I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8037 

To amend section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to requirements 

for domestic industries, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 14, 2020 

Ms. DELBENE (for herself and Mr. SCHWEIKERT) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect 

to requirements for domestic industries, 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 ‘‘Advancing America’s 

5 Interests Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the re8 sources of the United States International Trade Commis9 sion are focused on protecting genuine domestic industries 


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1 and to safeguard the public health and welfare and the 

2 United States economy (including competitive conditions). 

3 SEC. 3. UNFAIR PRACTICES IN IMPORT TRADE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 

5 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1337) is amended as follows: 

6 (1) Subsection (a) is amended— 

7 (A) in paragraph (3)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub9 paragraph (B); 

10 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

11 ‘‘engineering, research and development, or 

12 licensing.’’ and inserting ‘‘engineering and 

13 research and development; or’’; and 

14 (iii) by adding after subparagraph (C) 

15 the following: 

16 ‘‘(D) substantial investment in licensing activi17 ties that leads to the adoption and development of 

18 articles that incorporate the patent, copyright, trade19 mark, mask work, or design.’’; 

20 (B) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 

21 paragraph (5); and 

22 (C) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 

23 following: 

24 ‘‘(4) For purposes of paragraph (3), the complainant 

25 may not rely upon activities by its licensees unless the liVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037

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1 cense leads to the adoption and development of articles 

2 that incorporate the claimed patent, copyright, trademark, 

3 mask work, or design for sale in the United States.’’. 

4 (2) Subsection (b) is amended— 

5 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting after 

6 the first sentence the following: ‘‘For a com7 plaint under oath, a person may be relied upon 

8 to qualify as an industry under subsection 

9 (a)(2) only if the person joins the complaint 

10 under oath, except that nothing in this sentence 

11 shall be construed to compel such a person to 

12 join the complaint.’’; and 

13 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(4)(A) The Commission shall identify, at the begin15 ning of an investigation, whether the investigation pre16 sents a dispositive issue appropriate for an expedited fact 

17 finding and an abbreviated hearing limited to that issue, 

18 and shall direct the assigned administrative law judge to 

19 issue an initial determination on such issue not later than 

20 100 days after the investigation is instituted. 

21 ‘‘(B) Any initial determination by the assigned ad22 ministrative law judge under subparagraph (A) shall stay 

23 the investigation pending Commission action.’’. 

24 (3) Subsection (c) is amended— 


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1 (A) by striking the first sentence and in2 serting the following: ‘‘(1) The Commission 

3 shall determine, with respect to each investiga4 tion conducted by it under this section, whether 

5 or not there is a violation of this section, except 

6 that the Commission— 

7 ‘‘(A) may, by issuing a consent order or on the 

8 basis of an agreement between the private parties to 

9 the investigation, including an agreement to present 

10 the matter for arbitration, terminate any such inves11 tigation, in whole or in part, without making such 

12 a determination; or 

13 ‘‘(B) may determine during the course of the 

14 investigation that the exclusion of articles under in15 vestigation would not be in the interest of the public, 

16 after considering the nature of the articles concerned 

17 and the effect of such exclusion upon the public 

18 health and welfare, the United States economy (in19 cluding competitive conditions), the production of 

20 like or directly competitive articles by the complain21 ant and its licensees, and United States consumers, 

22 and terminate any such investigation, in whole or in 

23 part, without making any further determination.’’; 


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1 (B) in the second sentence, by striking 

2 ‘‘Each determination’’ and inserting the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(2) Each determination’’; 

5 (C) by striking ‘‘its findings on the public 

6 health and welfare, competitive conditions in 

7 the United States economy,’’ and inserting ‘‘its 

8 findings on the public health and welfare, the 

9 United States economy (including competitive 

10 conditions),’’; and 

11 (D) by inserting ‘‘by the complainant and 

12 its licensees’’ after ‘‘the production of like or di13 rectly competitive articles in the United 

14 States’’. 

15 (4) Subsection (d)(1) is amended by striking 

16 the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘(1) 

17 If the Commission determines, as a result of an in18 vestigation under this section, that there is both (A) 

19 a violation of this section and (B) exclusion of the 

20 articles concerned is in the interest of the public, 

21 after considering the nature of the articles concerned 

22 and the effect of such exclusion upon the public 

23 health and welfare, the United States economy (in24 cluding competitive conditions), the production of 

25 like or directly competitive articles in the United 


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1 States by complainant and its licensees, and United 

2 States consumers, then the Commission shall direct 

3 that the articles concerned that are imported by any 

4 person violating the provisions of this section be ex5 cluded from entry into the United States.’’. 

6 (5) Subsection (e)(1) is amended by striking 

7 the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘If, 

8 during the course of an investigation under this sec9 tion, the Commission determines that there is reason 

10 to believe that there is a violation of this section and 

11 that exclusion of the articles concerned would be in 

12 the interest of the public, the Commission may di13 rect that the articles concerned that are imported by 

14 any person with respect to whom there is reason to 

15 believe that such person is violating this section be 

16 excluded from entry into the United States, after 

17 considering the nature of the articles concerned and 

18 the effect of such exclusion upon the public health 

19 and welfare, the United States economy (including 

20 competitive conditions), the production of like or di21 rectly competitive articles in the United States by 

22 the complainant and its licensees, and United States 

23 consumers.’’. 

24 (6) Subsection (f)(1) is amended by striking the 

25 first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘In addiVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037

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1 tion to, or in lieu of, taking action under subsection 

2 (d) or (e), the Commission may issue and cause to 

3 be served on any person violating this section, or be4 lieved to be violating this section, as the case may 

5 be, an order directing such person to cease and de6 sist from engaging in the unfair methods or acts in7 volved, after considering the nature of the articles 

8 concerned and the effect of such order upon the pub9 lic health and welfare, the United States economy 

10 (including competitive conditions), the production of 

11 like or directly competitive articles in the United 

12 States by complainant and its licensees and United 

13 States consumers.’’. 

14 (7) Subsection (g)(1) is amended by amending 

15 the matter following subparagraph (E) to read as 

16 follows: 

17 ‘‘the Commission shall presume the facts alleged in the 

18 complaint to be true and shall, upon request, issue an ex19 clusion from entry or a cease and desist order, or both, 

20 limited to that person, after considering the nature of the 

21 articles concerned and the effect of such exclusion or order 

22 upon the public health and welfare, the United States 

23 economy (including competitive conditions), the produc24 tion of like or directly competitive articles in the United 


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1 States by the complainant and its licensees and United 

2 States consumers.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 subsection (a) shall apply to complaints filed under section 

5 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on or after the date of the 

6 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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