II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1976

To authorize the President to enter into a trade agreement concerning Northern Ireland and certain border counties of the Republic of Ireland,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 19, 1996

Mr. D’AMATO introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To authorize the President to enter into a trade agreement

concerning Northern Ireland and certain border counties

of the Republic of Ireland, 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 The Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) It is in the interest of the United States

6 that the precarious peace process now underway in

7 Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland suc8 ceed, both to ensure stability for important allies
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1 and friends of the United States and to assure a

2 mutually beneficial flow of trade and commerce.

3 (2) Locally sustainable economic development

4 within Northern Ireland and the border counties of

5 the Republic of Ireland creates the basis for political

6 stability and enhances the likelihood of peace.

7 (3) The granting of reasonable tariff conces8 sions for products and goods originating in Northern

9 Ireland and the border counties of the Republic of

10 Ireland will provide an incentive for such develop11 ment.

12 (A) The Congress notes that both the

13 United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

14 are members of the European Union, that tariff

15 issues relating to Northern Ireland and the bor16 der counties are subject to the common com17 mercial policy provided for in article 113 of the

18 Treaty of Rome and that any negotiations con19 cerning them must conform to European Union

20 law and paragraphs 5, 6, 7, and 8 of article

21 XXIV of the GATT.

22 (B) The Congress further notes that while

23 there is no precedent in European Union prac24 tice for the free trade agreement contemplated

25 in this Act, the effect of such an agreement will
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1 be to support important ongoing European

2 Union efforts to achieve greater social cohesion

3 in a unique and disadvantaged region, to the

4 long-term benefit of the European Union, the

5 United States, and the larger international

6 community; therefore, the President should be

7 authorized to negotiate such concessions in ac8 cordance with the terms and conditions set

9 forth in the Act.

10 SEC. 2. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH NORTHERN IRE11 LAND.

12 (a) NEGOTIATIONS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may enter

14 into a trade agreement with respect to qualified

15 areas of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire16 land which provides for—

17 (A) the harmonization, reduction, and

18 elimination of trade barriers;

19 (B) the prohibition of or limitations on the

20 impositions of trade barriers; and

21 (C) the elimination or reduction of any

22 duty imposed by the United States.

23 (2) AGREEMENT LIMITED TO QUALIFIED AREAS

24 OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF

25 IRELAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision of
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1 law, no trade benefit shall be extended to any coun2 try by reason of the extension of any trade benefit

3 to another country under a trade agreement entered

4 into under paragraph (1) with such other country.

5 (b) LIMITATIONS AND STAGING.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—No proclamation may be

7 made under subsection (a) that—

8 (A) reduces any rate of duty (other than a

9 rate of duty that does not exceed 5 percent ad

10 valorem on the date of enactment of this Act)

11 to a rate of duty which is less than 5 percent

12 of the rate of duty that applies on such a date

13 of enactment;

14 (B) reduces the rate of duty on an article

15 over a period greater than 10 years after the

16 first reduction that is proclaimed to carry out

17 a trade agreement with respect to such article;

18 or

19 (C) increases any rate of duty above the

20 rate that applies on the date of the enactment

21 of this Act.

22 (2) LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE REDUCTION.—

23 The aggregate reduction in the rate of duty on any

24 article which is in effect on any day pursuant to a

25 trade agreement entered into under subsection (a)
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1 shall not exceed the aggregate reduction which

2 would have been in effect on such a day if a reduc3 tion of 3 percent ad valorem per year or a reduction

4 of 10 percent per year of the total reduction, which5 ever is greater, had taken effect on the effective date

6 of the first reduction proclaimed pursuant to sub7 section (a).

8 (3) EXEMPTION FROM STAGING.—No staging is

9 required under paragraph (2) with respect to a duty

10 reduction that is proclaimed under subsection (a) for

11 an article of a kind that is not produced in the Unit12 ed States. The United States International Trade

13 Commission shall advise the President of the iden14 tity of articles that may be exempted from staging

15 under this paragraph.

