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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1046

To provide a private cause of action for the recovery of damages for economic

loss caused by the dumping of foreign merchandise into United States

markets, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 23, 1993

Mrs. BYRNE introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Ways and Means and the Judiciary

A BILL

To provide a private cause of action for the recovery of

damages for economic loss caused by the dumping of

foreign merchandise into United States markets, 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 That (a) subtitle B of title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930

4 (19 U.S.C. 1673 et seq.) is amended by inserting after

5 section 739 the following new section:

6 ‘‘SEC. 740A. PRIVATE REMEDY FOR INJURY RESULTING

7 FROM DUMPING.

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—
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1 ‘‘(1) The term ‘court’ means any District Court

2 of the United States.

3 ‘‘(2) The term ‘dumped merchandise’ means the

4 class or kind of merchandise sold at less than for5 eign market value.

6 ‘‘(3) The term ‘eligible party’ means any person

7 described in subparagraph (C), (D), (E), (F), or (G)

8 of section 771(9) (including any member or a person

9 described in such subparagraph (E), (F), or (G)).

10 ‘‘(4) The term ‘foreign market value’ has the

11 same meaning given such term in section 773.

12 ‘‘(b) CAUSE OF ACTION.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible party that suf14 fers economic loss by reason of the importation and

15 sale of dumped merchandise may bring an action for

16 damages in the court against any of the following:

17 ‘‘(A) Any manufacturer of the dumped

18 merchandise.

19 ‘‘(B) Any exporter of the dumped mer20 chandise to the United States.

21 ‘‘(C) Any importer of the dumped mer22 chandise into the United States, if the importer

23 is an affiliate or subsidiary of a manufacturer

24 or exporter referred to in subparagraph (A) or

25 (B).
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1 ‘‘(2) JURISDICTION OVER FOREIGN PERSONS.—

2 For purposes of actions brought under this section,

3 the court has jurisdiction over any foreign person

4 that is described in paragraph (1)(A), (B), or (C).

5 ‘‘(3) PROCESS.—Process may be served on a

6 defendant in any action commenced under this sec7 tion in any place within the United States where the

8 defendant may be found or transacts business.

9 ‘‘(c) ECONOMIC LOSS.—

10 ‘‘(1) APPLICABLE PERIOD; PRESUMPTION OF

11 LOSS.—If an action is brought under subsection (b),

12 and there has been a petition filed under section

13 732, the administering authority and the Commis14 sion shall include in their investigations the period

15 covered by the private action. There shall be a pre16 sumption of economic loss if a petition filed under

17 section 732 on behalf of an eligible party resulted in

18 affirmative determinations under subsections (a) and

19 (b) of section 735 regarding a class or kind of mer20 chandise.

21 ‘‘(2) NO PRESUMPTION OF LOSS.—If there have

22 been no affirmative determinations under sub23 sections (a) and (b) of section 735, there shall be no

24 presumption of economic loss.
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1 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION ON AWARD.—Under no cir2 cumstances shall the court award damages for a pe3 riod subject to the potential assessment of anti4 dumping duties.

5 ‘‘(4) EVALUATION OF LOSS.—In evaluating the

6 economic loss sustained by the eligible party, the

7 court shall consider all information, including poten8 tial lost sales, worker layoffs, plant closures, or fi9 nancial losses, submitted by the eligible party and by

10 parties described in subsection (b)(1)(A), (B), or

11 (C). The court may consider, but may not require,

12 an econometric analysis or any other scientific study

13 estimating the actual effects of the dumped mer14 chandise on the eligible party.

15 ‘‘(d) DAMAGES.—

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In any action brought

17 under subsection (b), the eligible party, upon a find18 ing of liability on the part of the defendant, is enti19 tled to recover—

20 ‘‘(A) actual damages for the economic loss

21 (including injury to business or property) sus22 tained by the eligible party; and

23 ‘‘(B) the costs of the action, including rea24 sonable attorney’s fees.
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1 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF DAMAGES.—In calculat2 ing damages for purposes of this section, the

3 court—

4 ‘‘(A) shall give regard to injury to the eli5 gible party resulting from the importation into

6 the United States and sale of dumped merchan7 dise and of other merchandise, if any, produced

8 by the defendant and that consists in part of

9 merchandise that, if entered or withdrawn from

10 warehouse separately, would be dumped mer11 chandise; and

12 ‘‘(B) may give such regard to the affirma13 tive finding under subsection (b) of section 735

14 regarding the dumped merchandise as it consid15 ers appropriate.

16 ‘‘(e) TIME FOR BRINGING ACTION.—

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para18 graph (2), an action may not be brought under this

19 section unless commenced within 2 years after the

20 date on which the cause of action accrues.

21 ‘‘(2) TOLLING OF LIMITATION.—The running of

22 the 2-year limitation in paragraph (1) shall be sus23 pended while any administrative or judicial review of

24 an affirmative determination under subsection (a) or
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1 (b) of section 735 is pending and until a decision

2 upon that review is rendered.’’.

3 (b) The table of contents for such title VII is

4 amended by adding after the entry for section 739 the fol5 lowing:

‘‘SEC. 740A. Private remedy for injury resulting from dumping.’’.

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