I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3421

To require the imposition of increased tariffs on certain products of the

People’s Republic of China until the President certifies that that country

is complying with its agreement with the United States regarding protection of intellectual property rights.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 8, 1996

Ms. PELOSI (for herself, Mr. BONO, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. COX of California,

Mr. BONIOR, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. HYDE, Mr.

SCARBOROUGH, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BARTON of

Texas, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. BRYANT of

Texas, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr.

DORNAN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. EHRLICH, Ms. ESHOO, Mr.

EVANS, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. FROST, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GORDON,

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HOBSON, Ms. JACKSONLEE of Texas, Mr. KANJORSKI, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KING, Mr. KLINK, Mr.

LANTOS, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MASCARA,

Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MILLER of California, Mrs.

MINK of Hawaii, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. NADLER, Mr. OBEY, Mr. OLVER, Mr.

PORTER, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. ROSE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.

SCHIFF, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SMITH of New

Jersey, Mr. STARK, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WOLF, and Ms.

WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To require the imposition of increased tariffs on certain

products of the People’s Republic of China until the

President certifies that that country is complying with
2

•HR 3421 IH

its agreement with the United States regarding protection of intellectual property rights.

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 The Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) Violations by the People’s Republic of China

6 of United States intellectual property rights, includ7 ing with respect to music, videos, books, and soft8 ware is a serious problem and a threat to the United

9 States economy and United States jobs.

10 (2) Repeated efforts by the United States Gov11 ernment, starting in 1991, to encourage the Chinese

12 Government to halt this piracy have not succeeded.

13 Since these efforts started, estimated losses to the

14 United States economy from the piracy increased to

15 $2,300,000,000 in 1995.

16 (3) On March 11, 1995, the Chinese Govern17 ment signed an agreement with the United States

18 pledging to implement an action plan for effective

19 protection and enforcement of intellectual property

20 rights and to remove various import and investment

21 barriers to persons who rely on intellectual property

22 protection. In this agreement, the Chinese Govern23 ment agreed to—
3

•HR 3421 IH

1 (A) take immediate steps to stem the pi2 racy in the People’s Republic of China of intel3 lectual property rights;

4 (B) establish mechanisms to ensure long5 term enforcement of protecting intellectual

6 property rights; and

7 (C) provide greater market access to

8 United States products protected by intellectual

9 property rights.

10 (4) One year after the agreement was signed,

11 counterfeiting by Chinese enterprises of copyrighted

12 material continues to grow, the Chinese Government

13 has failed to control massive production and export

14 of pirated materials, and there has been no increase

15 in market access for United States products pro16 tected by intellectual property rights.

17 SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF TARIFFS ON CERTAIN GOODS.

18 (a) IMPOSITION OF TARIFFS.—

19 (1) ADDITIONAL TARIFFS.—Notwithstanding

20 any other provision of law, effective 15 days after

21 the date of the enactment of this Act, the President

22 shall impose tariffs, in addition to those already in

23 effect as of such date of enactment, on goods that

24 are the growth, product, or manufacture of the Peo25 ple’s Republic of China, that the President deter-
4

•HR 3421 IH

1 mines would compensate for the losses to the United

2 States economy resulting from the acts, policies, and

3 practices of the Chinese Government described in

4 paragraph (2).

5 (2) ACTS, POLICIES, AND PRACTICES.—The

6 acts, policies, and practices referred to in paragraph

7 (1) are—

8 (A) those acts, policies, and practices of

9 the Chinese Government with respect to the en10 forcement of intellectual property rights and the

11 provision market access to persons who rely on

12 intellectual property protection, that are re13 ferred to in the determination of the United

14 States Trade Representative of February 7,

15 1995, that was published in the Federal Reg16 ister (volume 60, no. 25, pp. 7230–7234); and

17 (B) any other acts, policies, and practices

18 of the Chinese Government with respect to the

19 enforcement of intellectual property rights and

20 the provision market access to persons who rely

21 on intellectual property protection, in violation

22 of the agreement referred to in section 1(3) or

23 any other agreement with the United States.
5

•HR 3421 IH

1 (b) DURATION OF TARIFFS.—The tariffs imposed

2 under subsection (a)(1) shall apply until the conditions set

3 forth in section 3 are met.

4 (c) CRITERIA FOR TARIFFS.—The President shall

5 transmit in writing to the Congress, not later than 15 days

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the criteria

7 used to determine the tariffs, and the goods on which the

8 tariffs are imposed, under subsection (a)(1).

9 SEC. 3. CONDITIONS.

10 The conditions referred to in section 2(b) are the fol11 lowing:

12 (1) The President certifies to the Congress that

13 the Government of the People’s Republic of China is

14 complying with all the terms of the agreement re15 ferred to in section 1(3).

16 (2) Thirty days have elapsed since the submis17 sion of the certification and a law has not been en18 acted stating in substance that the Congress dis19 approves the certification.

Æ