16 (4) ROUNDING.—If the President determines

17 that such action will simplify the computation of re18 ductions under paragraph (1) or (2), the President

19 may round an annual reduction by an amount equal

20 to the lesser of—

21 (A) the difference between the reduction

22 without regard to this paragraph and the next

23 lower whole number; or

24 (B) one-half of 1 percent ad valorem.
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1 (5) OTHER LIMITATIONS.—A rate of duty re2 duction or increase that may not be proclaimed by

3 reason of paragraph (1) may take effect only if a

4 provision authorizing such reduction is included

5 within an implementing bill provided for in connec6 tion with the agreement authorized by this Act and

7 that bill is enacted into law.

8 SEC. 3. CRITERIA FOR DUTY-FREE TREATMENT OF ARTI9 CLES.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—

11 (1) ARTICLE MUST BE GROWTH, PRODUCT, OR

12 MANUFACTURE OF QUALIFIED AREA OF NORTHERN

13 IRELAND OR THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND.—The re14 duction or elimination of any duty imposed on any

15 article by the United States provided for in a trade

16 agreement entered into with a qualified area of

17 Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland under

18 this Act shall apply only if—

19 (A) that article is the growth, product, or

20 manufacture of a qualified area of Northern

21 Ireland or the Republic of Ireland or is a new

22 or different article of commerce that has been

23 grown, produced, or manufactured in a quali24 fied area of Northern Ireland or the Republic of

25 Ireland;
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1 (B) that article is imported directly from a

2 qualified area of Northern Ireland or the Re3 public of Ireland into the customs territory of

4 the United States; and

5 (C) the sum of—

6 (i) the cost of value of the materials

7 produced in a qualified area of Northern

8 Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, plus

9 (ii) the direct costs of processing oper10 ations performed in a qualified area of

11 Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ire12 land,

13 is not less than 35 percent of the appraised

14 value of such article at the time it is entered.

15 If the cost or value of materials produced in the cus16 toms territory of the United States is included with

17 respect to an article to which this subsection applies,

18 an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the appraised

19 value of the article at the time it is entered that is

20 attributable to such United States cost or value may

21 be applied toward determining the percentage re22 ferred to in subparagraph (C).

23 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—No article may

24 be considered to meet the requirements of paragraph

25 (1)(A) by virtue of having merely undergone—
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1 (A) simple combining or packaging oper2 ations; or

3 (B) mere dilution with water or mere dilu4 tion with another substance that does not mate5 rially alter the characteristics of the article.

6 (b) DIRECT COSTS.—As used in this section, the

7 phrase ‘‘direct costs of processing operations’’ includes,

8 but is not limited to—

9 (1) all actual labor costs involved in the growth,

10 production, manufacture, or assembly of the specific

11 merchandise, including fringe benefits, on-the-job

12 training and the cost of engineering, supervisory,

13 quality control, and similar personnel; and

14 (2) dies, molds, tooling, and depreciation on

15 machinery and equipment which are allocable to the

16 specific merchandise.

17 Such phrase does not include costs which are not directly

18 attributable to the merchandise concerned, or are not costs

19 of manufacturing the product, such as (A) profit, and (B)

20 general expenses of doing business which are either not

21 allocable to the specific merchandise or are not related to

22 the growth, production, manufacture, or assembly of the

23 merchandise, such as administrative salaries, casualty and

24 liability insurance, advertising, and salesmen’s salaries,

25 commissions, or expenses.
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1 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury,

2 after consultation with the United States Trade Rep3 resentative, shall prescribe such regulations as may be

4 necessary to carry out this section.

5 SEC. 4. ITC REPORTS.

6 Before any reduction or elimination of any duty is

7 proclaimed with respect to any article under this Act, the

8 United States International Trade Commission shall ad9 vise the President regarding the probable economic effect

10 of providing duty-free treatment for such article that is

11 a product of a qualified area of Northern Ireland or the

12 Republic of Ireland on industries in the United States pro13 ducing like or directly competitive articles and on consum14 ers.

15 SEC. 5. CONSULTATION WITH CONGRESS BEFORE AGREE16 MENT ENTERED INTO.

17 (a) CONSULTATION.—Before entering into any trade

18 agreement under this Act, the President shall consult

19 with—

20 (1) the Committee on Ways and Means of the

21 House of Representatives and the Committee on Fi22 nance of the Senate; and

23 (2) each other committee of the House of Rep24 resentatives and the Senate, and each joint commit25 tee of the Congress, which has jurisdiction over leg-
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1 islation involving subject matters which would be af2 fected by the trade agreement.

