I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1120

To modify the standards for responding to import surges under section

201 of the Trade Act of 1974, to establish mechanisms for import

monitoring and the prevention of circumvention of United States trade

laws, and to strengthen the enforcement of United States trade remedy

laws.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 16, 1999

Mr. LEVIN (for himself and Mr. HOUGHTON) introduced the following bill;

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To modify the standards for responding to import surges

under section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974, to establish

mechanisms for import monitoring and the prevention

of circumvention of United States trade laws, and to

strengthen the enforcement of United States trade remedy laws.

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

3 SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO CHAPTER 1 OF TITLE II OF

4 THE TRADE ACT OF 1974.

5 (a) TEST FOR POSITIVE ADJUSTMENTS TO IMPORT

6 COMPETITION.—Section 201(a) of the Trade Act of 1974
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1 (19 U.S.C. 2251(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘be a sub2 stantial cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof,’’ and

3 inserting ‘‘cause or threaten to cause serious injury’’.

4 (b) INVESTIGATIONS AND DETERMINATIONS.—Sec5 tion 202 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2252) is amended—

6 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘be a

7 substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat

8 thereof,’’ and inserting ‘‘cause or threaten to cause

9 serious injury’’;

10 (2) by amending subsection (b)(1)(B) to read

11 as follows:

12 ‘‘(B) For purposes of this section, the term

13 ‘cause’ refers to a cause that contributes signifi14 cantly to serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the

15 domestic industry but need not be equal to or great16 er than any other cause.’’;

17 (3) in subsection (c)—

18 (A) by amending paragraph (1)(A) to read

19 as follows:

20 ‘‘(A) with respect to serious injury—

21 ‘‘(i) change in the level of sales, pro22 duction, productivity, capacity utilization,

23 profits and losses, and employment,

24 ‘‘(ii) the significant idling of produc25 tive facilities in the domestic industry,
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1 ‘‘(iii) the inability of a significant

2 number of firms to carry out domestic pro3 duction operations at a reasonable level of

4 profit, and

5 ‘‘(iv) significant unemployment or

6 underemployment within the domestic in7 dustry;’’;

8 (B) in paragraph (1)(B)—

9 (i) in clause (iii) by striking ‘‘; and’’

10 and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and

11 (ii) by inserting after clause (iii) the

12 following:

13 ‘‘(iv) foreign production capacity, for14 eign inventories, the level of demand in

15 third country markets, and the availability

16 of other export markets to absorb any ad17 ditional exports; and’’;

18 (C) by amending paragraph (1)(C) to read

19 as follows:

20 ‘‘(C) with respect to cause—

21 ‘‘(i) the rate, amount, and timing of

22 the increase in imports of the product con23 cerned in absolute and relative terms, in24 cluding whether there has been a substan-
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1 tial increase in imports over a short period

2 of time, and

3 ‘‘(ii) the share of the domestic market

4 taken by increased imports.’’;

5 (D) by redesignating paragraphs (3)

6 through (6) as paragraphs (5) through (8), re7 spectively;

8 (E) by striking paragraph (2) and insert9 ing the following:

10 ‘‘(2) In making determinations under para11 graph (1)(A) and (B), if domestic producers inter12 nally transfer significant production of the article

13 like or directly competitive with the imported article

14 for the production of a downstream article and sell

15 significant production of the article like or directly

16 competitive with the imported article in the mer17 chant market, and the Commission finds that—

18 ‘‘(A) the article like or directly competitive

19 with the imported article produced that is inter20 nally transferred for processing into that down21 stream article does not enter the merchant mar22 ket for the article like or directly competitive

23 with the imported article,

24 ‘‘(B) the article like or directly competitive

25 with the imported article is the predominant
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1 material input in the production of that down2 stream article, and

3 ‘‘(C) the production of the article like or

4 directly competitive with the imported article

5 sold in the merchant market is not generally

6 used in the production of the downstream

7 article,

8 then the Commission, in determining market share

9 and the factors affecting financial performance set

10 forth in paragraph (1)(A) and (B), shall focus pri11 marily on the merchant market for the article like

12 or directly competitive with the imported article.

