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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1445 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1445

      To provide for the trilateral negotiation of North American 
   environmental, labor, and agricultural standards, to implement as 
 United States negotiating objectives in the North American free trade 
   area negotiations certain threshold protections regarding worker 
   rights, agricultural standards, and environmental quality, and to 
implement a corresponding, comprehensive trinational dispute resolution 
 mechanism to investigate, adjudicate, and render binding, enforceable 
 judgments against any unfair trade practices arising within the North 
  American free trade area, including those involving the systematic 
denial or practical negation of certain threshold protections of worker 
       rights, agricultural standards, and environmental quality.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 1993

  Mr. Brown of California (for himself, Mr. Glickman, Mr. Walsh, Ms. 
 Woolsey, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Kanjorski, Mr. McCloskey, Mr. Blackwell, and 
 Mr. LaFalce) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
      To provide for the trilateral negotiation of North American 
   environmental, labor, and agricultural standards, to implement as 
 United States negotiating objectives in the North American free trade 
   area negotiations certain threshold protections regarding worker 
   rights, agricultural standards, and environmental quality, and to 
implement a corresponding, comprehensive trinational dispute resolution 
 mechanism to investigate, adjudicate, and render binding, enforceable 
 judgments against any unfair trade practices arising within the North 
  American free trade area, including those involving the systematic 
denial or practical negation of certain threshold protections of worker 
       rights, agricultural standards, and environmental quality.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``North American Environmental, Labor, 
and Agricultural Standards Act of 1993''.

SEC. 2. PRINCIPAL NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES OF THE UNITED STATES.

