I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 2950

To preserve and strengthen the Foreign Market Development Cooperator

Program of the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 1, 1996

Mr. NETHERCUTT (for himself, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. COOLEY, Mr. HASTINGS

of Washington, Mrs. CHENOWETH, and Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

A BILL

To preserve and strengthen the Foreign Market Development

Cooperator Program of the Department of Agriculture,

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 ‘‘Agriculture Market

5 Development Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Agriculture

8 shall establish and, in cooperation with eligible trade orga9 nizations, carry out a foreign market development co-
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1 operator program to maintain and develop foreign markets

2 for United States agricultural commodities.

3 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The program authorized

4 under subsection (a) shall be carried out through multi5 year contracts or agreements between the Secretary of Ag6 riculture and eligible trade organizations under which

7 cost-share assistance is provided to such organizations as

8 cooperators for the conduct of foreign market development

9 activities, and to third party cooperators, under annual

10 marketing plans provided for in section 5.

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Subject

12 to section 7(c), there are authorized to be appropriated

13 to the Department of Agriculture for use in providing cost14 share assistance to eligible trade organizations under con15 tracts and agreements entered into under subsection (b)

16 and for other costs of the foreign market development co17 operator program established under this Act (including

18 contingent liabilities not otherwise funded) such sums as

19 may be necessary for each of fiscal years 1996 through

20 2000.

21 SEC. 3. ELIGIBLE TRADE ORGANIZATIONS; REQUIREMENTS

22 FOR PARTICIPATION.

23 (a) ELIGIBLE TRADE ORGANIZATION.—For purposes

24 of this Act, the term ‘‘eligible trade organization’’ means

25 a United States trade organization that promotes the ex-
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1 port of one or more United States agricultural commod2 ities and that does not have a business interest in or re3 ceive remuneration from specific sales of agricultural com4 modities.

5 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATION.—

6 (1) ELIGIBLE TRADE ORGANIZATION.—In order

7 for an eligible trade organization to enter a contract

8 or agreement with the Secretary of Agriculture for

9 the conduct of foreign market development activities

10 as a cooperator under this Act, the organization

11 shall—

12 (A) establish that it is funded primarily by

13 United States members of the industry it rep14 resents;

15 (B) prepare and submit to the Secretary of

16 Agriculture annually a marketing plan as pro17 vided for under section 5; and

18 (C) meet any other appropriate require19 ments established by the Secretary for partici20 pation in the foreign market development co21 operator program established under this Act.

22 In addition, each participant shall endeavor to pro23 vide an annual contribution for activities under the

24 marketing plan that is equal to or greater than the
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1 amount provided for such activities by the Depart2 ment of Agriculture.

3 (2) CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL OF CONTRACTS

4 AND AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary of Agriculture

5 may enter into a contract or agreement with an eli6 gible trade organization for the conduct of foreign

7 market development activities under this Act only if

8 the Secretary determines that the activities under

9 the eligible trade organization’s marketing plans—

10 (A) have a strong likelihood of achieving

11 success in maintaining or increasing foreign

12 consumption and imports of one or more United

13 States agricultural commodity;

14 (B) will make long-range contributions to

15 United States agricultural exports;

16 (C) focus on a commodity or commodities

17 the export of which is important to United

18 States agriculture and this Nation’s foreign bal19 ance of payments;

20 (D) include the provision by the eligible

21 trade organization of a competent United

22 States-based staff and other resources to ensure

23 adequate development, supervision, and execu24 tion of project activities;
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1 (E) are coupled with a commitment by pri2 vate organizations to back up promotional ac3 tivities with aggressive selling and adequate

4 supplies of the commodity involved or the qual5 ity desired by foreign buyers; and

6 (F) are focused on markets for which the

7 United States is in competition with other ex8 porting countries.

9 SEC. 4. COOPERATOR RESPONSIBILITIES.

10 (a) TRADE SERVICING, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE,

11 AND CONSUMER EDUCATION.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Eligible trade organizations

13 participating in the foreign market development co14 operator program under this Act shall provide mar15 ket development and customer support services out16 side the United States directed at foreign pur17 chasers, potential purchasers, and users of United

18 States agricultural commodities, through trade serv19 icing, technical assistance, and consumer education.

20 (2) SPECIFIC GOALS.—Trade servicing, tech21 nical assistance, and consumer education by each eli22 gible trade organization under subsection (a) shall

23 be conducted so as to achieve the following goals (as

24 well as other appropriate goals specified by the Sec25 retary by regulation):
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1 (A) To increase foreign consumer and com2 mercial use of the United States commodity in3 volved and products made from such commod4 ity, to develop long-term foreign demand for the

5 commodity, and to help overcome constraints to

6 United States exports of the commodity in7 volved.

8 (B) To establish a long-term presence in

9 foreign markets for the commodity involved.

10 (C) To enable foreign users of the com11 modity and products made from the commodity

12 to enhance their competitiveness, analyze mar13 kets, improve end use quality, and respond to

14 consumption trends.

15 (D) To make maximum use of new tech16 nologies, including satellite transmissions, to

17 disseminate trade information and enhance in18 dustry technologies that will expand demand for

19 the commodity.

20 (E) To increase technical contact between

21 the United States production industry for the

22 commodity and foreign customers and users so

23 as to achieve better and more accurate market

24 analyses and trade intelligence collected in the

25 public and private sector.
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1 (F) To identify third parties to contribute

2 to the implementation of activities conducted

3 under the eligible trade organization’s annual

4 marketing plan either through cash or in-kind

5 contributions.

