II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3292 

To require the United States International Trade Commission to recommend 

temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 13, 2012 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. MCCONNELL, Mr. KYL, Mr. 

HOEVEN, Mr. RISCH, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr. COATS, Mr. DEMINT, Mr. VITTER, Mr. ENZI, Mr. WICKER, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. TOOMEY, 

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin, Mr. GRAHAM, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. COBURN, and Mr. MCCAIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To require the United States International Trade Commission to recommend temporary duty suspensions and reductions to Congress, 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 ‘‘Temporary Duty Sus5 pension Process Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT2 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com3 mittees’’ means the Committee on Finance of the 

4 Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of 

5 the House of Representatives. 

6 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

7 means the United States International Trade Com8 mission. 

9 (3) DUTY SUSPENSION OR REDUCTION.—The 

10 term ‘‘duty suspension or reduction’’ means an 

11 amendment to subchapter II of chapter 99 of the 

12 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States— 

13 (A) extending an existing temporary sus14 pension or reduction of duty on an article under 

15 that subchapter; or 

16 (B) providing for a new temporary suspen17 sion or reduction of duty on an article under 

18 that subchapter. 

19 SEC. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS BY UNITED STATES INTER20 NATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION FOR DUTY 

21 SUSPENSIONS AND REDUCTIONS. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF REVIEW PROCESS.—Not 

23 later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

24 Act, the Commission shall complete all actions necessary 


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1 to establish a process pursuant to which the Commission 

2 will— 

3 (1) review each article with respect to which a 

4 duty suspension or reduction may be made— 

5 (A) at the initiative of the Commission; or 

6 (B) pursuant to a petition submitted or re7 ferred to the Commission under subsection (b); 

8 and 

9 (2) submit a draft bill to the appropriate con10 gressional committees under subsection (d). 

11 (b) PETITIONS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—As part of the process estab13 lished under subsection (a), the Commission shall es14 tablish procedures under which a petition requesting 

15 the Commission to review a duty suspension or re16 duction pursuant to that process may be— 

17 (A) submitted to the Commission by a 

18 member of the public; or 

19 (B) referred to the Commission by a Mem20 ber of Congress. 

21 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A petition submitted or 

22 referred to the Commission under paragraph (1) 

23 shall be submitted or referred at such time and in 

24 such manner and shall include such information as 

25 the Commission may require. 


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1 (3) NO PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT FOR MEM2 BERS OF CONGRESS.—A petition referred to the 

3 Commission by a Member of Congress under sub4 paragraph (B) of paragraph (1) shall receive treat5 ment no more favorable than the treatment received 

6 by a petition submitted to the Commission by a 

7 member of the public under subparagraph (A) of 

8 that paragraph. 

9 (c) PUBLIC COMMENTS.—As part of the process es10 tablished under subsection (a), the Commission shall es11 tablish procedures for— 

12 (1) notifying the public when the Commission 

13 initiates the process of reviewing articles with re14 spect to which duty suspensions or reductions may 

15 be made and distributing information about the 

16 process, including by— 

17 (A) posting information about the process 

18 on the website of the Commission; and 

19 (B) providing that information to trade as20 sociations and other appropriate organizations; 

21 (2) not later than 45 days before submitting a 

22 draft bill to the appropriate congressional commit23 tees under subsection (d), notifying the public of the 

24 duty suspensions and reductions the Commission is 

25 considering including in the draft bill; and 


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1 (3) providing the public with an opportunity to 

2 submit comments with respect to any of those duty 

3 suspensions or reductions. 

4 (d) SUBMISSION OF DRAFT BILL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall sub6 mit to the appropriate congressional committees a 

7 draft bill that contains each duty suspension or re8 duction that the Commission determines, pursuant 

9 to the process established under subsection (a) and 

10 after conducting the consultations required by sub11 section (e), meets the requirements described in sub12 section (f), not later than— 

13 (A) the date that is 120 days after the 

14 date of the enactment of this Act; 

15 (B) January 1, 2015; and 

16 (C) January 1, 2018. 

17 (2) EFFECTIVE PERIOD OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS

18 AND REDUCTIONS.—Duty suspensions and reduc19 tions included in a draft bill submitted under para20 graph (1) shall be effective for a period of not less 

21 than 3 years. 

22 (3) SPECIAL RULE FOR FIRST SUBMISSION.—In 

23 the draft bill required to be submitted under para24 graph (1) not later than the date that is 120 days 

25 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 


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1 Commission shall be required to include only duty 

2 suspensions and reductions with respect to which the 

3 Commission has sufficient time to make a deter4 mination under that paragraph before the draft bill 

5 is required to be submitted. 

6 (e) CONSULTATIONS.—In determining whether a 

7 duty suspension or reduction meets the requirements de8 scribed in subsection (f), the Commission shall, not later 

9 than 30 days before submitting a draft bill to the appro10 priate congressional committees under subsection (d), con11 duct consultations with the Commissioner responsible for 

12 U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Secretary of 

13 Commerce, the United States Trade Representative, and 

14 the heads of other relevant Federal agencies. 

