II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 974 

To amend title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide that the provisions 

relating to countervailing duties apply to nonmarket economy countries, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 22, 2007 

Ms. COLLINS (for herself, Mr. BAYH, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. COCHRAN, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. HARKIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. 

SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide 

that the provisions relating to countervailing duties apply 

to nonmarket economy countries, 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 ‘‘Stopping Overseas 

5 Subsidies Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF COUNTERVAILING DUTIES TO 

2 NONMARKET ECONOMIES AND STRENGTH3 ENING APPLICATION OF THE LAW. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 701(a)(1) of the Tariff 

5 Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671(a)(1)) is amended by insert6 ing ‘‘(including a nonmarket economy country)’’ after 

7 ‘‘country’’ each place it appears. 

8 (b) USE OF ALTERNATE METHODOLOGIES INVOLV9 ING CHINA.—Section 771(5)(E) of the Tariff Act of 1930 

10 (19 U.S.C. 1677(5)(E)) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: ‘‘If the administering authority encounters 

12 special difficulties in identifying and calculating the 

13 amount of a benefit under clauses (i) through (iv) with 

14 respect to an investigation or review involving the People’s 

15 Republic of China, without regard to whether the admin16 istering authority determines that China is a nonmarket 

17 economy country under paragraph (18) of this section, the 

18 administering authority shall use methodologies to identify 

19 and calculate the amount of the benefit that take into ac20 count the possibility that terms and conditions prevailing 

21 in China may not always be available as appropriate 

22 benchmarks. In applying such methodologies, where prac23 ticable, the administering authority should take into ac24 count and adjust terms and conditions prevailing in China 

25 before using terms and conditions prevailing outside of 

26 China. If the administering authority determines that 


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1 China is a nonmarket economy country under paragraph 

2 (18) of this section, the administering authority shall pre3 sume, absent a demonstration of compelling evidence to 

4 the contrary, that special difficulties exist in calculating 

5 the amount of a benefit under clauses (i) through (iv) with 

6 respect to an investigation or review involving China and 

7 that it is not practicable to take into account and adjust 

8 terms and conditions prevailing in China, and the admin9 istering authority shall use terms and conditions pre10 vailing outside of China.’’. 

11 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

12 subsections (a) and (b) apply to petitions filed under sec13 tion 702 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671a) on 

14 or after October 1, 2006. 

15 (d) ANTIDUMPING PROVISIONS NOT AFFECTED.— 

16 The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall 

17 not affect the status of a country as a nonmarket economy 

18 country for the purposes of any matter relating to anti19 dumping duties under subtitle B of title VII of the Tariff 

20 Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1673 et seq.). 

21 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The amendments 

22 made by subsections (a) and (b) shall not be construed 

23 to affect the interpretation of any provision of law as in 

24 effect on the day before the date of the enactment of this 


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1 Act with respect to the application of countervailing duties 

2 to nonmarket economy countries. 

3 SEC. 3. REVOCATION OF NONMARKET ECONOMY COUNTRY 

4 STATUS. 

5 (a) AMENDMENT OF DEFINITION OF ‘‘NONMARKET

6 ECONOMY COUNTRY’’.—Section 771(18)(C)(i) of the Tar7 iff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(18)(C)(i)) is amended 

8 to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(i) Any determination that a foreign 

10 country is a nonmarket economy country 

11 shall remain in effect until— 

12 ‘‘(I) the administering authority 

13 makes a final determination to revoke 

14 the determination under subparagraph 

15 (A); and 

16 ‘‘(II) a joint resolution is enacted 

17 into law pursuant to section 3 of the 

18 Stopping Overseas Subsidies Act.’’. 

19 (b) NOTIFICATION BY PRESIDENT; JOINT RESOLU20 TION.—Whenever the administering authority makes a 

21 final determination under section 771(18)(C)(i)(I) of the 

22 Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(18)(C)(i)(I)) to re23 voke the determination that a foreign country is a non24 market economy country— 


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1 (1) the President shall notify the Committee on 

2 Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways 

3 and Means of the House of Representatives of that 

4 determination not later than 10 days after the publi5 cation of the administering authority’s final deter6 mination in the Federal Register; 

