I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 997

To amend General Note 3(a)(iv) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

United States to deny special tariff treatment to goods of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands unless certain conditions are

met, to require the Secretary of Labor to assign a full-time resident

compliance officer to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 18, 1993

Mr. PAYNE of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend General Note 3(a)(iv) of the Harmonized Tariff

Schedule of the United States to deny special tariff treatment to goods of the Commonwealth of the Northern

Mariana Islands unless certain conditions are met, to

require the Secretary of Labor to assign a full-time resident compliance officer to the Commonwealth of the

Northern Mariana Islands, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. CONDITIONS ON SPECIAL TARIFF TREATMENT

2 FOR GOODS OF GUAM AND THE COMMON3 WEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA IS4 LANDS.

5 General Note 3(a)(iv) of the Harmonized Tariff

6 Schedule of the United States is amended—

7 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘Except’’

8 and inserting ‘‘Subject to subparagraph (E) and ex9 cept’’;

10 (2) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘and sub11 ject to subparagraph (E)’’ after ‘‘1974’’;

12 (3) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘and

13 subject to subparagraph (E)’’ after ‘‘Act’’; and

14 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub15 paragraph:

16 ‘‘(E)(I) Notwithstanding any other provi17 sion of this paragraph except as provided in

18 clause (II), goods which are imported from the

19 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is20 lands (in this subparagraph referred to as the

21 ‘Commonwealth’) shall be subject to the rates

22 of duty set forth in column 1 of the tariff

23 schedule, and may not be labeled as having

24 been produced or manufactured in the United

25 States, unless the Commonwealth establishes

26 that the labor rate paid to the workers produc-
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1 ing such goods is greater than or equal to the

2 prevailing United States minimum wage rate

3 and that not less than 50 percent of the direct

4 labor cost of producing such goods is paid to

5 residents of the Commonwealth.

6 ‘‘(II) For purposes of this subparagraph,

7 the term ‘direct labor’ includes all work re8 quired for preparation, processing, packing, and

9 shipping of a commodity, but not supervision,

10 management, administration, or inspection; and

11 the term ‘resident’ includes United States citi12 zens and nationals, citizens of the Trust Terri13 tory of the Pacific Islands, citizens of states in

14 free association with the United States entitled

15 to enter the United States and its territories

16 pursuant to law, and permanent residents (as

17 such term is used in the Immigration and Na18 tionality Act.’’.

19 SEC. 2. RESIDENT LABOR COMPLIANCE OFFICER.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Labor shall as21 sign a full-time, resident compliance officer to the Com22 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for purposes

23 of monitoring the Commonwealth’s compliance with Gen24 eral Note 3(a)(iv)(E) of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule

25 of the United States and monitoring the Commonwealth’s
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1 compliance with applicable Federal labor laws and regula2 tions issued thereunder.

3 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary of Labor shall

4 submit a report annually to the Congress describing the

5 extent to which the Commonwealth of the Northern Mari6 ana Islands is in compliance with applicable Federal labor

7 laws and regulations issued thereunder.

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