II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 120

To amend title II of the Trade Act of 1974 to clarify the definition of

domestic industry and to include certain agricultural products for purposes of providing relief from injury caused by import competition, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 19, 1999

Ms. SNOWE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title II of the Trade Act of 1974 to clarify the

definition of domestic industry and to include certain

agricultural products for purposes of providing relief

from injury caused by import competition, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agricultural Trade Re5 form Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF DOMESTIC INDUSTRY, ETC.

7 (a) DOMESTIC INDUSTRY.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(c)(6)(A)(i) of

2 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(c)(6)(A)(i)

3 is amended to read as follows:

4 ‘‘(A)(i) The term ‘domestic industry’

5 means, with respect to an article—

6 ‘‘(I) the producers as a whole of the

7 like or directly competitive article or those

8 producers whose collective production of

9 the like or directly competitive article con10 stitutes a major proportion of the total do11 mestic production of such article, or

12 ‘‘(II) the producers of a like or di13 rectly competitive perishable agricultural

14 product, citrus product, or potato product

15 in a specific geographic area of the United

16 States whose collective production in such

17 area of such article constitutes a signifi18 cant proportion of the total domestic pro19 duction of such article.’’.

20 (2) DETERMINATION BY COMMISSION.—Section

21 202(c)(4) of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2252(c)(4)) is

22 amended—

23 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub24 paragraph (B),
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1 (B) by striking the period at the end of

2 subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘; and’’, and

3 (C) by adding at the end the following new

4 subparagraph:

5 ‘‘(D) may—

6 ‘‘(i) in the case of one or more domes7 tic producers—

8 ‘‘(I) who produce a like or di9 rectly competitive perishable agricul10 tural product, citrus product, or po11 tato product in a specific geographic

12 area of the United States,

13 ‘‘(II) whose production of the

14 product in such area constitutes a sig15 nificant portion of the domestic indus16 try in the United States, and

17 ‘‘(III) who primarily serve the

18 market in such area, and

19 ‘‘(ii) if there are substantial imports

20 of a like or directly competitive product in

21 such area,

22 treat as the domestic industry only that portion

23 of the production of the product located in such

24 area.’’.
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1 (b) SPECIFIC GEOGRAPHIC AREA OF THE UNITED

2 STATES, ETC.—Section 202(c)(6) of such Act (19 U.S.C.

3 2252(c)(6)) is amended by adding at the end the following

4 new subparagraphs:

5 ‘‘(E) The term ‘specific geographic area of

6 the United States’ means a discrete and distin7 guishable geographic area in the United States

8 in which a perishable agricultural product, cit9 rus product, or potato product is produced.

10 ‘‘(F) The term ‘significant portion of the

11 domestic industry in the United States’ means

12 an important, recognizable part of the domestic

13 industry, including a part of the industry char14 acterized by production in the same growing

15 season.’’.

16 SEC. 3. PROVISIONAL RELIEF.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(d)(1)(C) of the Trade

18 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(d)(1)(C)) is amended to

19 read as follows:

20 ‘‘(C)(i) If—

21 ‘‘(I) a petition filed under subsection (a)—

22 ‘‘(aa) alleges injury from imports of a

23 perishable agricultural product, citrus

24 product, or potato product that has been,

25 on the date the allegation is included in
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1 the petition, subject to monitoring by the

2 Commission under subparagraph (B) for

3 not less than 90 days; and

4 (bb) requests that provisional relief be

5 provided under this subsection with respect

6 to such imports; or

7 ‘‘(II) a request made by the President or

8 the Trade Representative, or a resolution adopt9 ed by either the Committee on Ways and Means

10 or the Committee on Finance, under subsection

11 (b), states that provisional relief provided under

12 this subsection with respect to such imports

13 may be necessary to prevent or remedy serious

14 injury, or the threat thereof, to the domestic in15 dustry

16 the Commission shall, not later than the 21st day

17 after the day on which the request is filed, make a

18 determination described in clause (ii), on the basis

19 of available information.

20 ‘‘(ii) The determination described in this clause

21 is a determination by the Commission whether in22 creased imports (either actual or relative to domestic

23 production) of the perishable agricultural product,

24 citrus product, or potato product are a substantial

25 cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the
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1 domestic industry producing a like or directly com2 petitive perishable agricultural product, citrus prod3 uct, or potato product and whether either—

4 ‘‘(I) the serious injury is likely to be dif5 ficult to repair by reason of perishability of the

6 like or directly competitive agricultural product;

7 or

8 ‘‘(II) the serious injury cannot be timely

9 prevented through investigation under sub10 section (b) and action under section 203.’’.

11 (b) SPECIAL RULES FOR CONSIDERING CERTAIN RE12 QUESTS.—Section 202(d)(1) of such Act (19 U.S.C.

13 2252(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following

14 new subparagraph:

15 ‘‘(H) In considering a petition filed under

16 subsection (a) or a request or resolution de17 scribed in subsection (b), the Commission may

18 waive the 90-day monitoring requirement in

19 subparagraph (C)(i)(I)(aa), if—

20 ‘‘(i) there is a reasonable expectation,

21 based on all available evidence, including

22 significant increases in production or pro23 duction capacity for the product occurring

24 in the country from which the like or di25 rectly competitive product is imported in
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1 the year preceding such petition, request,

2 or resolution, that the product will be im3 ported from that country in the current

4 year in such quantities as to be a substan5 tial cause of serious injury, or the threat

6 thereof, to the domestic industry producing

7 a like or directly competitive product; and

8 ‘‘(ii) the quantities of imports of the

9 like or directly competitive product from

10 that country reported for the 1-month pe11 riod preceding the date of such petition,

12 request, or resolution are consistent with

13 such expectation.’’.

14 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

15 (1) Section 202(a)(2)(B)(i) of such Act (19

16 U.S.C. 2252(a)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking

17 ‘‘subsection (d)(1)(C)(i)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection

18 (d)(1)(C)(i)(I)(aa)’’.

19 (2) Section 202(d)(1)(A) of such Act (19

20 U.S.C. 2252(d)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘per21 ishable agricultural product or citrus product’’ each

22 place it appears and inserting ‘‘perishable agricul23 tural product, citrus product, or potato product’’.
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1 (3) Section 202(d)(5) of such Act (19 U.S.C.

2 2252(d)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the

3 following new subparagraph:

4 ‘‘(D) The term ‘potato product’ means any

5 potato product including any processed potato

6 product.’’.

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