7 (2) the President shall transmit to the Congress 

8 a request that a joint resolution be introduced pur9 suant to this section; and 

10 (3) a joint resolution shall be introduced in the 

11 Congress pursuant to this section. 

12 (c) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

13 term ‘‘joint resolution’’ means only a joint resolution of 

14 the 2 Houses of the Congress, the matter after the resolv15 ing clause of which is as follows: ‘‘That the Congress ap16 proves the change of nonmarket economy status with re17 spect to the products of lllll transmitted by the 

18 President to the Congress on lllll.’’, the first 

19 blank space being filled in with the name of the country 

20 with respect to which a determination has been made 

21 under section 771(18)(C)(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

22 U.S.C. 1677(18)(C)(i)), and the second blank space being 

23 filled with the date on which the President notified the 

24 Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee 


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1 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives 

2 under subsection (b)(1). 

3 (d) INTRODUCTION.—A joint resolution shall be in4 troduced (by request) in the House of Representatives by 

5 the majority leader of the House, for himself, or by Mem6 bers of the House designated by the majority leader of 

7 the House, and shall be introduced (by request) in the 

8 Senate by the majority leader of the Senate, for himself, 

9 or by Members of the Senate designated by the majority 

10 leader of the Senate. 

11 (e) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amendment to 

12 a joint resolution shall be in order in either the House 

13 of Representatives or the Senate, and no motion to sus14 pend the application of this subsection shall be in order 

15 in either House, nor shall it be in order in either House 

16 for the presiding officer to entertain a request to suspend 

17 the application of this subsection by unanimous consent. 

18 (f) PERIOD FOR COMMITTEE AND FLOOR CONSIDER19 ATION.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the committee or commit21 tees of either House to which a joint resolution has 

22 been referred have not reported the joint resolution 

23 at the close of the 45th day after its introduction, 

24 such committee or committees shall be automatically 

25 discharged from further consideration of the joint 


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1 resolution and it shall be placed on the appropriate 

2 calendar. A vote on final passage of the joint resolu3 tion shall be taken in each House on or before the 

4 close of the 15th day after the joint resolution is re5 ported by the committee or committees of that 

6 House to which it was referred, or after such com7 mittee or committees have been discharged from fur8 ther consideration of the joint resolution. If, prior to 

9 the passage by one House of a joint resolution of 

10 that House, that House receives the same joint reso11 lution from the other House, then— 

12 (A) the procedure in that House shall be 

13 the same as if no joint resolution had been re14 ceived from the other House, but 

15 (B) the vote on final passage shall be on 

16 the joint resolution of the other House. 

17 (2) COMPUTATION OF DAYS.—For purposes of 

18 paragraph (1), in computing a number of days in ei19 ther House, there shall be excluded any day on 

20 which that House is not in session. 

21 (g) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE.— 

22 (1) MOTION PRIVILEGED.—A motion in the 

23 House of Representatives to proceed to the consider24 ation of a joint resolution shall be highly privileged 

25 and not debatable. An amendment to the motion 


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1 shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move 

2 to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed 

3 to or disagreed to. 

4 (2) DEBATE LIMITED.—Debate in the House of 

5 Representatives on a joint resolution shall be limited 

6 to not more than 20 hours, which shall be divided 

7 equally between those favoring and those opposing 

8 the joint resolution. A motion further to limit debate 

9 shall not be debatable. It shall not be in order to 

10 move to recommit a joint resolution or to move to 

11 reconsider the vote by which a joint resolution is 

12 agreed to or disagreed to. 

13 (3) MOTIONS TO POSTPONE.—Motions to post14 pone, made in the House of Representatives with re15 spect to the consideration of a joint resolution, and 

16 motions to proceed to the consideration of other 

17 business, shall be decided without debate. 

18 (4) APPEALS.—All appeals from the decisions 

19 of the Chair relating to the application of the Rules 

20 of the House of Representatives to the procedure re21 lating to a joint resolution shall be decided without 

22 debate. 

