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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 842

To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to eliminate disincentives to fair trade

conditions.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 24, 1999

Mr. REGULA (for himself, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Ms.

LOFGREN, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr.

DOYLE, Mr. KLINK, Mr. NEY, Mr. SKELTON, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. WHITFIELD, Ms. DEGETTE,

Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SKEEN, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. DEUTSCH,

and Mr. SPRATT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to eliminate disincentives

to fair trade conditions.

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 ‘‘Continued Dumping

5 or Subsidy Offset Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS OF CONGRESS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Consistent with the rights of the United

2 States under the World Trade Organization, injuri3 ous dumping is to be condemned and actionable sub4 sidies which cause injury to domestic industries

5 must be effectively neutralized.

6 (2) United States unfair trade laws have as

7 their purpose the restoration of conditions of fair

8 trade so that jobs and investment that should be in

9 the United States are not lost through false market

10 signals.

11 (3) The continued dumping or subsidization of

12 imported product after the issuance of antidumping

13 orders or findings or countervailing duty orders can

14 frustrate the remedial purpose of the laws by pre15 venting market prices from returning to fair levels.

16 (4) Where dumping or subsidization continues,

17 domestic producers will be reluctant to reinvest or

18 rehire and may be unable to maintain pension and

19 health care benefits that conditions of fair trade

20 would permit. Similarly, small businesses and Ameri21 ca’s farmers and ranchers may be unable to pay

22 down accumulated debt, to obtain working capital or

23 otherwise remain viable.
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1 (5) United States trade laws should be

2 strengthened to see that the remedial purpose of the

3 laws is achieved in fact.

4 SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of subtitle C of title

6 VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675 et seq.)

7 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

8 ‘‘SEC. 754. CONTINUED DUMPING OR SUBSIDY OFFSET.

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Whenever continued dumping or

10 subsidization is found to exist by the administering au11 thority under section 751(a) of this Act or by operation

12 of law, any duties assessed shall be distributed to the af13 fected domestic producers for qualifying expenditures on

14 an annual basis. Such disbursement shall be known as the

15 ‘continued dumping or subsidy offset’.

16 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

17 ‘‘(1) The term ‘affected domestic producer’

18 means any manufacturer, producer, farmer, rancher

19 or worker representative, including associations of

20 such individuals and entities, that was a petitioner

21 or interested party in support of the petition with

22 respect to which an antidumping duty finding or

23 order or countervailing duty order has been entered

24 and remains in operation. Companies or businesses

25 that have ceased the production of the product cov-
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1 ered by the order or finding or who have been ac2 quired by a company or business that is related to

3 a company that opposed the investigation shall not

4 be an affected domestic producer.

5 ‘‘(2) The term ‘Commissioner’ means the Com6 missioner of the United States Customs Service.

7 ‘‘(3) The term ‘Commission’ means the United

8 States International Trade Commission.

9 ‘‘(4) The term ‘qualifying expenditure’ means

10 an expenditure incurred after the issuance of the

11 antidumping duty finding or order or countervailing

12 duty order in any of the following categories:

13 ‘‘(A) plant;

14 ‘‘(B) equipment;

15 ‘‘(C) research and development;

16 ‘‘(D) personnel training;

17 ‘‘(E) acquisition of technology;

18 ‘‘(F) health care benefits to employees paid

19 for by the employer;

20 ‘‘(G) pension benefits to employees paid

21 for by the employer;

22 ‘‘(H) environmental equipment, training,

23 or technology;

24 ‘‘(I) acquisition of raw materials and other

25 inputs; and
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1 ‘‘(J) borrowed working capital or other

2 funds needed to maintain production.

3 ‘‘(c) DISBURSEMENT PROCEDURES.—The Commis4 sioner shall prescribe procedures for disbursing the contin5 ued dumping or subsidies offset required by this section

6 provided that disbursement shall occur for monies as7 sessed during a fiscal year not later than sixty days after

8 the beginning of the following fiscal year.

9 ‘‘(d) PARTIES ELIGIBLE FOR DISTRIBUTION OF

10 ANTIDUMPING AND COUNTERVAILING DUTIES AS11 SESSED.—

12 ‘‘(1) The Commission shall forward to the Com13 missioner within sixty days of the effective date of

14 this section or within sixty days of an antidumping

15 or countervailing duty order issued after the effec16 tive date of this section a list of petitioners and com17 panies that indicate support of the petition by inclu18 sion in the petition or supplements thereto, by letter

19 or through questionnaire response. Where no injury

20 test was required or where the Commission’s records

21 do not permit an identification of those in support

22 of a petition the Commission shall consult with the

23 Department of Commerce to determine the identity

24 of the petitioner and those domestic parties who

25 have entered appearances during administrative re-
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1 views conducted by Commerce and sought vigorous

2 enforcement of United States law.

3 ‘‘(2) The Commissioner shall publish in the

4 Federal Register at least thirty days prior to the

5 issuance of payments, a notice of intention to dis6 tribute duty assessments, the list of companies eligi7 ble based on the list obtained from the Commission,

8 and shall request a certification from each recipient

9 as to—

10 ‘‘(A) desire to receive distribution,

11 ‘‘(B) continued eligibility as an affected

12 domestic producer, and

13 ‘‘(C) the qualifying expenditures incurred

14 since the issuance of the order for which dis15 tribution under this section has not previously

16 been made.

17 ‘‘(3) The Commissioner shall distribute all

18 funds (including all interest earned) from assess19 ments received in the completed fiscal year to af20 fected domestic producers based on the affirmative

21 responses to paragraph (2) on a pro rata basis based

22 on new and remaining qualifying expenditures.

23 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL ACCOUNTS.—

24 ‘‘(1) Within fourteen days of the effective date

25 of this provision for outstanding antidumping orders
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1 and findings or for outstanding countervailing duty

2 orders or within fourteen days of the date an anti3 dumping or countervailing duty order takes effect,

4 the Commissioner shall establish in the Treasury a

5 special account with respect to that order or finding.

6 ‘‘(2) The Commissioner shall have deposited

7 into the special accounts all antidumping or counter8 vailing duties, including interest on such duties, that

9 are assessed under the antidumping order or finding

10 or the countervailing duty order with respect to

11 which the account was established since the effective

12 date of this section.

13 ‘‘(3) The monies in a special account shall be

14 available for distribution to the extent of actual as15 sessment (including interest).

16 ‘‘(4) Consistent with the requirements of sub17 section (c), the Commissioner shall by regulation

18 prescribe the time and manner in which distribution

19 of funds from special accounts will be made.

20 ‘‘(5) The special accounts shall remain in exist21 ence until all entries relating to an order which has

22 been terminated are liquidated and duties assessed

23 collected and the Commissioner has provided one

24 last notice of opportunity to obtain distribution pur25 suant to subsection (c). Amounts not claimed within
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1 90 days of the time of such final distribution shall

2 be returned to the general fund of the Treasury.’’.

3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con4 tents for title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 is amended

5 by inserting the following new item after the item relating

6 to section 753:

‘‘Sec. 754. Continued dumping or subsidy offset.’’.

7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The continued antidumping

8 or subsidy offset shall apply with regard to all assessments

9 made on or after October 1, 1996, on outstanding anti10 dumping findings or orders or countervailing duty orders.

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