15 (f) REQUIREMENTS FOR DUTY SUSPENSIONS AND

16 REDUCTIONS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—A duty suspension or reduc18 tion meets the requirements described in this sub19 section if— 

20 (A) the duty suspension or reduction can 

21 be administered by U.S. Customs and Border 

22 Protection; 

23 (B) the estimated loss in revenue to the 

24 United States from the duty suspension or re25 duction does not exceed the dollar amount specVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:05 Jun 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3292.IS S3292

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1 ified in paragraph (2) in a calendar year during 

2 which the duty suspension or reduction would 

3 be in effect; and 

4 (C) on the date on which the Commission 

5 submits a draft bill to the appropriate congres6 sional committees under subsection (d) that in7 cludes the duty suspension or reduction, the ar8 ticle to which the duty suspension or reduction 

9 would apply is not produced in the United 

10 States and is not expected to be produced in 

11 the United States during the subsequent 12- 

12 month period. 

13 (2) DOLLAR AMOUNT SPECIFIED.— 

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—The dollar amount 

15 specified in this paragraph is— 

16 (i) for calendar year 2013, $500,000; 

17 and 

18 (ii) for any calendar year after cal19 endar year 2013, an amount equal to 

20 $500,000 increased or decreased by an 

21 amount equal to— 

22 (I) $500,000, multiplied by 

23 (II) the percentage (if any) of the 

24 increase or decrease (as the case may 

25 be) in the Consumer Price Index for 


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1 the preceding calendar year compared 

2 to the Consumer Price Index for cal3 endar year 2012. 

4 (B) ROUNDING.—Any increase or decrease 

5 under subparagraph (A) of the dollar amount 

6 specified in this paragraph shall be rounded to 

7 the nearest dollar. 

8 (C) CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR ANY

9 CALENDAR YEAR.—For purposes of this para10 graph, the Consumer Price Index for any cal11 endar year is the average of the Consumer 

12 Price Index as of the close of the 12-month pe13 riod ending on September 30 of that calendar 

14 year. 

15 (D) CONSUMER PRICE INDEX DEFINED.— 

16 For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘‘Con17 sumer Price Index’’ means the Consumer Price 

18 Index for All Urban Consumers published by 

19 the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Depart20 ment of Labor. 

21 (3) CONSIDERATION OF RELEVANT INFORMA22 TION.—In determining whether a duty suspension or 

23 reduction meets the requirements described in para24 graph (1), the Commission may consider any inforVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:05 Jun 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3292.IS S3292

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1 mation the Commission considers relevant to the de2 termination. 

3 (4) JUDICIAL REVIEW PRECLUDED.—A deter4 mination of the Commission with respect to whether 

5 or not a duty suspension or reduction meets the re6 quirements described in paragraph (1) shall not be 

7 subject to judicial review. 

8 (g) REPORTS REQUIRED.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each time the Commission 

10 submits a draft bill under subsection (d), the Com11 mission shall submit to the appropriate congres12 sional committees a report on the duty suspensions 

13 and reductions contained in the draft bill that in14 cludes— 

15 (A) the views of the head of each agency 

16 consulted under subsection (e); and 

17 (B) any objections received by the Com18 mission during consultations conducted under 

19 subsection (e) or through public comments sub20 mitted under subsection (c), including— 

21 (i) objections with respect to duty sus22 pensions or reductions the Commission in23 cluded in the draft bill; and 


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1 (ii) objections that led to the Commis2 sion to determine not to include a duty 

3 suspension or reduction in the draft bill. 

4 (2) INITIAL REPORT ON PROCESS.—Not later 

5 than 300 days after the date of the enactment of 

6 this Act, the Commission shall submit to the appro7 priate congressional committees a report that in8 cludes— 

9 (A) an assessment of the effectiveness of 

10 the process established under subsection (a) 

11 and the requirements of this section; 

12 (B) to the extent practicable, a description 

13 of the effects of duty suspensions and reduc14 tions recommended pursuant to that process on 

15 the United States economy that includes— 

16 (i) a broad assessment of the eco17 nomic effects of such duty suspensions and 

18 reductions on producers, purchasers, and 

19 consumers in the United States; and 

20 (ii) case studies describing such ef21 fects by industry or by type of articles, as 

22 available data permits; 

23 (C) a comparison of the actual loss in rev24 enue to the United States resulting from duty 

25 suspensions and reductions recommended purVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:05 Jun 14, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3292.IS S3292

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1 suant to that process to the loss in such rev2 enue estimated during that process; 

3 (D) to the extent practicable, information 

4 on how broadly or narrowly duty suspensions 

5 and reductions recommended pursuant to that 

6 process were used by importers; and 

7 (E) any recommendations of the Commis8 sion for improving that process and the require9 ments of this section. 

10 (h) FORM OF DRAFT BILL AND REPORTS.—Each 

11 draft bill submitted under subsection (d) and each report 

12 required by subsection (g) shall be— 

13 (1) submitted to the appropriate congressional 

14 committees in electronic form; and 

15 (2) made available to the public on the website 

16 of the Commission. 

17 SEC. 4. REPORTS ON BENEFITS OF DUTY SUSPENSIONS OR 

18 REDUCTIONS TO SECTORS OF THE UNITED 

19 STATES ECONOMY. 

20 Not later than January 1, 2014, and annually there21 after, the Commission shall submit to the appropriate con22 gressional committees a report that— 

23 (1) makes recommendations with respect to sec24 tors of the United States economy that could benefit 


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1 from duty suspensions or reductions without causing 

2 harm to other domestic interests; and 

3 (2) assesses the feasibility and advisability of 

4 suspending or reducing duties on a sectoral basis 

5 rather than on individual articles. 

Æ 


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