II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1922 

To authorize appropriate action if negotiations with Japan to allow the 

resumption of United States beef exports are not successful, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 26, 2005 

Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. THUNE, Mr. 

JOHNSON, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. DORGAN, Mr. BURNS, Mr. SALAZAR, 

Mr. TALENT, Mr. BOND, Mr. ENZI, Mr. THOMAS, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. 

CRAPO, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. COLEMAN, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. REID, 

and Mr. CHAMBLISS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice 

and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriate action if negotiations with Japan 

to allow the resumption of United States beef exports 

are not successful, 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. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress makes the following findings: 

5 (1) The United States cattle industry produces 

6 abundant, safe, and healthful food for consumers in 

7 the United States and around the world. 
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1 (2) Japan has prohibited imports of beef from 

2 the United States since December, 2003, when a 

3 single case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy 

4 (BSE, or ‘‘mad cow disease’’) was found in a Cana5 dian-born animal in Washington State. 

6 (3) The United States has implemented and 

7 maintained a BSE surveillance and safeguard pro8 gram that exceeds the internationally recognized 

9 standards of the World Organization for Animal 

10 Health (OIE) for BSE control, eradication, and test11 ing to protect human and animal health. 

12 (4) The United States and the Government of 

13 Japan concluded an understanding on October 23, 

14 2004, that established a process that was supposed 

15 to lead to a resumption of United States beef ex16 ports to Japan. 

17 (5) Notwithstanding Japan’s commitment in 

18 this agreement, Japan’s membership in the OIE, 

19 and Japan’s commitment under the Agreement on 

20 the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Meas21 ures of the World Trade Organization to apply sani22 tary and phytosanitary measures only to the extent 

23 necessary to protect human, animal, and plant 

24 health, based on scientific principles, Japan con-
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1 tinues to maintain an unjustified ban on imports of 

2 United States beef. 

3 (6) Japan’s continued violation of the spirit and 

4 letter of its World Trade Organization commitments 

5 has resulted in the cumulative economic loss to the 

6 United States beef industry of approximately 

7 $6,300,000,000 and current annual economic trade 

8 losses of $3,140,000,000 per year. 

9 (7) United States officials and officials of the 

10 Government of Japan have recently indicated that 

11 Japan could complete the regulatory process to allow 

12 a resumption of United States beef exports to Japan 

13 by the end of 2005. 

14 SEC. 2. NEGOTIATIONS AND CERTIFICATION REGARDING 

15 UNITED STATES BEEF EXPORTS TO JAPAN. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi17 sion of law, the United States Trade Representative shall, 

18 not later than December 15, 2005, submit to the Congress 

19 a certification described in subsection (b). 

20 (b) CERTIFICATION.—The certification described in 

21 this subsection means a certification by the United States 

22 Trade Representative to the Congress that Japan is no 

23 longer prohibiting the importation of beef from the United 

24 States. 

25 (c) ADDITIONAL TARIFFS.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the certification described 

2 in subsection (b) is not made, the Secretary of the 

3 Treasury shall, not later than December 31, 2005, 

4 impose additional tariffs on selected articles that are 

5 the growth, product, or manufacture of Japan and 

6 that enter the customs territory of the United 

7 States, in addition to any other duty that would oth8 erwise apply to such article. Such additional tariffs 

9 shall be applied to such articles in an amount suffi10 cient, in the aggregate, to result in additional tariffs 

11 being imposed on imports of articles from Japan in 

12 an amount equal to $3,140,000,000 annually. 

13 (2) DURATION.—The additional tariffs imposed 

14 by this section shall terminate on the date that a 

15 certification described in subsection (b) is submitted 

16 to the Congress. 

17 (d) NEGOTIATIONS.—Beginning on the date of enact18 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, in consulta19 tion with the United States Trade Representative, shall 

20 begin negotiations with Japan to ensure that Japan 

21 adopts a process that leads to the elimination of its prohi22 bition on imports of beef from the United States. 

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