I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4402

To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to require the Secretary

of Commerce to monitor domestic supplies and exports of unprocessed

timber and to impose export controls on such timber when a critical

short supply of such timber exists for domestic manufacturing purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 12, 1994

Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. MILLER of California, Mr.

STUDDS, Mr. BROWN of California, Mr. LEHMAN, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr.

WILSON, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. STARK, Mr. GORDON, Mr. ABERCROMBIE,

Mr. BOEHLERT, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BARLOW, Mr.

TORRES, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. WATERS, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr.

FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. NADLER, and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

A BILL

To amend the Export Administration Act of 1979 to require

the Secretary of Commerce to monitor domestic supplies

and exports of unprocessed timber and to impose export

controls on such timber when a critical short supply

of such timber exists for domestic manufacturing purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Timber Fair Trade

3 and Forest Conservation Act of 1994’’.

4 SEC. 2. EXPORT CONTROLS ON UNPROCESSED TIMBER.

5 Section 7 of the Export Administration Act of 1979

6 (50 U.S.C. App. 2406) is amended by adding at the end

7 the following:

8 ‘‘(1) UNPROCESSED TIMBER.—

9 ‘‘(1) MONITORING.—The Secretary shall mon10 itor—

11 ‘‘(A) exports of, and contracts to export,

12 unprocessed timber, and

13 ‘‘(B) domestic supplies of such unproc14 essed timber for domestic manufacturing pur15 poses, for the purpose of determining whether

16 a critical shortage of unprocessed timber, or of

17 any species or grade of unprocessed timber, ex18 ists for domestic manufacturing purposes.

19 ‘‘(2) EXPORT RESTRICTIONS.—If the Secretary

20 finds that a critical shortage of unprocessed timber

21 for domestic manufacturing purposes exists in any

22 State or region, then the Secretary shall impose re23 strictions on the export of such unprocessed timber

24 sufficient to ensure that there is an adequate supply

25 of such unprocessed timber to meet domestic manu26 facturing needs in that State or region. The Sec-
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1 retary may remove such restrictions upon reporting

2 to Congress, under paragraph (3)(A), that such re3 strictions are no longer required under this sub4 section.

5 ‘‘(3) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—(A) The Sec6 retary shall submit to Congress, not later than 30

7 days after the end of each calendar quarter, a report

8 on the results of the monitoring conducted under

9 paragraph (1), the Secretary’s determination of

10 whether a critical shortage of unprocessed timber for

11 domestic manufacturing purposes exists in any State

12 or region, and any export restrictions imposed as a

13 result of such determination.

14 ‘‘(B) Each report under subparagraph (A)

15 shall—

16 ‘‘(i) specify the quantity of exports, by

17 port, of unprocessed timber during the period

18 covered by the report, and the quantity of un19 processed timber to be exported under contracts

20 to export entered into during such period;

21 ‘‘(ii) estimate, as of the date of the report,

22 the domestic supplies, by State, of unprocessed

23 timber available for domestic manufacturing

24 purposes;
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1 ‘‘(iii) specify whether such unprocessed

2 timber originated from Federal lands, State

3 lands, or private lands;

4 ‘‘(iv) determine whether such supplies of

5 unprocessed timber were sufficient to meet the

6 needs of domestic manufacturers;

7 ‘‘(v) include a formal finding as to whether

8 a critical shortage of unprocessed timber for do9 mestic manufacturing purposes exists in any

10 State or region; and

11 ‘‘(vi) if such a shortage or shortages exist,

12 specify the export restrictions deemed necessary

13 to satisfy domestic needs.

14 ‘‘(4) SMALL WOODLANDS.—Whenever the Sec15 retary imposes export restrictions under this sub16 section, the Secretary shall give preference in the al17 location of any available export licenses to persons

18 who own or have ownership interests in fewer than

19 3,000 acres of forest land and are exporting timber

20 from that ownership, or persons who can dem21 onstrate in a manner to be prescribed by the Sec22 retary that the timber to be exported under such li23 censes originates from such ownerships.

