II

Calendar No. 213

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1388

To extend the Generalized System of Preferences.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 16, 1999

Mr. ROTH, from the Committee on Finance, reported the following original

bill; which was read twice and placed on the calendar

A BILL

To extend the Generalized System of Preferences.

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

3 SECTION 1. EXTENSION OF DUTY-FREE TREATMENT

4 UNDER GENERALIZED SYSTEM OF PREF5 ERENCES.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 505 of the Trade Act of

7 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2465) is amended by striking ‘‘June 30,

8 1999’’ and inserting ‘‘June 30, 2004’’.

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendment made by

2 this section applies to articles entered on or after the

3 date of the enactment of this Act.

4 (2) RETROACTIVE APPLICATION FOR CERTAIN

5 LIQUIDATIONS AND RELIQUIDATIONS.—

6 (A) GENERAL RULE.—Notwithstanding

7 section 514 of the Tariff Act of 1930 or any

8 other provision of law, and subject to paragraph

9 (3), any entry—

10 (i) of an article to which duty-free

11 treatment under title V of the Trade Act

12 of 1974 would have applied if such entry

13 had been made on June 30, 1999, and

14 (ii) that was made—

15 (I) after June 30, 1999, and

16 (II) before the date of enactment

17 of this Act,

18 shall be liquidated or reliquidated as free of

19 duty, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall

20 refund any duty paid with respect to such

21 entry.

22 (B) ENTRY.—As used in this paragraph,

23 the term ‘‘entry’’ includes a withdrawal from

24 warehouse for consumption.
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1 (3) REQUESTS.—Liquidation or reliquidation

2 may be made under paragraph (2) with respect to

3 an entry only if a request therefor is filed with the

4 Customs Service, within 180 days after the date of

5 enactment of this Act, that contains sufficient infor6 mation to enable the Customs Service—

7 (A) to locate the entry, or

8 (B) to reconstruct the entry if it cannot be

9 located.

10 SEC. 2. ENTRY PROCEDURES FOR FOREIGN TRADE ZONE

11 OPERATIONS.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 484 of the Tariff Act of

13 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484) is amended by adding at the end

14 the following new subsection:

15 ‘‘(i) SPECIAL RULE FOR FOREIGN TRADE ZONE

16 OPERATIONS.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other

18 provision of law and except as provided in paragraph

19 (3), all merchandise (including merchandise of dif20 ferent classes, types, and categories), withdrawn

21 from a foreign trade zone during any 7-day period,

22 shall, at the option of the operator or user of the

23 zone, be the subject of a single estimated entry or

24 release filed on or before the first day of the 7-day

25 period in which the merchandise is to be withdrawn
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1 from the zone. The estimated entry or release shall

2 be treated as a single entry and a single release of

3 merchandise for purposes of section 13031(a)(9)(A)

4 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation

5 Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 58c(a)(9)(A)) and all fee ex6 clusions and limitations of such section 13031 shall

7 apply, including the maximum and minimum fee

8 amounts provided for under subsection (b)(8)(A)(i)

9 of such section. The entry summary for the esti10 mated entry or release shall cover only the merchan11 dise actually withdrawn from the foreign trade zone

12 during the 7-day period.

13 ‘‘(2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— The Secretary

14 of the Treasury may require that the operator or

15 user of the zone—

16 ‘‘(A) use an electronic data interchange ap17 proved by the Customs Service—

18 ‘‘(i) to file the entries described in

19 paragraph (1); and

20 ‘‘(ii) to pay the applicable duties, fees,

21 and taxes with respect to the entries; and

22 ‘‘(B) satisfy the Customs Service that ac23 counting, transportation, and other controls

24 over the merchandise are adequate to protect
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1 the revenue and meet the requirements of other

2 Federal agencies.

3 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—The provisions of paragraph

4 (1) shall not apply to merchandise the entry of

5 which is prohibited by law or merchandise for which

6 the filing of an entry summary is required before the

7 merchandise is released from customs custody.

8 ‘‘(4) FOREIGN TRADE ZONE; ZONE.—In this

9 subsection, the terms ‘foreign trade zone’ and ‘zone’

10 mean a zone established pursuant to the Act of June

11 18, 1934, commonly known as the Foreign Trade

12 Zones Act (19 U.S.C. 81a et seq.).’’.

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

14 this section shall take effect on the date that is 60 days

15 after the date of enactment of this Act.

16 SEC. 3. MODIFICATION OF INSTALLMENT METHOD AND RE17 PEAL OF INSTALLMENT METHOD FOR AC18 CRUAL METHOD TAXPAYERS.

19 (a) REPEAL OF INSTALLMENT METHOD FOR AC20 CRUAL BASIS TAXPAYERS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section

22 453 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating

23 to installment method) is amended to read as fol24 lows:

25 ‘‘(a) USE OF INSTALLMENT METHOD.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro2 vided in this section, income from an installment

3 sale shall be taken into account for purposes of this

4 title under the installment method.

5 ‘‘(2) ACCRUAL METHOD TAXPAYER.—The in6 stallment method shall not apply to income from an

7 installment sale if such income would be reported

8 under an accrual method of accounting without re9 gard to this section. The preceding sentence shall

10 not apply to a disposition described in subparagraph

11 (A) or (B) of subsection (l)(2).’’

12 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Sections

13 453(d)(1), 453(i)(1), and 453(k) of such Code are

14 each amended by striking ‘‘(a)’’ each place it ap15 pears and inserting ‘‘(a)(1)’’.

16 (b) MODIFICATION OF PLEDGE RULES.—Paragraph

17 (4) of section 453A(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of

18 1986 (relating to pledges, etc., of installment obligations)

19 is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A pay20 ment shall be treated as directly secured by an interest

21 in an installment obligation to the extent an arrangement

22 allows the taxpayer to satisfy all or a portion of the indebt23 edness with the installment obligation.’’
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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

2 this section shall apply to sales or other dispositions occur3 ring on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Calendar No. 213

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1388

A BILL

To extend the Generalized System of Preferences.

JULY 16, 1999

Read twice placed on the calendar