II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 790 

To require the United States International Trade Commission to recommend 

temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 23, 2013 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. COATS, Mr. COBURN, Mr. 

TOOMEY, Mr. VITTER, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. LEE, and Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To require the United States International Trade Commission to recommend temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, 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 ‘‘Temporary Duty Sus5 pension Process Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means the Committee on Finance of the 

4 Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of 

5 the House of Representatives. 

6 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

7 means the United States International Trade Com8 mission. 

9 (3) DUTY SUSPENSION OR REDUCTION.—The 

10 term ‘‘duty suspension or reduction’’ means an 

11 amendment to subchapter II of chapter 99 of the 

12 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States— 

13 (A) extending an existing temporary sus14 pension or reduction of duty on an article under 

15 that subchapter; or 

16 (B) providing for a new temporary suspen17 sion or reduction of duty on an article under 

18 that subchapter. 

19 SEC. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS BY UNITED STATES INTER20 NATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION FOR DUTY 

21 SUSPENSIONS AND REDUCTIONS. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF REVIEW PROCESS.—Not 

23 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act, the Commission shall complete all actions necessary 


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1 to establish a process pursuant to which the Commission 

2 will— 

3 (1) review each article with respect to which a 

4 duty suspension or reduction may be made— 

5 (A) at the initiative of the Commission; or 

6 (B) pursuant to a petition submitted or re7 ferred to the Commission under subsection (b); 

8 and 

9 (2) submit a draft bill to the appropriate con10 gressional committees under subsection (d). 

11 (b) PETITIONS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the process estab13 lished under subsection (a), the Commission shall es14 tablish procedures under which a petition requesting 

15 the Commission to review a duty suspension or re16 duction pursuant to that process may be— 

17 (A) submitted to the Commission by a 

18 member of the public; or 

19 (B) referred to the Commission by a Mem20 ber of Congress. 

21 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A petition submitted or 

22 referred to the Commission under paragraph (1) 

23 shall be submitted or referred at such time and in 

24 such manner and shall include such information as 

25 the Commission may require. 


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1 (3) NO PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR MEM2 BERS OF CONGRESS.—A petition referred to the 

3 Commission by a Member of Congress under sub4 paragraph (B) of paragraph (1) shall receive treat5 ment no more favorable than the treatment received 

6 by a petition submitted to the Commission by a 

7 member of the public under subparagraph (A) of 

8 that paragraph. 

9 (c) PUBLIC COMMENTS.—As part of the process es10 tablished under subsection (a), the Commission shall es11 tablish procedures for— 

12 (1) notifying the public when the Commission 

13 initiates the process of reviewing articles with re14 spect to which duty suspensions or reductions may 

15 be made and distributing information about the 

16 process, including by posting information about the 

17 process on the website of the Commission; 

18 (2) except as provided in subsection (d)(4)(C), 

19 notifying the public of the duty suspensions and re20 ductions the Commission is considering including in 

21 the draft bill not later than 45 days before submit22 ting a draft bill to the appropriate congressional 

23 committees under subsection (d)(1); and 


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1 (3) providing the public with an opportunity to 

2 submit comments with respect to any of those duty 

3 suspensions or reductions. 

4 (d) SUBMISSION OF DRAFT BILL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall sub6 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

7 draft bill that contains each duty suspension or re8 duction that the Commission determines, pursuant 

9 to the process established under subsection (a) and 

10 after conducting the consultations required by sub11 section (e), meets the requirements described in sub12 section (f), not later than— 

13 (A) the date that is 60 days after the date 

14 of the enactment of this Act; 

15 (B) February 1, 2015; and 

16 (C) February 1, 2018. 

17 (2) EFFECTIVE PERIOD OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS

18 AND REDUCTIONS.—Duty suspensions and reduc19 tions included in a draft bill submitted under para20 graph (1) shall be effective for a period of not less 

21 than 3 years. 

22 (3) AUTHORITY TO MAKE CERTAIN MODIFICA23 TIONS.—In including a duty suspension or reduction 

24 the Commission determines otherwise meets the reVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:35 Apr 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S790.IS S790

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1 quirements of subsection (f) in a draft bill to be sub2 mitted under paragraph (1), the Commission may— 

3 (A) modify the article description for the 

4 duty suspension or reduction— 

5 (i) to ensure that U.S. Customs and 

6 Border Protection can administer the duty 

7 suspension or reduction; or 

8 (ii) to correct a technical deficiency in 

9 the article description; 

10 (B) modify the duty rate for the duty sus11 pension or reduction so that the estimated loss 

12 in revenue to the United States from the duty 

13 suspension or reduction does not exceed the 

14 amount specified in subsection (f)(1)(B); or 

15 (C) consolidate the duty suspension or re16 duction with other duplicative or overlapping 

17 duty suspensions or reductions. 