13 ‘‘(3) In making determinations under sub14 section (b), the Commission shall—

15 ‘‘(A) consider the condition of the domestic

16 industry over the course of the relevant busi17 ness cycle, but may not aggregate the causes of

18 declining demand associated with a recession or

19 economic downturn in the United States econ20 omy into a single cause of serious injury or

21 threat of injury; and

22 ‘‘(B) examine factors other than imports

23 which may cause or threaten to cause serious

24 injury to the domestic industry.
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1 The Commission shall include the results of its ex2 amination under subparagraph (B) in the report

3 submitted by the Commission to the President under

4 subsection (e).

5 ‘‘(4) In making determinations under sub6 section (b), the Commission shall consider whether

7 any change in the volume of imports that has oc8 curred since a petition under subsection (a) was filed

9 or a request under subsection (b) was made is re10 lated to the pendency of the investigation, and if so,

11 the Commission may reduce the weight accorded to

12 the data for the period after the petition under sub13 section (a) was filed or the request under subsection

14 (b) was made in making its determination of serious

15 injury, or the threat thereof.’’; and

16 (F) in paragraph (5), as so redesignated—

17 (i) by striking ‘‘and (B)’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘, (B), and (C)’’; and

19 (ii) by striking ‘‘be a substantial cause

20 of serious injury, or the threat thereof,’’

21 and inserting ‘‘cause or threaten to cause

22 serious injury’’;

23 (4) in subsection (d)—

24 (A) in paragraph (1)(A)(ii), by striking

25 ‘‘be, or likely to be a substantial cause of seri-
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1 ous injury, or the threat thereof,’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘cause, or be likely to cause, or threaten to

3 cause, or be likely to threaten to cause, serious

4 injury’’;

5 (B) in paragraph (1)(C), in the matter fol6 lowing clause (ii), by striking ‘‘a substantial

7 cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof,’’

8 and inserting ‘‘causing or threatening to cause

9 serious injury’’;

10 (C) by amending paragraph (2)(A) to read

11 as follows:

12 ‘‘(2)(A) When a petition filed under subsection

13 (a) or a request filed under subsection (b) alleges

14 that critical circumstances exist and requests that

15 provisional relief be provided under this subsection

16 with respect to imports of the article identified in

17 the petition or request, the Commission shall, not

18 later than 45 days after the petition or request is

19 filed, determine, on the basis of available informa20 tion, whether—

21 ‘‘(i) there is clear evidence that increased

22 imports (either actual or relative to domestic

23 production) of the article are causing or threat24 ening to cause serious injury to the domestic in-
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1 dustry producing an article like or directly com2 petitive with the imported article; and

3 ‘‘(ii) delay in taking action under this

4 chapter would cause damage to that industry

5 that would be difficult to repair.

6 In making the evaluation under clause (ii), the Com7 mission should consider, among other factors that it

8 considers relevant, the timing and volume of the im9 ports, including whether there has been a substantial

10 increase in imports over a short period of time, and

11 any other circumstances indicating that delay in tak12 ing action under this chapter would cause damage to

13 the industry that would be difficult to repair.’’; and

14 (D) in paragraph (2)(D), by striking ‘‘30’’

15 and inserting ‘‘20’’.

16 (c) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATIONS.—

17 (1) ACTION BY PRESIDENT.—Section 203(a) of

18 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)) is

19 amended—

20 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘and

21 provide greater economic and social benefits

22 than costs’’ and inserting ‘‘and will not have an

23 adverse impact on the United States substan24 tially out of proportion to the benefits of such

25 action’’;
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1 (B) in paragraph (2)(F), by striking the

2 semicolon at the end of clause (iii) and insert3 ing the following:

4 ‘‘except that the President shall give substan5 tially greater weight to the factors set out in

6 clause (i) than to those set out in clauses (ii)

7 and (iii);’’; and

8 (C) by amending paragraph (2)(I) to read

9 as follows:

10 ‘‘(I) the potential for harm to the national

11 security of the United States; and’’.

12 (2) IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION REC13 OMMENDED BY COMMISSION.—(A) Section 203(c) of

14 the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2253(c)) is

15 amended by striking ‘‘90’’ and inserting ‘‘60’’.

