II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1449

To establish a common market to bind together the countries of North

America, Central America, and South America in a common commitment

to promote democracy and mutually beneficial economic development.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 13 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 7), 1993

Mr. HOLLINGS (for himself and Mr. RIEGLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To establish a common market to bind together the countries

of North America, Central America, and South America

in a common commitment to promote democracy and

mutually beneficial economic development.

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 ‘‘American Common

5 Market Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. NEGOTIATIONS TO ESTABLISH COMMON MARKET.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President is authorized and

8 strongly encouraged to negotiate, with the other countries
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S 1449 IS

1 of North America, Central America, and South America,

2 a treaty to establish a Common Market of the Americas,

3 containing the following:

4 (1) TERMS OF ACCESSION.—A requirement that

5 the only countries that may be parties to the treaty

6 are North American, Central American, and South

7 American countries that in law and practice have a

8 clear commitment to democracy, human rights, and

9 freedom of press.

10 (2) SOCIAL CHARTER.—A provision setting

11 forth a social charter prescribing minimum stand12 ards for each Common Market country with respect

13 to environmental protection and health, safety, and

14 working conditions, including a common minimum

15 wage and the private right to form independent

16 labor unions.

17 (3) DEVELOPMENT FUND.—A provision creat18 ing a development fund for infrastructure projects in

19 less developed Common Market countries and pro20 viding for debt relief for such less developed coun21 tries.

22 (4) COMMON EXTERNAL TARIFF.—A provision

23 establishing a common external tariff applicable to

24 imports into the Common Market area.
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S 1449 IS

1 (5) ECONOMIC COOPERATION.—A requirement

2 for a biannual meeting of the finance ministers of

3 the Common Market countries in order to coordinate

4 their respective economic policies, including macro5 economic policy and cooperation on currency valu6 ation to prevent Common Market countries from en7 gaging in competitive devaluations.

8 (6) HARMONIZED COMPETITION POLICY.—A re9 quirement that the Common Market countries estab10 lish a harmonized competition policy in order to

11 properly regulate the competition among persons en12 gaged in commerce in the Common Market area.

13 (7) EXPORT BALANCING REQUIREMENTS.—A

14 requirement that a specified percentage of goods

15 from the less developed Common Market countries

16 be exported to non-Common Market countries.

17 (8) TARIFF HARMONIZATION.—A requirement

18 that after an independent international commission,

19 established by the treaty or agreed upon by all Com20 mon Market countries, certifies that—

21 (A) a functional democratic political sys22 tem is in place in each Common Market coun23 try;

24 (B) per capita gross domestic product for

25 each such country reaches a level of economic
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S 1449 IS

1 development that permit its full participation in

2 the Common Market without jeopardizing the

3 economic well-being of the other Common Mar4 ket countries; and

5 (C) each Common Market country is in full

6 compliance with the social charter described in

7 paragraph (2),

8 then the Common Market countries shall initiate ne9 gotiations to eliminate their respective national tar10 iffs and non-tariff barriers.

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

12 (1) ‘‘Common Market country’’ means a coun13 try that is a party to the treaty described in sub14 section (a); and

15 (2) ‘‘Multi Fiber Arrangement’’ means the Ar16 rangement Regarding International Trade in Tex17 tiles of December 20, 1973, as extended.

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