    In addition to the overall and principal trade negotiating 
objectives of the United States set forth in section 1101 of the 
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, the purposes, policies, 
and objectives of title I of such Act of 1988 that are applicable with 
respect to any free-trade area trade agreement negotiated under the 
authority of such title I with Canada and Mexico (hereinafter referred 
to as the ``NAFTA'') include the achievement of the following principal 
negotiating objectives:
            (1) Worker rights and standards and protection.--With a 
        view to establishing open, expanding mutually-beneficial trade 
        among Canada, Mexico, and the United States, to spreading the 
        benefits of such trade as widely as possible, to protecting 
        citizens interests, and to enhancing respect for human rights 
        throughout North America, the principal negotiating objectives 
        of the United States with respect to worker rights and 
        standards, and the protection thereof, in the conduct of 
        international trade, commerce, and finance are--
                    (A) to ensure freedom of association and to affirm 
                the vital role that free and independent unions play in 
                democratic governance;
                    (B) to ensure the rights of working people to 
                organize, to bargain collectively, and to strike, and 
                to ensure the right of workers' representatives to 
                legal protection in the free exercise of their duties 
                and fundamental human rights;
                    (C) to establish a minimum age for the employment 
                of children--
                            (i) at 14 years if the employment will not 
                        result in the neglect of their education and 
                        will not harm their health and well-being, and
                            (ii) at 18 years if the employment involves 
                        the use of, or exposure to, hazardous equipment 
                        or toxic chemical substances, but only if the 
                        use or exposure will not pose long-term risks 
                        to their health and safety;
                    (D) to ensure the right to health at the workplace 
                and to a healthy working environment, including freedom 
                from exposure to toxic substances;
                    (E) to guarantee the right of all workers to equal 
                protection, including freedom from discrimination in 
                wages or working conditions, regardless of their 
                nationality, race, religion, age, or sex; and
                    (F) to guarantee humane standards of wages and 
                hours of work that take into account different levels 
                of national economic development, but provide for 
                improvement concurrently with gains in productivity.
            (2) Environmental quality and protection.--In recognition 
        of the shared responsibility of Canada, Mexico, and the United 
        States as stewards responsible for, and our common interest in, 
        preserving and sustaining the North American continent's 
        natural habitat and resources over time, the principal 
        negotiating objectives of the United States with respect to 
        environmental quality and protection are--
                    (A) the protection of environmental quality and of 
                the integrity of ecosystems, as well as the maintenance 
                of scarce biological and physical resources, in the 
                conduct of international trade, commerce, and finance;
                    (B) the establishment of a process for the full and 
                public disclosure of the kinds, quantities, and risks 
                associated with toxic chemical and hazardous substance 
                discharges into the air, water, and land;
                    (C) the prevention of the export of toxic and 
                hazardous substances and products, such as carcinogens 
                and unsafe drugs, that are banned in the country of 
                origin;
                    (D) the prevention of the export of products 
                (unless remediation or repatriation contracts already 
                exist) manufactured, extracted, harvested, or grown 
                under environmental conditions or workplace safety and 
                health conditions that undermine counterpart standards, 
                particularly those applicable to the counterpart 
                industry in the importing country or the counterpart 
                standards, in general, in the importing country; and
                    (E) to require that industries within their 
                national borders reduce the amount and toxicity of 
                hazardous substances that they use, minimize the amount 
                and toxicity of wastes they generate, and demonstrate 
                publicly their use of best available technology for 
                pollution abatement in their production processes.
            (3) Unfair trade practices.--In acknowledging different, 
        evolving comparative advantages among trading nations, but with 
        a view to distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable 
        means of competition among trading nations, the principal 
        negotiating objectives of the United States with respect to 
        unfair trade practices shall include the adoption, as a 
        principle, that the systematic denial or practical negation of 
        the protections accorded worker rights and standards and 
        environmental quality (within the context of paragraphs (1) and 
        (2)) as a means for any country or its industries to gain 
        competitive advantage in international trade, commerce, and 
        finance is an actionable unfair trade practice.
            (4) Comprehensive dispute resolution.--The principal 
        negotiating objectives of the United States are to achieve a 
        process for the settlement of disputes that arise between or 
        among the signatories with respect to unfair trade practices, 
        including not only those involving commonly identified unfair 
        trade barriers, but unfair practices, within the context of the 
        negotiating objectives listed in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
        involving the systematic denial or practical negation of worker 
        rights and standards and failure to apply or enforce standards 
        relating to environmental quality or protection, resulting in 
        distortions to international trade, commerce, and finance. Such 
        a process shall include--
                    (A) notification by each signatory nation to the 
                other signatories regarding changes in law or practice 
                that will materially affect the agreement;
                    (B) provision, on a sequential basis and subject to 
                reasonable time limits, for consultation between or 
                among signatories, for mediation, and, if necessary, 
                for binding arbitration;
                    (C) the establishment of a trinational commission, 
                with authority to investigate, adjudicate, and issue 
                binding judgments in a timely manner regarding the 
                issues in dispute pursuant to subparagraph (B)--
                            (i) that consists of equal numbers of 
                        experts from the signatory nations (with United 
                        States experts being subject to the advice and 
                        consent of the United States Senate), and
                            (ii) the chairmanship of which will be 
                        filled by individuals who--
                                    (I) are citizens of the respective 
                                signatories,
                                    (II) serve on a rotational basis 
                                among the signatories for 2-year terms, 
                                but no individual may serve in such 
                                office for more than one term, and
                                    (III) are appointed to such office 
                                by the respective chief executive 
                                officers of the signatories (and any 
                                chairperson appointed from the United 
                                States is subject to the advice and 
                                consent of the United States Senate); 
                                and