16 (B) Section 152(c)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974

17 (19 U.S.C. 2192(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘not

18 counting any day which is excluded under section

19 154(b),’’ and inserting ‘‘counting all calendar days

20 in the case of a resolution described in subsection

21 (a)(1)(A), and not counting any day which is ex22 cluded under section 154(b) in the case of a resolu23 tion described in subsection (a)(1)(B),’’.

24 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
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1 (1) Section 203(e)(6)(B) of the Trade Act of

2 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2253(e)(6)(B)) is amended by

3 striking ‘‘substantially’’.

4 (2) Section 264(c) of the Trade Act of 1974

5 (19 U.S.C. 2354(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘a sub6 stantial cause of serious injury or threat thereof’’

7 and inserting ‘‘causing or threatening to cause seri8 ous injury’’.

9 (3) Section 154(b) of the Trade Act of 1974

10 (19 U.S.C. 2194(b)) is amended by striking the

11 matter that precedes paragraph (1) and inserting

12 the following:

13 ‘‘(b) The 60-day period referred to in section 203(c)

14 and the 90-day period referred to in section 407(c)(2)

15 shall be computed by excluding—’’.

16 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 332 OF THE TARIFF ACT

17 OF 1930.

18 Section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.

19 1332) is amended by adding at the end the following:

20 ‘‘(h)(1) Any entity, including a trade association,

21 firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers,

22 which is representative of a domestic industry that pro23 duces an article that is like or directly competitive with

24 an imported article, may file a request with the President
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1 pursuant to paragraph (2) for the monitoring of imports

2 of such article under subsection (g).

3 ‘‘(2) If the request filed under paragraph (1) alleges

4 that an article is being imported into the United States

5 in such increased quantities as to cause serious injury, or

6 threat thereof, to a domestic industry, the President, with7 in 45 days after receiving the request, shall determine if

8 monitoring is appropriate.

9 ‘‘(3) If the determination under paragraph (2) is af10 firmative, the President shall request, under subsection

11 (g), the Commission to monitor and investigate the im12 ports concerned for a period not to exceed 2 years.’’.

13 SEC. 3. EARLY RELEASE OF IMPORT DATA.

14 In order to facilitate the early identification of poten15 tially disruptive import surges, the Director of the Office

16 of Management and Budget may grant an exception to

17 the publication dates established for the release of data

18 on United States international trade in goods and services

19 in order to permit public access to preliminary inter20 national trade import data, if the Director notifies the

21 Congress of the early release of the data.
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1 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF IMPORT MONITORING CEN2 TER.

3 Section 301 of the Customs Procedural Reform and

4 Simplification Act of 1978 (19 U.S.C. 2075) is amended

5 by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘(h) STEEL IMPORT MONITORING AND ENFORCE7 MENT SUPPORT CENTER.—There are authorized to be ap8 propriated for a Steel Import Monitoring and Enforce9 ment Support Center in the United States Customs Serv10 ice, in addition to amounts otherwise available for such

11 purposes, $250,000 for fiscal year 1999, and $1,000,000

12 for fiscal year 2000.’’.

13 SEC. 5. AMENDMENT TO TARIFF ACT OF 1930.

14 Section 484(f) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.

15 1484(f)) is amended—

16 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting

17 ‘‘(1) The Secretary’’; and

18 (2) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(2) The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of

20 Commerce, and the International Trade Commission shall

21 establish a suffix to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of

22 the United States for merchandise that is subject to coun23 tervailing duty orders or antidumping duty orders under

24 title VII of this Act, or subject to actions by the President

25 under chapter 1 of title II, or section 406, of the Trade

26 Act of 1974.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. PRODUCT MONITORING.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall

3 monitor imports on a monthly basis for import surges and

4 potential unfair trade through the year 2000. Products to

5 be monitored shall be determined by the Secretary of Com6 merce based on the import surge data compiled by the

7 Secretary, but shall include, at a minimum, steel mill

8 products and other import-sensitive products identified by

9 United States industries or entities representative of a

10 United States industry that meet the necessary criteria

11 established by the Secretary. In determining whether to

12 monitor imports of a specific product, the Secretary shall

13 consider the percentage increase in imports, the volume

14 or value of imports, as appropriate, the level of import

15 penetration, and any other factors the Secretary considers

16 necessary.