18 (4) SPECIAL RULES FOR FIRST SUBMISSION.— 

19 For purposes of submitting the draft bill required to 

20 be submitted on the date specified in paragraph 

21 (1)(A), the Commission— 

22 (A) may use the evaluations conducted by 

23 the Commission of bills providing for duty sus24 pensions or reductions introduced in the Senate 


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1 or the House of Representatives during the 

2 112th Congress; 

3 (B) shall be required to include only duty 

4 suspensions and reductions with respect to 

5 which the Commission has sufficient time to 

6 make a determination under paragraph (1) be7 fore the draft bill is required to be submitted; 

8 and 

9 (C) shall notify the public of the duty sus10 pensions and reductions the Commission is con11 sidering including in the draft bill not later 

12 than 30 days before submitting the draft bill. 

13 (e) CONSULTATIONS.—In determining whether a 

14 duty suspension or reduction meets the requirements de15 scribed in subsection (f), the Commission shall, not later 

16 than 30 days before submitting a draft bill to the appro17 priate congressional committees under subsection (d), con18 duct consultations with the Commissioner responsible for 

19 U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Secretary of 

20 Commerce, the United States Trade Representative, and 

21 the heads of other relevant Federal agencies. 

22 (f) REQUIREMENTS FOR DUTY SUSPENSIONS AND

23 REDUCTIONS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A duty suspension or reduc2 tion meets the requirements described in this sub3 section if— 

4 (A) the duty suspension or reduction can 

5 be administered by U.S. Customs and Border 

6 Protection; 

7 (B) the estimated loss in revenue to the 

8 United States from the duty suspension or re9 duction does not exceed $500,000 in a calendar 

10 year during which the duty suspension or re11 duction would be in effect; and 

12 (C) on the date on which the Commission 

13 submits a draft bill to the appropriate congres14 sional committees under subsection (d) that in15 cludes the duty suspension or reduction, the ar16 ticle to which the duty suspension or reduction 

17 would apply is not produced in the United 

18 States and is not expected to be produced in 

19 the United States during the subsequent 12- 

20 month period. 

21 (2) CONSIDERATION OF RELEVANT INFORMA22 TION.—In determining whether a duty suspension or 

23 reduction meets the requirements described in para24 graph (1), the Commission may consider any inforVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:35 Apr 29, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S790.IS S790

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1 mation the Commission considers relevant to the de2 termination. 

3 (3) JUDICIAL REVIEW PRECLUDED.—A deter4 mination of the Commission with respect to whether 

5 or not a duty suspension or reduction meets the re6 quirements described in paragraph (1) shall not be 

7 subject to judicial review. 

8 (g) REPORTS REQUIRED.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each time the Commission 

10 submits a draft bill under subsection (d), the Com11 mission shall submit to the appropriate congres12 sional committees a report on the duty suspensions 

13 and reductions contained in the draft bill that in14 cludes— 

15 (A) the views of the head of each agency 

16 consulted under subsection (e); and 

17 (B) any objections received by the Com18 mission during consultations conducted under 

19 subsection (e) or through public comments sub20 mitted under subsection (c), including— 

21 (i) objections with respect to duty sus22 pensions or reductions the Commission in23 cluded in the draft bill; and 


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1 (ii) objections that led to the Commis2 sion to determine not to include a duty 

3 suspension or reduction in the draft bill. 

4 (2) INITIAL REPORT ON PROCESS.—Not later 

5 than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act, the Commission shall submit to the appropriate 

7 congressional committees a report that includes— 

8 (A) an assessment of the effectiveness of 

9 the process established under subsection (a) 

10 and the requirements of this section; 

11 (B) to the extent practicable, a description 

12 of the effects of duty suspensions and reduc13 tions recommended pursuant to that process on 

14 the United States economy that includes— 

15 (i) a broad assessment of the eco16 nomic effects of such duty suspensions and 

17 reductions on producers, purchasers, and 

18 consumers in the United States; and 

19 (ii) case studies describing such ef20 fects by industry or by type of articles, as 

21 available data permits; 

22 (C) to the extent practicable, a comparison 

23 of the actual loss in revenue to the United 

24 States resulting from duty suspensions and re25 ductions recommended pursuant to that process 


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1 to the loss in such revenue estimated during 

2 that process, based on data available at the 

3 time of the submission of the report; 

4 (D) to the extent practicable, information 

5 on how broadly or narrowly duty suspensions 

6 and reductions recommended pursuant to that 

7 process were used by importers; and 

8 (E) any recommendations of the Commis9 sion for improving that process and the require10 ments of this section. 

11 (h) FORM OF DRAFT BILL AND REPORTS.—Each 

12 draft bill submitted under subsection (d) and each report 

13 required by subsection (g) shall be— 

14 (1) submitted to the appropriate congressional 

15 committees in electronic form; and 

16 (2) made available to the public on the website 

17 of the Commission. 

18 SEC. 4. REPORTS ON BENEFITS OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS OR 

19 REDUCTIONS TO SECTORS OF THE UNITED 

20 STATES ECONOMY. 

21 Not later than January 1, 2014, and annually there22 after, the Commission shall submit to the appropriate con23 gressional committees a report that— 

24 (1) makes recommendations with respect to sec25 tors of the United States economy that could benefit 


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1 from duty suspensions or reductions without causing 

2 harm to other domestic interests; and 

3 (2) assesses the feasibility and advisability of 

4 suspending or reducing duties on a sectoral basis 

5 rather than on individual articles. 

Æ 


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