                    (D) provision for the trinational commission, in 
                its proceedings and deliberations, to consult with a 
                wide array of representative organizations, in addition 
                to government agencies, with expertise in labor, 
                environmental, agricultural, and scientific matters in 
                each of the signatory nations;
                    (E) provision for the trinational commission to 
                enforce its judgments, as appropriate, by authorizing 
                an aggrieved signatory nation to--
                            (i) suspend, withdraw, or prevent the 
                        application of, the benefits of trade agreement 
                        concessions to carry out the NAFTA with the 
                        offending signatory nation,
                            (ii) impose proportionate duties on 
                        specific products, companies, or industries, or 
                        other offsetting import restrictions on the 
                        goods of, and offsetting fees or restrictions 
                        on the services of, the offending signatory 
                        nation for such time as the trinational 
                        commission determines, or
                            (iii) enter into binding agreements with 
                        the offending signatory nation that commit such 
                        nation to--
                                    (I) eliminate, or phase out, the 
                                act, policy, or practice that 
                                constitutes an unfair trade practice 
                                and that is the subject of the action 
                                to be taken under clause (i) or (ii),
                                    (II) eliminate any burden or 
                                restriction on North American trade, as 
                                defined in the NAFTA, resulting from 
                                such unfair trade practice,
                                    (III) provide the aggrieved 
                                signatory nation with compensatory 
                                trade benefits that are satisfactory to 
                                the trinational commission and meet the 
                                requirements of subparagraph (F), or
                                    (IV) enter into debt-for-science 
                                exchanges, or similar arrangements, as 
                                appropriate, that are satisfactory to 
                                the trinational commission and that 
                                serve, as potential funding sources for 
                                remedies recommended under paragraph 
                                (5), to ameliorate the issues in 
                                dispute pursuant to subparagraph (B);
                    (F) provision that any binding agreement described 
                in subparagraph (E)(iii)(III) provide compensatory 
                trade benefits (including, but not limited to, 
                appropriate fees on trans-border movements of products, 
                services, or capital) that benefit the economic sector 
                which includes the domestic industry in the aggrieved 
                signatory nation that would benefit from the 
                elimination of the act, policy, or practice that 
                constitutes an unfair trade practice and that is the 
                subject of the action to be taken under subparagraph 
                (E), or benefit the economic sector within the 
                aggrieved signatory nation as closely related as 
                possible to such sector, unless--
                            (i) the provision of such trade benefits is 
                        not feasible, or
                            (ii) trade benefits that benefit any other 
                        economic sector within the aggrieved signatory 
                        nation would be clearly and substantially more 
                        satisfactory than such trade benefits;
                    (G) provision for the trinational commission, in 
                taking action against unfair trade practices, as 
                defined in the NAFTA, to avoid diminishing higher 
                protections accorded worker rights and standards and 
                environmental quality and protection and to give 
                preference to the prompt elimination of the act, 
                policy, or practice at issue over--
                            (i) the imposition of duties or other 
                        offsetting import restrictions or compensatory 
                        trade benefits, or
                            (ii) the entering into of debt relief 
                        arrangements described in subparagraph 
                        (E)(iii)(IV);
                    (H) provision for the government of any signatory 
                nation or any informed person within a signatory nation 
                to file a petition requesting the trinational 
                commission to take action under subparagraph (E) 
                against any unfair trade practice, including the 
                systematic denial or practical negation of worker 
                rights and standards and failure to apply or enforce 
                standards relating to environmental quality or 
                protection (referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2)), and 
                setting forth the allegations in support of the request 
                in public hearings and written testimony; and
                    (I) provision for the proceedings, record, and 
                decisions (along with the supporting rationale) of the 
                trinational commission to be made public information.
            (5) Technical advice and recommendations.--
                    (A) Interagency committee.--The Director of the 
                Office of Science and Technology shall establish, 
                through the Federal Coordinating Council on Science, 
                Engineering, and Technology, an interagency committee 
                to provide technical assistance, advice, and 
                recommendations to United States experts on the 
                trinational commission. The interagency committee shall 
                include one representative from each of the following 
                agencies:
                            (i) The National Science Foundation.
                            (ii) The Environmental Protection Agency.
                            (iii) The Department of Labor.
                            (iv) The Department of the Interior.
                            (v) The Department of Agriculture.
                            (vi) The Department of Energy.
                            (vii) The National Institute of Standards 
                        and Technology.
                            (viii) The Department of Justice.
                    (B) Specific functions.--In addition to the general 
                functions referred to in subparagraph (A), the 
                interagency committee shall evaluate the scientific and 
                technological aspects of certain disputes brought 
                before the trinational commission that pertain to 
                environmental quality and protection and to workplace 
                safety and health, and shall determine if violations 
                related to the disputes reflect--
                            (i) inadequate or insufficient application 
                        of known technologies and techniques for 
                        mitigation of the violations, or
                            (ii) need for additional research on, and 
                        the development of, new technologies and 
                        techniques for mitigation of the violations.
                Consistent with paragraph (4)(G), and after 
                consultations with State and local government officials 
                and a wide array of representative organizations with 
                expertise in environmental, labor, agricultural and 
                scientific matters, the interagency committee will 
                recommend to the United States experts on the 
                trinational commission, when appropriate, specific 
                technological remedies to eliminate violations or 
                further research that is needed to develop scientific 
                and technological remedies.

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