III 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 11 

Providing that any agreement relating to trade and investment that is negotiated by the executive branch with another country comply with certain 

minimum standards. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2007 

Mr. FEINGOLD submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Providing that any agreement relating to trade and investment that is negotiated by the executive branch with 

another country comply with certain minimum standards. 

Whereas there is general consensus among the people of the 

United States and the global community that, with respect to international trade and investment rules— 

(1) global environmental, labor, health, food security, and other public interest standards must be 

strengthened to prevent a global ‘‘race to the bottom’’; 

(2) domestic environmental, labor, health, food security, and other public interest standards and policies 

must not be undermined, including those based on the 

use of the precautionary principle (the internationally 

recognized legal principle that holds that, when there is 

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fects of an action, a product, or a technology, a government should act in a way that minimizes the risk of harm 

to human health and the environment); 

(3) provision and regulation of public services such 

as education, health care, transportation, energy, water, 

and other utilities are basic functions of democratic government and must not be undermined; 

(4) raising standards in developing countries requires additional assistance and respect for diversity of 

policies and priorities; 

(5) countries must be allowed to design and implement policies to sustain family farms and achieve food security; 

(6) healthy national economies are essential to a 

healthy global economy, and the right of governments to 

pursue policies to maintain and create jobs must be 

upheld; 

(7) the right of State and local and comparable regional governments of all countries to create and enforce 

diverse policies must be safeguarded from imposed downward harmonization; and 

(8) rules for the global economy must be developed 

and implemented democratically and with transparency 

and accountability; 

Whereas many international trade and investment agreements in existence and currently being negotiated do not 

serve these interests; and 

Whereas many international trade and investment agreements in existence have caused substantial harm to the 

health and well-being of communities in the United 

States and within countries that are trading partners of 

the United States: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That any agreement relating to trade and in3 vestment that is negotiated by the executive branch with 

4 another country should comply with the following: 

5 (1) REQUIREMENTS APPLYING TO ALL COUN6 TRIES.— 

7 (A) INVESTOR AND INVESTMENT POL8 ICY.—If the agreement includes any provision 

9 relating to foreign investment, the agreement 

10 may not permit a foreign investor to challenge 

11 or seek compensation because of a measure of 

12 a government at the national, State, or local 

13 level that protects the public interest, including 

14 a measure that protects public health, safety, 

15 and welfare, the environment, and worker pro16 tections, unless a foreign investor demonstrates 

17 that the measure was enacted or applied pri18 marily for the purpose of discriminating against 

19 a foreign investor or foreign investment. 

20 (B) SERVICES.—The agreement, to the ex21 tent applicable, shall comply with the following: 

22 (i) IN GENERAL.—The agreement may 

23 not provide for disciplinary action against 

24 a government measure relating to— 


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1 (I) a public service, including 

2 public services for which the govern3 ment is not the sole provider; 

4 (II) a service that requires exten5 sive regulation; 

6 (III) an essential human service; 

7 and 

8 (IV) a service that has an essen9 tially social component. 

10 (ii) SERVICES DESCRIBED.—A service 

11 described in clause (i) includes a public 

12 benefit program, health care, health insur13 ance, public health, child care, education 

14 and training, the distribution of a con15 trolled substance or product (including al16 cohol, tobacco, and firearms), research and 

17 development on a natural or social science, 

18 a utility (including an energy utility, water, 

19 waste disposal, and sanitation), national 

20 security, maritime, air, surface, and other 

21 transportation services, a postal service, 

22 energy extraction and any related service, 

23 and a correctional service. 

24 (iii) REVISION OF COMMITMENTS.— 

25 The agreement shall permit a country that 


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1 has made a commitment in an area de2 scribed in clause (i) to revise that commit3 ment for the purposes of public interest 

4 regulation without any financial or other 

5 trade-related penalty. 

6 (iv) SUBSIDIES AND GOVERNMENT

7 PROCUREMENT.—The agreement shall en8 sure that any rule governing a subsidy or 

9 government procurement fully protects the 

10 ability of a government to support and 

11 purchase a service in a way that promotes 

12 economic development, social justice and 

13 equity, public health, environmental qual14 ity, human rights, and the rights of work15 ers. 

