I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3688

To provide for review in the Court of International Trade of certain determinations of binational panels and committees under the North American 

Free Trade Agreement. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 8, 2003

Mr. PICKERING introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL

To provide for review in the Court of International Trade 

of certain determinations of binational panels and committees under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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 ‘‘Integrity of the United 

5 States Courts Act of 2003’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF BINATIONAL PANEL AND 

2 COMMITTEE DECISIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title IV of the North 

4 American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 

5 U.S.C. 3431 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 

6 404 the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 404A. REVIEW OF BINATIONAL PANEL AND COM8 MITTEE DETERMINATIONS. 

9 ‘‘(a) BASIS FOR REVIEW IN COURT OF INTER10 NATIONAL TRADE.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If, within 30 days after 

12 publication in the Federal Register of notice that a 

13 binational panel or committee has issued a deter14 mination following a review under article 1904 of a 

15 decision of a competent investigating authority in 

16 the United States, a Party or person, referred to in 

17 paragraph 5 of article 1904, alleges that—

18 ‘‘(A)(i) the determination of the panel or 

19 committee, as the case may be, was based on a 

20 misinterpretation of United States law, 

21 ‘‘(ii) a member of a panel or committee 

22 was guilty of gross misconduct, bias, or a seri23 ous conflict of interest, or otherwise materially 

24 violated the rules of conduct established for 

25 panelists or committee members, respectively, 
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1 ‘‘(iii) the panel or committee seriously de2 parted from a fundamental rule of procedure, 

3 or 

4 ‘‘(iv) the panel or committee manifestly ex5 ceeded its powers, authority, or jurisdiction set 

6 out in article 1904, such as failing to apply the 

7 appropriate standard of review, and 

8 ‘‘(B) any element described in subpara9 graph (A) has materially affected the decision 

10 of the panel or committee and threatens the in11 tegrity of the binational panel or committee re12 view process, 

13 then such party or person may file an appeal with 

14 the United States Court of International Trade, 

15 seeking review of the binational panel or committee 

16 determination pursuant to section 516A of the Tar17 iff Act of 1930. 

18 ‘‘(2) REVIEW IN COURT OF INTERNATIONAL

19 TRADE WHERE BINATIONAL PANEL OR COMMITTEE

20 DOES NOT ACT.—

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a request for a 

22 panel or committee review has been made under 

23 article 1904, and a panel or committee, as the 

24 case may be, is not convened within 120 days 

25 after the request, a person, referred to in para-
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1 graph 5 of article 1904, may commence an ac2 tion in the United States Court of International 

3 Trade contesting the determination with respect 

4 to which the request was filed. The commence5 ment of such an action shall be in accordance 

6 with paragraph (1) or (2) of section 516A(a) of 

7 the Tariff Act of 1930, notwithstanding the 30-

8 day limitation on the commencement of actions 

9 set forth in such section 516A. 

10 ‘‘(B) REQUESTS BY OTHER PERSONS.—

11 After an action is commenced under subpara12 graph (A), any other person may commence an 

13 action in accordance with the requirements of 

14 paragraph (1) or (2) of section 516A(a) of the 

15 Tariff Act of 1930 within 30 days after the 

16 date the initial action is filed under this para17 graph, but only with respect to a claim that 

18 such person raised before the panel or com19 mittee. 

20 ‘‘(b) DECISIONS OF THE COURT.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In an appeal filed under 

22 subsection (a)(1) for review of a binational panel or 

23 committee determination, the Court of International 

24 Trade shall, after examining the legal and factual 

25 analysis underlying the findings and conclusions of 
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1 the decision of the panel or committee, as the case 

2 may be, determine whether any of the elements de3 scribed in subsection (a)(1)(A) has been established. 

4 If the court finds that any of the elements has been 

5 established, the court shall vacate the original panel 

6 or committee decision and enter judgment accord7 ingly. If the elements are not established, the court 

8 shall affirm the original binational panel or com9 mittee decision. Decisions of the Court of Inter10 national Trade under this paragraph shall be bind11 ing on the parties with respect to the matters be12 tween the parties that were before the panel or com13 mittee, as the case may be. 

14 ‘‘(2) DECISIONS WHERE PANEL OR COMMITTEE

15 NOT CONVENED.—In the case of an action for review 

16 of a determination filed under subsection (a)(2), the 

17 Court of International Trade shall conduct such re18 view under section 516A(b) of the Tariff Act of 

19 1930. Decisions of the Court of International Trade 

20 under this paragraph shall be binding on all parties 

21 with respect to the matters between the parties that 

22 would have been before a panel or committee had 

23 the panel or committee been convened. 

24 ‘‘(c) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION.—If a Party or per25 son, referred to in paragraph 5 of article 1904, timely files 
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1 a notice of appeal to the Court of International Trade pur2 suant to this section, the United States Court of Inter3 national Trade shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the 

4 matter, and the determination of the United States Court 

5 of International Trade shall not be subject to review by 

6 an extraordinary challenge committee or binational panel. 

7 ‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to deter8 minations by a binational panel or committee under 

9 NAFTA that involves an antidumping duty or counter10 vailing duty determination of a competent investigating 

11 authority in the United States.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con13 tents of the North American Free Trade Implementation 

14 Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to sec15 tion 404 the following:

‘‘404A. Review of binational panel and committee determinations.’’.

16 SEC. 3. JURISDICTION OF THE COURT OF INTERNATIONAL 

17 TRADE. 

18 Section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 

19 1516a) is amended—

20 (1) in subsection (a)(2)—

21 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i)(I), by striking 

22 ‘‘or (viii)’’ and inserting ‘‘(viii), (ix), or (x)’’; 

23 and 

24 (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the 

25 end the following: 
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1 ‘‘(ix) A final determination of a bina2 tional panel convened pursuant to article 

3 1904 of the NAFTA. 

4 ‘‘(x) A final determination described 

5 in section 404A(a)(2) of the North Amer6 ican Free Trade Agreement Implementa7 tion Act.’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (a)(5), in the matter pre9 ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘(other than 

10 a determination described in subsection 

11 (g)(3)(A)(vii))’’ after ‘‘apply’’; and 

12 (3) in subsection (g)(3)(A)—

13 (A) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

14 end; 

15 (B) in clause (vi), by striking the period 

16 and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

18 ‘‘(vii) a determination of which either 

19 a Party or person, referred to in paragraph 

20 5 of article 1904 of the NAFTA, has re21 quested review pursuant to section 404A of 

22 the North American Free Trade Agree23 ment Implementation Act.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. APPLICATION TO CANADA AND MEXICO. 

2 Pursuant to article 1902 of the North American Free 

3 Trade Agreement and section 408 of the North American 

4 Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, the amend5 ments made by this Act shall apply with respect to goods 

6 from Canada and Mexico. 

7 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

8 The amendments made by this Act shall apply to—

9 (1) any final determination of a binational 

10 panel or committee convened pursuant to article 

11 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, 

12 notice of which is published in the Federal Register 

13 on or after the date of enactment of this Act; and 

14 (2) any request for panel or committee review 

15 to which section 404A(a)(2) of the North American 

16 Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act applies 

17 that is pending on or after the date of enactment of 

18 this Act.

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