24 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub25 section—
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1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘unprocessed timber’ has the

2 meaning given that term in section 493(7) of

3 the Forest Resources Conservation and Short4 age Relief Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C. 620e(7));

5 ‘‘(B) the term ‘private lands’ means lands

6 held or owned by a person, except that such

7 term does not include Federal lands or State

8 lands, or any lands the title to which is—

9 ‘‘(i) held in trust by the United States

10 for the benefit of any Indian tribe or indi11 vidual,

12 ‘‘(ii) held by any Indian tribe or indi13 vidual subject to a restriction by the Unit14 ed States against alienation, or

15 ‘‘(iii) held by any Native Corporation

16 as defined in section 3 of the Alaska Na17 tive Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.

18 1602);

19 ‘‘(C) the term ‘Federal lands’ means lands

20 that are owned by the United States, but does

21 not include any lands described in clause (i),

22 (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (B);

23 ‘‘(D) the term ‘State lands’ means lands

24 that are held or owned by a State or political

25 subdivision thereof, but does not include any
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1 lands described in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of sub2 paragraph (B);

3 ‘‘(E)(i) a ‘critical shortage of unprocessed

4 timber for domestic manufacturing purposes’

5 includes any period in which the volume of ex6 ports of such unprocessed timber in relation to

7 supplies for domestic manufacturing purposes is

8 contributing to a significant inflationary in9 crease in domestic wood products prices or a

10 shortage of such unprocessed timber for domes11 tic manufacturing purposes, and such price in12 crease or shortage has, or may have, a serious

13 impact on the economy or any sector thereof;

14 ‘‘(ii) for purposes of clause (i), a ‘serious

15 impact on the economy or any sector thereof’

16 may include a situation in which domestic lum17 ber, paper or wood products mills are terminat18 ing or curtailing operations due to a shortage of

19 unprocessed timber;

20 ‘‘(F) the term ‘person’ means any individ21 ual, partnership, corporation, association, or

22 other legal entity and includes any subsidiary,

23 subcontractor, or parent company, and business

24 affiliates where 1 affiliate controls or has the

25 power to control the other or when both are
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1 controlled directly or indirectly by a third per2 son; and

3 ‘‘(G) the term ‘forest land’ means land

4 that is at least 10 percent stocked by live trees

5 or land formerly having such tree cover and not

6 currently developed for nonforest use.

7 ‘‘(6) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROVISIONS.—

8 Unprocessed timber shall not be considered to be an

9 agricultural commodity for the purposes of sub10 section (g) of this section.

11 ‘‘(7) INAPPLICABILITY OF TERMINATION PROVI12 SION.—The provisions of section 20 do not apply to

13 this subsection, or to any authority under this Act

14 that is necessary to carry out this subsection.

15 ‘‘(8) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY.—The Presi16 dent is authorized, after suitable notice and a public

17 comment period of not less than 90 days, to suspend

18 any export restrictions imposed under paragraph (2)

19 if a ruling is issued under the formal dispute resolu20 tion procedures of the General Agreement on Tariffs

21 and Trade finding that such restrictions violate Arti22 cle XI prohibitions on export restrictions and are not

23 allowable under the exceptions to Article XI.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. IMPOSITION OF EXPORT CONTROLS ON CERTAIN

2 STATES.

3 (a) FINDING.—The Congress finds that a critical

4 shortage of unprocessed timber for domestic manufactur5 ing purposes exists, within the meaning of section 7(1)

6 of the Export Administration Act of 1979, in the States

7 of Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana.

8 (b) EXPORT CONTROLS.—The Secretary of Com9 merce shall, upon the enactment of this Act, impose quan10 titative restrictions under section 7(1) of the Export Ad11 ministration Act of 1979, on exports of unprocessed tim12 ber from each State referred to in subsection (a).

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