16 (v) REGULATION OF FOREIGN INVES17 TORS.—The agreement shall guarantee 

18 that all governments that are parties to 

19 the agreement may regulate foreign inves20 tors in services and other service providers 

21 in order to protect public health and safe22 ty, consumers, the environment, and work23 ers’ rights, without requiring the govern24 ments to establish their regulations to be 


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1 the least burdensome option for foreign 

2 service providers. 

3 (C) ENVIRONMENTAL, LABOR, AND OTHER

4 PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARDS.—The agree5 ment— 

6 (i) may not supersede the rights and 

7 obligations of parties under multilateral 

8 environmental, labor, and human rights 

9 agreements; 

10 (ii) shall, to the extent applicable, in11 clude commitments— 

12 (I) to adhere to specified work13 ers’ rights and environmental stand14 ards; 

15 (II) to enforce existing domestic 

16 labor and environmental provisions; 

17 and 

18 (III) to abide by the core labor 

19 standards of the International Labor 

20 Organization; and 

21 (iii) shall subject the commitments de22 scribed in clause (ii) to binding enforce23 ment on the same terms as commercial 

24 provisions. 


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1 (D) FOOD SAFETY.—The agreement may 

2 not— 

3 (i) require international harmoni4 zation of food safety standards in a man5 ner that undermines the level of human 

6 health protection provided under the laws 

7 of a country; or 

8 (ii) restrict the ability of governments 

9 to enact policies to guarantee the right of 

10 consumers to know where and how food is 

11 produced. 

12 (E) AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY.— 

13 The agreement may not, with respect to food 

14 and other agricultural commodities— 

15 (i) contain provisions that prevent 

16 countries from— 

17 (I) establishing domestic and 

18 global reserves; 

19 (II) managing supply; 

20 (III) enforcing antidumping pro21 visions; 

22 (IV) ensuring fair market prices; 

23 or 


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1 (V) vigorously enforcing antitrust 

2 laws, in order to guarantee competi3 tive markets for family farmers; or 

4 (ii) prevent countries from developing 

5 the necessary sanitary and phytosanitary 

6 standards to prevent the introduction of 

7 pathogens or other potentially invasive spe8 cies that may adversely affect agriculture, 

9 human health, or the environment. 

10 (F) GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY.—The 

11 agreement may not contain provisions that bind 

12 national, State, local, or comparable regional 

13 governments to limiting regulatory, taxation, 

14 spending, or procurement authority— 

15 (i) without sufficient transparency as 

16 described in paragraph (4), including an 

17 opportunity for public review and com18 ment; and 

19 (ii) without the explicit, informed con20 sent of the national, State, local, or com21 parable regional legislative body concerned. 

22 (G) ACCESS TO MEDICINES AND SEEDS.— 

23 (i) MEDICINES.—The agreement may 

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1 tries from taking measures to protect pub2 lic health by ensuring access to medicines. 

3 (ii) SEEDS.—The agreement may not 

4 constrain the rights of farmers to save, 

5 use, exchange, or sell farm-saved seeds and 

6 other publicly available seed varieties. 

7 (2) REQUIREMENTS APPLYING TO ONLY THE

8 UNITED STATES.— 

9 (A) TEMPORARY ENTRY OF WORKERS.— 

10 The agreement may not— 

11 (i) make a new commitment on the 

12 temporary entry of workers, because such 

13 policies should be determined by the Con14 gress, after consideration by the congres15 sional committees with jurisdiction over 

16 immigration, to avoid an array of incon17 sistent policies; or 

18 (ii) include any policy that fails to— 

19 (I) include labor market tests 

20 that ensure that the employment of 

21 temporary workers will not adversely 

22 affect other similarly employed work23 ers; 

24 (II) involve labor unions in the 

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1 mented under the immigration pro2 gram for temporary workers granted 

3 nonimmigrant status under section 

4 101(a)(15)(H)(i)(b) of the Immigra5 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

6 1101(a)(H)(i)(b)), including the filing 

7 by an employer of an application 

8 under section 212(n)(1) of that Act (8 

9 U.S.C. 1182(n)(1)); or 

10 (III) guarantee the same work11 place protections for temporary work12 ers that are available to all workers. 

