II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3364 

To authorize appropriate action against Japan for failing to resume the 

importation of United States beef in a timely manner, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 5, 2006 

Mr. NELSON of Nebraska introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriate action against Japan for failing 

to resume the importation of United States beef in a 

timely manner, 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. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) The United States cattle industry produces 

6 abundant, safe, and healthy food for consumers in 

7 the United States and around the world. 

8 (2) Japan has prohibited imports of beef from 

9 the United States since January 20, 2006, when a 

10 single shipment of beef products from the United 


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1 States was found not to be in compliance with the 

2 Export Verification protocol agreed to by the United 

3 States and Japan in December 2005. 

4 (3) The noncomplying shipment presented no 

5 harm to Japanese consumers and merely consisted 

6 of beef products that were not approved for export 

7 to Japan. Subsequent investigations have indicated 

8 that the noncomplying shipment was the result of 

9 human error and that no further noncompliant ship10 ments to Japan were found. 

11 (4) Japan’s reaction to this single incident of 

12 noncompliance, by banning all imports of United 

13 States beef, was unnecessarily harsh and overly 

14 broad, and it has been damaging and unfair to the 

15 United States beef industry. 

16 (5) The United States and the Government of 

17 Japan have been working diligently towards resolv18 ing the latest ban on United States beef by Japan, 

19 but that ban has not been resolved in a timely man20 ner. 

21 (6) Notwithstanding the commitments Japan 

22 has made, Japan continues to maintain an unjusti23 fied ban on imports of United States beef as an un24 necessarily harsh measure based on a single incident 

25 of noncompliance. 


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1 (7) Japan’s continued ban on United States 

2 beef has been damaging to the American beef indus3 try, costing that industry an estimated 

4 $116,000,000 per month. 

5 (8) The United States cannot continue to per6 mit Japan to unilaterally close trade of all United 

7 States beef products based solely on a single, minor 

8 incident of noncompliance under the export 

9 verification program. 

10 SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION REGARDING UNITED STATES BEEF 

11 EXPORTS TO JAPAN. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi13 sion of law, the United States Trade Representative shall, 

14 not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act, submit to Congress the certification described 

16 in subsection (b). 

17 (b) CERTIFICATION.—The certification described in 

18 this subsection means a certification by the United States 

19 Trade Representative to Congress that Japan is no longer 

20 prohibiting the importation of beef from the United 

21 States. 

22 (c) SANCTIONS.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the certification described 

24 in subsection (b) is not made, the United States 


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1 shall ban the importation of beef products grown or 

2 processed in, or exported from, Japan. 

3 (2) NECESSARY ACTION.—The United States 

4 Trade Representative, in cooperation with the Sec5 retary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Com6 merce, is authorized to take all necessary actions to 

7 carry out the ban of imports of beef and beef prod8 ucts from Japan. 

9 (3) DURATION.—The sanctions imposed by this 

10 section shall terminate on the date that a certifi11 cation described in subsection (b) is submitted to 

12 Congress. 

Æ 


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