3 (b) SCOPE.—The consultation described in subsection

4 (a) shall include consultation with respect to—

5 (1) the nature of the agreement;

6 (2) how the agreement related to the obliga7 tions of the parties; and

8 (3) all matters relating to the implementation

9 of the agreement, including whether the agreement

10 includes subject matter for which supplemental im11 plementing legislation may be required.

12 SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION OF TRADE AGREEMENTS.

13 (a) NOTIFICATION AND SUBMISSION.—Any agree14 ment entered into under this Act shall enter into force

15 with respect to the United States if (and only if)—

16 (1) the President, at least 90 calendar days be17 fore the day on which the President enters into the

18 trade agreement, notifies the House of Representa19 tives and the Senate of the President’s intention to

20 enter into the agreement, and promptly thereafter

21 publish notice of such intention in the Federal Reg22 ister;

23 (2) within 60 days after entering into the

24 agreement, the President submits to the Congress a

25 description of those changes to existing laws that the
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1 President considers would be required in order to

2 bring the United States into compliance with the

3 agreement;

4 (3) after entering into the agreement, the Presi5 dent submits a copy of the final text of the agree6 ment, together with—

7 (A) a draft of an implementing bill, if nec8 essary;

9 (B) a statement of any administrative ac10 tion proposed to implement the trade agree11 ment; and

12 (C) the supporting information described

13 in paragraph (2); and

14 (4) the implementing bill, if necessary, is en15 acted into law.

16 (b) SUPPORTING INFORMATION.—The supporting in17 formation required under subsection (a)(3)(C) consists

18 of—

19 (1) an explanation as to how the implementing

20 bill and proposed administrative action will change

21 or affect existing law; and

22 (2) a statement setting forth the reasons of the

23 President regarding how the agreement serves the

24 interest of United States commerce.
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF QUALIFYING AREA.

2 As used in this Act, the term ‘‘qualifying area’’

3 means a county that—

4 (1) is contiguous to Northern Ireland;

5 (2) suffers from the severest form of economic

6 deprivation as defined by the United Kingdom’s re7 port, Relative Deprivation in Northern Ireland, Oc8 casional Paper Number 28, Policy Planning and Re9 search Unit, September; and the European Union’s

10 report, Special Support Programme for Peace and

11 Reconciliation 1995–1999. Those counties to be in12 cluded as ‘‘qualified areas’’ are: Derry, Limavady,

13 Strabane, Magherafelt, Omagh, Cookstown,

14 Dungannon, Fermanagh, Moyle, Newry and Mourne,

15 Armagh, and those parts of Belfast Urban area

16 known as ‘‘Making Belfast Work’’ designated areas,

17 in Northern Ireland; and the border counties of

18 Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and

19 Louth in the Republic of Ireland;

20 (3) has a rate of unemployment higher than the

21 local or urban average of unemployment in Northern

22 Ireland; and

23 (4) the employers in counties where there is a

24 history of workplace discrimination who would be eli25 gible shall be in compliance with the principles of
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1 economic justice, known as the ‘‘MacBride Prin2 ciples.’’ Specifically, these principles are:

3 (A) Increasing the representation of indi4 viduals, from underrepresented religious groups

5 in the workforce, including managerial, super6 visory administrative clerical and technical jobs.

7 (B) Providing adequate security for the

8 protection of minority employees at the work9 place.

10 (C) Banning provocative sectarian or polit11 ical emblems from the workplace.

12 (D) Providing that all job openings be ad13 vertised publicly and providing that special re14 cruitment efforts be made to attract applicants

15 from underrepresented religious groups.

16 (E) Providing that layoff, recall and termi17 nation procedures do not favor a particular reli18 gious group.

19 (F) Abolishing job reservations, appren20 ticeship restrictions and differential employment

21 criteria which discriminate on the basis of reli22 gion.

23 (G) Providing for the development of train24 ing programs that will prepare substantial num25 bers of minority employees for skilled jobs, in-
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1 cluding the expansion of existing programs and

2 the creation of new programs to train, upgrade

3 and improve the skills of minority employees.

4 (H) Establishing procedures to assess,

5 identify and actively recruit minority employees

6 with the potential for further advancement.

7 (I) Approving for the appointment of a

8 senior management staff member to be respon9 sible for the employment efforts of the entity

10 and, within a reasonable period of time, the im11 plementation of the principles described above.

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