13 (B) POLICIES TO SUPPORT UNITED

14 STATES WORKERS AND SMALL, MINORITY, AND

15 WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES.—The agreement 

16 shall preserve the right of Federal, State, and 

17 local governments to maintain or establish poli18 cies to support United States workers and 

19 small, minority, or women-owned businesses, in20 cluding policies with respect to government pro21 curement, loans, and subsidies. 

22 (C) UNITED STATES TRADE LAWS.—The 

23 agreement may not— 

24 (i) contain a provision that modifies 

25 or amends, or requires a modification of or 


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1 an amendment to, any law of the United 

2 States regarding safeguards from unfair 

3 foreign trade practices, including any law 

4 providing for— 

5 (I) the imposition of counter6 vailing or antidumping duties; 

7 (II) protection from unfair meth8 ods of competition or unfair acts in 

9 the importation of articles; 

10 (III) relief from injury caused by 

11 import competition; 

12 (IV) relief from unfair trade 

13 practices; or 

14 (V) the imposition of import re15 strictions to protect national security; 

16 or 

17 (ii) weaken the existing terms of the 

18 Agreement on Implementation of Article 

19 VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs 

20 and Trade 1994, or the Agreement on 

21 Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, of 

22 the World Trade Organization, including 

23 through the domestic implementation of 

24 rulings of dispute settlement bodies. 


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1 (D) FOOD SAFETY.—The agreement may 

2 not— 

3 (i) restrict the ability of the United 

4 States to ensure that food products enter5 ing the United States are rigorously in6 spected to establish that they meet all food 

7 safety standards in the United States, in8 cluding inspection standards; or 

9 (ii) force the United States to accept 

10 different food safety standards as ‘‘equiva11 lent’’, in a manner that undermines the 

12 level of human health protection provided 

13 under domestic law. 

14 (3) TREATMENT OF DEVELOPING COUN15 TRIES.—The agreement shall grant special and dif16 ferential treatment for developing countries with re17 gard to the timeframe for implementation of the 

18 agreement as well as other concerns. 

19 (4) TRANSPARENCY.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—The process of negoti21 ating the agreement shall be open and trans22 parent, including through— 

23 (i) prompt and regular disclosure of 

24 full negotiating texts; and 


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1 (ii) prompt and regular disclosure of 

2 negotiating positions of the United States. 

3 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF OFFERS AND

4 REQUESTS.—In negotiating the agreement, any 

5 request or offer relating to investment, procure6 ment, or trade in services must be made public 

7 within 10 days after its submission if such re8 quest or offer— 

9 (i) proposes that specific Federal, 

10 State, or local laws or regulations in the 

11 United States, including subsidies, tax 

12 rules, procurement rules, professional 

13 standards, and rules on temporary entry of 

14 persons, be changed, eliminated, or sched15 uled under the agreement; 

16 (ii) proposes to cover under the agree17 ment— 

18 (I) specific essential public serv19 ices, including public benefits pro20 grams, health care, education, na21 tional security, sanitation, water, en22 ergy, and other utilities; or 

23 (II) private service sectors that 

24 require extensive regulation or have 

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1 cluding maritime, air transport, truck2 ing, and other transportation services, 

3 postal services, utilities such as water, 

4 energy, and sanitation, corrections, 

5 education and childcare, and health 

6 care; or 

7 (iii) proposes an action or process of 

8 general application that may interfere with 

9 the ability of the United States or State, 

10 local, or tribal governments to adopt, im11 plement, or enforce laws and regulations 

12 identified in clause (ii)(I) or to provide or 

13 regulate services identified in clause 

14 (ii)(II). 

15 (C) REPRESENTATION OF INTERESTS.— 

16 The broad array of constituencies representing 

17 the majority of the people of the United States, 

18 including labor unions, environmental organiza19 tions, consumer groups, family farm groups, 

20 public health advocates, faith-based organiza21 tions, and civil rights groups, must have at 

22 least the same representation on trade advisory 

23 committees and the same access to trade nego24 tiators and negotiating fora as those constitu25 encies representing commercial interests. 


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1 (D) DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHA2 NISMS.—Any dispute resolution mechanism es3 tablished in the agreement shall be open and 

4 transparent, including through disclosure to the 

5 public of documents and access to hearings, and 

6 must permit participation by nonparties 

7 through the filing of amicus briefs, as well as 

8 provide for standing for State and local govern9 ments as intervenors. 

Æ 


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