17 (b) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.—Within 30 days

18 after the release of the official December import statistics

19 for calendar year 1999 and for calendar year 2000, the

20 Secretary of Commerce shall submit a report to the Con21 gress summarizing the monitoring activities under this

22 section for that calendar year and identifying products to

23 be monitored in the next calendar year. In addition, in

24 the report to the Congress covering calendar year 1999,

25 the Secretary of Commerce shall determine whether trade

26 conditions during the calendar year 1999 merit extending
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1 the import monitoring program beyond the program’s

2 scheduled expiration at the end of calendar year 2000.

3 SEC. 7. ITC INVESTIGATION OF ANTICOMPETITIVE PRAC4 TICES IN INTERNATIONAL STEEL TRADE.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within 30 days after the date of

6 the enactment of this Act, the United States International

7 Trade Commission shall commence an investigation under

8 section 332 of the Tariff Act of 1930—

9 (1) to collect information on anticompetitive

10 practices in international steel trade;

11 (2) to assess the adverse effects of such prac12 tices on United States producers, workers, and con13 sumers;

14 (3) to collect information on import licensing

15 arrangements of other members of the World Trade

16 Organization; and

17 (4) to report to the Committee on Ways and

18 Means of the House of Representatives, the Com19 mittee on Finance of the Senate, and the United

20 States Trade Representative on its findings within 1

21 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.

22 (b) INCLUSION IN NATIONAL TRADE ESTIMATE RE23 PORT.—The United States Trade Representatives shall in24 clude the findings of the International Trade Commission

25 under subsection (a) in a special section of the report sub-
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1 mitted under section 181(b) of the Trade Act of 1974

2 after the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enact3 ment of this Act, in which the Trade Representative shall

4 identify and explain any anticompetitive practices in inter5 national steel trade, evaluate the compatibility of import

6 licensing programs with obligations under the World

7 Trade Organization, and propose steps to be taken to ad8 dress anticompetitive practices and practices inconsistent

9 with the World Trade Organization.

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

11 term ‘‘anticompetitive practices in international steel

12 trade’’ means—

13 (1) monopolies or cartels, whether or not sanc14 tioned by government authorities, which restrict the

15 output, delivery, or pricing of steel products;

16 (2) agreements between steel producers, wheth17 er or not sanctioned by government authorities, to

18 restrict the flow of steel products or limit price com19 petition in international steel trade; and

20 (3) coercion or threats by manufacturers to dis21 tributors or consumers which have the effect of re22 stricting imports of steel products.

23 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

24 (a) DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.—(1) There are au25 thorized to be appropriated to the Department of Com-
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1 merce, in addition to the amounts otherwise available for

2 such purposes, $1,200,000 for fiscal year 1999 and

3 $5,200,000 for fiscal year 2000 for additional staff to con4 duct import monitoring, subsidy enforcement, and prompt

5 antidumping investigations under subtitle B of title VII

6 of the Tariff Act of 1930.

7 (b) USTR.—There is authorized to be appropriated

8 to the Office of the United States Trade Representative,

9 in addition to amounts otherwise available for such pur10 poses, $250,000 for fiscal year 1999 and $750,000 for fis11 cal year 2000 for additional staff—

12 (1) to promote and defend policy with respect

13 to United States import safeguards and counter14 vailing or antidumping duty actions if challenged in

15 the World Trade Organization; and

16 (2) to identify foreign trade-distorting measures

17 and develop policies and responsive actions to ad18 dress them.

19 (c) ITC.—There are authorized to be appropriated

20 to the Office of the United States International Trade

21 Commission, in addition to amounts otherwise available

22 for such purposes, such sums as may be necessary for fis23 cal year 1999, and such sums as may be necessary for

24 each of fiscal years 2000 through 2002, for additional
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1 staff to make prompt determinations under section 202

2 (b) and (d) of the Trade Act of 1974.

Æ