23 (5) OTHER RULES.—Except to the extent spe24 cifically provided in the preceding provisions of this 

25 subsection, consideration of a joint resolution shall 


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1 be governed by the Rules of the House of Represent2 atives applicable to other bills and resolutions in 

3 similar circumstances. 

4 (h) FLOOR CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 

5 (1) MOTION PRIVILEGED.—A motion in the 

6 Senate to proceed to the consideration of a joint res7 olution shall be privileged and not debatable. An 

8 amendment to the motion shall not be in order, nor 

9 shall it be in order to move to reconsider the vote 

10 by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to. 

11 (2) DEBATE LIMITED.—Debate in the Senate 

12 on a joint resolution, and all debatable motions and 

13 appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to 

14 not more than 20 hours. The time shall be equally 

15 divided between, and controlled by, the majority 

16 leader and the minority leader or their designees. 

17 (3) CONTROL OF DEBATE.—Debate in the Sen18 ate on any debatable motion or appeal in connection 

19 with a joint resolution shall be limited to not more 

20 than 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and con21 trolled by, the mover and the manager of the joint 

22 resolution, except that in the event the manager of 

23 the joint resolution is in favor of any such motion 

24 or appeal, the time in opposition thereto shall be 

25 controlled by the minority leader or his designee. 


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1 Such leaders, or either of them, may, from time 

2 under their control on the passage of a joint resolu3 tion, allot additional time to any Senator during the 

4 consideration of any debatable motion or appeal. 

5 (4) OTHER MOTIONS.—A motion in the Senate 

6 to further limit debate is not debatable. A motion to 

7 recommit a joint resolution is not in order. 

8 (i) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND

9 SENATE.—Subsections (c) through (h) are enacted by the 

10 Congress— 

11 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

12 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re13 spectively, and as such subsections (c) through (h) 

14 are deemed a part of the rules of each House, re15 spectively, but applicable only with respect to the 

16 procedure to be followed in that House in the case 

17 of joint resolutions described in subsection (c), and 

18 subsections (c) through (h) supersede other rules 

19 only to the extent that they are inconsistent there20 with; and 

21 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

22 right of either House to change the rules (so far as 

23 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, 

24 in the same manner and to the same extent as in 

25 the case of any other rule of that House. 


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1 SEC. 4. STUDY AND REPORT ON SUBSIDIES BY PEOPLE’S 

2 REPUBLIC OF CHINA. 

3 (a) STUDY.—The United States International Trade 

4 Commission shall conduct a study, under section 332 of 

5 the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1332), regarding how 

6 the People’s Republic of China uses government interven7 tion to promote investment, employment, and exports. The 

8 study shall comprehensively catalog, and when possible 

9 quantify, the practices and policies that central, provincial, 

10 and local government bodies in the People’s Republic of 

11 China use to support and to attempt to influence decision12 making in China’s manufacturing enterprises and indus13 tries. Chapters of this study shall include, but not be lim14 ited to, the following: 

15 (1) Privatization and private ownership. 

16 (2) Nonperforming loans. 

17 (3) Price coordination. 

18 (4) Selection of industries for targeted assist19 ance. 

20 (5) Banking and finance. 

21 (6) Utility rates. 

22 (7) Infrastructure development. 

23 (8) Taxation. 

24 (9) Restraints on imports and exports. 

25 (10) Research and development. 

26 (11) Worker training and retraining. 


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1 (12) Rationalization and closure of uneconomic 

2 enterprises. 

3 (b) REPORT.—The Congress requests that— 

4 (1) not later than 9 months after the date of 

5 the enactment of this Act, the International Trade 

6 Commission complete its study under subsection (a), 

7 submit a report on the study to the Committee on 

8 Ways and Means of the House of Representatives 

9 and the Committee on Finance of the Senate, and 

10 make the report available to the public; and 

11 (2) not later than 1 year after the report under 

12 paragraph (1) is submitted, and annually thereafter 

13 through 2017, the International Trade Commission 

14 prepare and submit to the committees referred to in 

15 paragraph (1) an update of the report and make the 

16 update of the report available to the public. 

Æ 


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