I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2845 

To promote access to benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity 

Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 19, 2015 

Mr. ROYCE (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, and Ms. 

BASS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To promote access to benefits under the African Growth 

and Opportunity Act, 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 ‘‘AGOA Enhancement 

5 Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

7 It is the policy of the United States to support efforts 

8 to— 


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1 (1) improve the rule of law, promote free and 

2 fair elections, strengthen and expand the private sec3 tor, and fight corruption in sub-Saharan Africa; and 

4 (2) promote the role of women in social, polit5 ical, and economic development in sub-Saharan Afri6 ca. 

7 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF TRANSPARENCY. 

8 (a) AGOA WEBSITE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall establish 

10 a website for the collection and dissemination of in11 formation regarding the African Growth and Oppor12 tunity Act (in this section referred to as the ‘‘AGOA 

13 website’’). 

14 (2) CONTENTS.—The President shall publish on 

15 the AGOA website the information described in 

16 paragraph (1), including— 

17 (A) information and technical assistance 

18 provided at United States Agency for Inter19 national Development regional trade hubs; and 

20 (B) a link to websites of United States em21 bassies located in eligible sub-Saharan African 

22 countries. 

23 (3) ACTIONS BY UNITED STATES EMBASSIES.— 

24 The Secretary of State should direct United States 


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1 embassies located in eligible sub-Saharan African 

2 countries to— 

3 (A) promote the use by such countries of 

4 the benefits available under the African Growth 

5 and Opportunity Act; and 

6 (B) include on a publicly available Internet 

7 website of such diplomatic missions a link to 

8 the AGOA website. 

9 (b) AGOA FORUM.—The President should, after 

10 each meeting of the United States-Sub-Saharan Africa 

11 Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum, publish on the 

12 AGOA website established under subsection (a) the fol13 lowing: 

14 (1) All outcomes of the meeting of the Forum, 

15 including any commitments made by member coun16 tries and the private sector. 

17 (2) An assessment of progress made with re18 spect to any commitments made by member coun19 tries the private sector from the previous meeting of 

20 the Forum. 

21 (c) OTHER INFORMATION.—The President should 

22 disseminate information required by this section in a dig23 ital format to the public and publish such information on 

24 the AGOA website established under subsection (a). 


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1 (d) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘eligible 

2 sub-Saharan African country’’ means a country that the 

3 President has determined meets the eligibility require4 ments set forth in section 104 of the African Growth and 

5 Opportunity Act. 

6 SEC. 4. ACTIVITIES IN SUPPORT OF TRADE CAPACITY 

7 BUILDING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President should take the fol9 lowing actions: 

10 (1) Develop and implement policies to— 

11 (A) encourage and facilitate trans-bound12 ary cooperation among eligible sub-Saharan Af13 rican countries in order to facilitate trade; and 

14 (B) encourage the provision of technical 

15 assistance to eligible sub-Saharan African coun16 tries to establish and sustain adequate trade ca17 pacity development. 

18 (2) Provide specific training for business in eli19 gible sub-Saharan African countries and government 

20 trade officials of eligible sub-Saharan African coun21 tries on utilizing access to the benefits of the African 

22 Growth and Opportunity Act and other trade pref23 erence programs. 

24 (3) Provide capacity building for African entre25 preneurs and trade associations on production stratVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:19 Jun 24, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2845.IH H2845

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1 egies, quality standards, formation of cooperatives, 

2 and market research and market development. 

3 (4) Provide capacity building training to pro4 mote diversification of African products and value5 added processing. 

6 (5) Provide capacity building and technical as7 sistance funding for African businesses and institu8 tions to help such businesses and institutions comply 

9 with United States counter-terrorism initiatives and 

10 policies. 

11 (b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘eligible 

12 sub-Saharan African country’’ means a country that the 

13 President has determined meets the eligibility require14 ments set forth in section 104 of the African Growth and 

15 Opportunity Act. 

16 SEC. 5. CONCURRENT COMPACTS UNDER THE MILLENNIUM 

17 CHALLENGE ACT OF 2003. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 609 of the Millennium 

19 Challenge Act of 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7708) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking the first sentence of subsection 

21 (k); 

22 (2) by redesignating subsection (k) (as so 

23 amended) as subsection (l); and 

24 (3) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol25 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(k) CONCURRENT COMPACTS.—An eligible country 

2 that has entered into and has in effect a Compact under 

3 this section may enter into and have in effect at the same 

4 time not more than one additional Compact in accordance 

5 with the requirements of this title if— 

6 ‘‘(1) one or both of the Compacts are or will be 

7 for purposes of regional economic integration, in8 creased regional trade, or cross-border collabora9 tions; and 

10 ‘‘(2) the Board determines that the country is 

11 making considerable and demonstrable progress in 

12 implementing the terms of the existing Compact and 

13 supplementary agreements thereto.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

15 613(b)(2)(A) of such Act (22 U.S.C. 7712(b)(2)(A)) is 

16 amended by striking ‘‘the’’ before ‘‘Compact’’ and insert17 ing ‘‘any’’. 

18 (c) APPLICABILITY.—The amendments made by this 

19 section apply with respect to Compacts entered into be20 tween the United States and an eligible country under the 

21 Millennium Challenge Act of 2003 before, on, or after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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