6 (b) COORDINATION, ASSISTANCE, AND CONSULTA7 TION.—

8 (1) COORDINATION AND ASSISTANCE.—Eligible

9 trade organizations participating in the foreign mar10 ket development cooperator program under this Act

11 shall coordinate their activities with those of agricul12 tural trade officers of the Foreign Agricultural Serv13 ice. In turn, such officers and other Foreign Agricul14 tural Service personnel shall assist the eligible trade

15 organizations in the development and operation of

16 trade promotion programs that use product exhibits,

17 trade teams, market information services, and trade

18 referral services to expand international markets for

19 United States agricultural commodities.

20 (2) CONSULTATION.—Eligible trade organiza21 tions shall consult with the staff of the Foreign Ag22 ricultural Service to ensure that their annual mar23 keting plans under this Act are consistent with and

24 complement the foreign market development activi25 ties of the Service.
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1 SEC. 5. ANNUAL MARKETING PLANS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible trade organization

3 participating in and receiving assistance for any year

4 under the foreign market development cooperator program

5 established under this Act shall develop and submit to the

6 Secretary of Agriculture a marketing plan to carry out

7 trade servicing, technical assistance, and consumer edu8 cation, as provided for in section 4(a), for such year.

9 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR PLANS.—Each annual mar10 keting plan submitted by an eligible trade organization

11 under subsection (a) shall specifically describe the manner

12 in which assistance received by the organization in con13 junction with funds and services provided by or through

14 the organization will be expended in implementing the

15 plan.

16 (c) AMENDMENTS.—An annual marketing plan may

17 be amended at any time by the eligible trade organization

18 with the approval of the Secretary of Agriculture.

19 SEC. 6. OVERSIGHT.

20 (a) MONITORING.—The Secretary of Agriculture

21 shall monitor the expenditure of funds received by each

22 eligible trade organization under this Act.

23 (b) REPORTS, BOOKS, AND RECORDS.—Each eligible

24 trade organization receiving assistance under this Act

25 shall—
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1 (1) keep financial accounts of, submit regular

2 reports providing information on, activities con3 ducted and funds spent under the organization’s an4 nual marketing plan; and

5 (2) make available to the Secretary of Agri6 culture for inspection, at any reasonable time and

7 place, the books and records of its business and fi8 nancial transactions.

9 (c) AUDITS.—Each eligible trade organization receiv10 ing assistance under the foreign market development co11 operator program under this Act shall have conducted an

12 audit or financial review of the organization’s activities

13 under such program, which shall accurately account for

14 funds and services received and expended under this Act.

15 (d) EVALUATION.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture

17 shall periodically evaluate the foreign market devel18 opment activities of each eligible trade organization

19 to determine whether the organization is in compli20 ance with its annual marketing plan and to deter21 mine the effectiveness of the organization’s activities

22 under the plan in maintaining and developing mar23 kets for United States agricultural commodities, tak24 ing into consideration the difficulty of precisely
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1 quantifying the effects of long-term trade servicing

2 and technical assistance.

3 (2) HIGH-VOLUME AGRICULTURAL COMMOD4 ITIES.—With respect to activities directed toward

5 maintenance and development of markets for high6 volume agricultural commodities, in performing such

7 evaluations, the Secretary shall consider—

8 (A) the long-term benefits of a United

9 States presence in foreign markets for such

10 commodity given the benefit to the United

11 States economy as a whole of a strong high-vol12 ume commodity export sector; and

13 (B) the intense competition by other ex14 porting countries in the international markets

15 for such commodities.

16 SEC. 7. IMPLEMENTATION DATE AND TRANSITION.

17 (a) IMPLEMENTATION DATE.—The Secretary of Ag18 riculture shall establish the foreign market development

19 cooperator program authorized under this Act not later

20 than 90 days after the enactment of this Act.

21 (b) TRANSITION.—In establishing the program au22 thorized under this Act, the Secretary shall ensure that

23 on-going foreign market development cooperator projects

24 and activities are continued and appropriately incor25 porated into the program under this Act.
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1 SEC. 8. CONFORMING PROVISIONS.

2 (a) AMENDMENT TO AGRICULTURAL ACT OF 1954.—

3 Section 601 of the Agricultural Act of 1954 (7 U.S.C.

4 1761) is amended by redesignating the existing text as

5 subsection (a) and adding at the end a new subsection as

6 follows:

7 ‘‘(b) The Secretary of Agriculture shall coordinate ac8 tivities conducted under subsection (a) with the conduct

9 of the programs authorized under the ‘Agriculture Market

10 Development Act of 1995’.’’.

11 (b) AGRICULTURAL COMPETITIVENESS AND TRADE

12 ACT OF 1988.—

13 (1) APPLICABILITY OF PROVISIONS.—Sub14 sections (d) and (e) of section 4214 of the Agricul15 tural Competitiveness and Trade Act of 1988 (7

16 U.S.C. 5234) shall apply to the activities of the eligi17 ble trade organizations to which assistance is pro18 vided under this Act.

19 (2) AMENDMENT OF PAYMENT-IN-KIND PROVI20 SION.—Subsection (b) of section 4214 of the Agri21 cultural Competitiveness and Trade Act of 1988 (7

22 U.S.C. 5234) is amended by adding at the end the

23 following: ‘‘The Secretary of Agriculture shall co24 ordinate activities conducted under this subsection
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1 with the conduct of the programs authorized under

2 the Agriculture Market Development Act of 1995.’’.

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