President shall take the necessary steps,

5 by imposing quotas, tariff surcharges, negotiated enforce6 able voluntary export restraint agreements, or otherwise,

7 to ensure that the volume of steel products imported into

8 the United States during any month does not exceed the

9 average volume of steel products that was imported

10 monthly into the United States during the 36-month pe11 riod preceding July 1997.

12 (b) ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY.—Within 60 days

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary

14 of the Treasury, through the United States Customs Serv15 ice, and the Secretary of Commerce shall implement a pro16 gram for administering and enforcing the restraints on

17 imports under subsection (a). The Customs Service is au18 thorized to refuse entry into the customs territory of the

19 United States of any steel products that exceed the allow20 able levels of imports of such products.

21 (c) APPLICABILITY.—

22 (1) CATEGORIES.—This section shall apply to

23 the following categories of steel products: semi24 finished, plates, sheets and strips, wire rods, wire

25 and wire products, rail type products, bars, struc-
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1 tural shapes and units, pipes and tubes, iron ore,

2 and coke products.

3 (2) VOLUME.—Volume of steel products for

4 purposes of this section shall be determined on the

5 basis of tonnage of such products.

6 (d) EXPIRATION.—This section shall expire at the

7 end of the 3-year period beginning 60 days after the date

8 of the enactment of this Act.

9 SEC. 2. STEEL IMPORT NOTIFICATION AND MONITORING

10 PROGRAM.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the

12 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce,

13 in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall

14 establish and implement a steel import notification and

15 monitoring program. The program shall include a require16 ment that any person importing a product classified under

17 chapter 72 or 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of

18 the United States obtain an import notification certificate

19 before such products are entered into the United States.

20 (b) STEEL IMPORT NOTIFICATION CERTIFICATES.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to obtain a steel

22 import notification certificate, an importer shall sub23 mit to the Secretary of Commerce an application

24 containing—

25 (A) the importer’s name and address;
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1 (B) the name and address of the supplier

2 of the goods to be imported;

3 (C) the name and address of the producer

4 of the goods to be imported;

5 (D) the country of origin of the goods;

6 (E) the country from which the goods are

7 to be imported;

8 (F) the United States Customs port of

9 entry where the goods will be entered;

10 (G) the expected date of entry of the goods

11 into the United States;

12 (H) a description of the goods, including

13 the classification of such goods under the Har14 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States;

15 (I) the quantity (in kilograms and net

16 tons) of the goods to be imported;

17 (J) the cost insurance freight (CIF) and

18 free alongside ship (FAS) values of the goods to

19 be entered;

20 (K) whether the goods are being entered

21 for consumption or for entry into a bonded

22 warehouse or foreign trade zone;

23 (L) a certification that the information

24 furnished in the certificate application is cor25 rect; and
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1 (M) any other information the Secretary of

2 Commerce determines to be necessary and ap3 propriate.

4 (2) ENTRY INTO CUSTOMS TERRITORY.—In the

5 case of merchandise classified under chapter 72 or

6 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United

7 States that is initially entered into a bonded ware8 house or foreign trade zone, a steel import notifica9 tion certificate shall be required before the merchan10 dise is entered into the customs territory of the

11 United States.

12 (3) ISSUANCE OF STEEL IMPORT NOTIFICATION

13 CERTIFICATE.—The Secretary of Commerce shall

14 issue a steel import notification certificate to any

15 person who files an application that meets the re16 quirements of this section. Such certificate shall be

17 valid for a period of 30 days from the date of

18 issuance.

19 (c) STATISTICAL INFORMATION.—

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce

21 shall compile and publish on a weekly basis informa22 tion described in paragraph (2).

23 (2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—Information

24 described in this paragraph means information ob25 tained from steel import notification certificate ap-
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1 plications concerning steel imported into the United

2 States and includes with respect to such imports the

3 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States

4 classification (to the tenth digit), the country of ori5 gin, the port of entry, quantity, value of steel im6 ported, and whether the imports are entered for con7 sumption or are entered into a bonded warehouse or

8 foreign trade zone. Such information shall also be

9 compiled in aggregate form and made publicly avail10 able by the Secretary of Commerce on a weekly basis

11 by public posting through an Internet website. The

12 information provided under this section shall be in

13 addition to any information otherwise required by

14 law.

15 (d) FEES.—The Secretary of Commerce may pre16 scribe reasonable fees and charges to defray the costs of

17 carrying out the provisions of this section, including a fee

18 for issuing a certificate under this section.

19 (e) SINGLE PRODUCER AND EXPORTER COUN20 TRIES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

21 Secretary of Commerce shall make publicly available all

22 information required to be released pursuant to subsection

23 (c), including information obtained regarding imports

24 from a foreign producer or exporter that is the only pro-
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1 ducer or exporter of goods subject to this section from a

2 foreign country.

3 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Commerce may

4 prescribe such rules and regulations relating to the steel

5 import notification and monitoring program as may be

6 necessary to carry the provisions of this section.

Union Calendar No. 32

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 975

[Report No. 106–52]

A BILL

To provide for a reduction in the volume of steel

tion and monitoring program.imports, and to establish a steel import notificaMARCH 15, 1999

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union and ordered to be printed