II

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 220

To require the United States Trade Representative to determine whether

the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations

under certain trade agreements relating to United States meat and

pork exporting facilities, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 28, 1997

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. DASCHLE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To require the United States Trade Representative to determine whether the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations under certain trade

agreements relating to United States meat and pork

exporting facilities, 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 ‘‘Fair Trade in Meat

5 and Pork Products Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) The European Union’s Third Country Meat

2 Directive has been used to decertify more than 400

3 United States facilities exporting beef and pork

4 products to the European Union even though United

5 States health inspection procedures are equivalent to

6 those provided for in the Third Country Meat Direc7 tive.

8 (2) An effect of the decertifications is to pro9 hibit the importation of United States beef and pork

10 products into the European Union.

11 (3) As a result of the decertifications, the high12 ly competitive United States pork industry loses as

13 much as $60,000,000 each year from trade with Eu14 ropean Union countries.

15 (4) In July 1987 and November 1990, at the

16 request of affected United States industries, the

17 United States initiated investigations under section

18 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into the European

19 Union’s administration of the Third Country Meat

20 Directive and sought resolution of the meat and

21 pork trade problems through the dispute settlement

22 process established under the General Agreement on

23 Tariffs and Trade.

24 (5) The United States Trade Representative

25 preliminarily concluded on October 10, 1992, that
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1 the European Union’s administration of the Third

2 Country Meat Directive created a burden on and re3 stricted United States commerce.

4 (6) Bilateral talks, initiated as a result of that

5 finding, resulted in an Exchange of Letters in which

6 the United States and the European Union con7 cluded that the meat inspection systems of the Unit8 ed States and the European Union provided ‘‘equiv9 alent safeguards against public health risks’’ and

10 agreed to take steps to resolve remaining differences

11 regarding meat inspection.

12 (7) Even though the United States terminated

13 the section 301 investigation as a result of the Ex14 change of Letters, the United States determined

15 that the practices under investigation would have

16 been actionable if an acceptable agreement had not

17 been reached.

18 (8) United States meat and pork producers

19 have displayed consistent interest in exporting prod20 ucts to the European Union and have undertaken

21 substantial investment to take the steps specified by

22 the Exchange of Letters.

23 (9) The European Union has failed to acknowl24 edge changes in plant safety and inspection proce25 dures undertaken in the United States specifically at
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1 the European Union’s request and has not fulfilled

2 its obligation to inspect and relist United States pro3 ducers who have taken the steps specified by the Ex4 change of Letters.

5 (10) The actions of the European Union in con6 ducting United States plant inspections places the

7 European Union in violation of commitments made

8 in the Exchange of Letters.

9 (11) The European Union, in addition to being

10 a party to the Exchange of Letters, is a signatory

11 to GATT 1994 and to the Agreement on the Appli12 cation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,

13 which requires that meat and pork inspection proce14 dures under Department of Agriculture regulations

15 be treated as equivalent to inspection procedures re16 quired by the European Union under the Third

17 Country Meat Directive if the regulations achieve

18 the European level of sanitary protection.

19 (12) Whenever a foreign country is not satisfac20 torily implementing an international trade measure

21 or agreement, the United States Trade Representa22 tive is required under section 306(b)(1) of the Trade

23 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416(b)(1)) to determine

24 the actions to be taken under section 301(a) of such

25 Act.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act:

3 (1) EXCHANGE OF LETTERS.—The term ‘‘Ex4 change of Letters’’ means the exchange of letters

5 concerning the application of the Community Third

6 Country Directive, signed in May 1991 and Novem7 ber 1992, which constitute the agreement between

8 the United States and the European Economic Com9 munity regarding the Third Country Meat Directive.

10 (2) GATT 1994.—The term ‘‘GATT 1994’’

11 means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

12 annexed to the WTO Agreement.

13 (3) THIRD COUNTRY MEAT DIRECTIVE; COMMU14 NITY THIRD COUNTRY DIRECTIVE.—The terms

15 ‘‘Third Country Meat Directive’’ and ‘‘Community

16 Third Country Directive’’ mean the European

17 Union’s Council Directive 72/462/EEC relating to

18 inspection and certification of slaughter and process19 ing plants that export meat and pork products to

20 the European Union.

21 (4) WTO AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘WTO

22 Agreement’’ means the Agreement establishing the

23 World Trade Organization entered into on April 15,

24 1994.
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1 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR DETERMINATION BY UNITED

2 STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE.

3 Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment

4 of this Act, the United States Trade Representative shall

5 determine, for purposes of section 306(b)(1) of the Trade

6 Act of 1974, whether the European Union has failed to

7 implement satisfactorily its obligations under the Ex8 change of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of

9 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other Agree10 ment.

11 SEC. 5. REQUEST FOR DISPUTE SETTLEMENT.

12 If the United States Trade Representative determines

13 under section 4 that the European Union has failed to

14 implement satisfactorily its obligations under the Ex15 change of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of

16 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other agree17 ment, the United States Trade Representative shall

18 promptly request proceedings on the matter under the for19 mal dispute settlement procedures applicable to the agree20 ment.

21 SEC. 6. REVIEW OF CERTAIN MEAT FACILITIES.

22 (a) REVIEW BY FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION

23 SERVICE.—If the United States Trade Representative de24 termines pursuant to section 4 that the European Union

25 has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations under
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1 the Exchange of Letters, the Agreement on the Applica2 tion of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other

3 Agreement, the United States Trade Representative shall

4 request the Secretary of Agriculture (who, upon receipt

5 of the request, shall) direct the Food Safety and Inspec6 tion Service of the Department of Agriculture to review

7 certifications for European Union facilities that import

8 meat and other agricultural products into the United

9 States.

10 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO USTR AUTHORITY.—The re11 view authorized under subsection (a) is in addition to the

12 authority of the United States Trade Representative to

13 take actions described in section 301(c)(1) of the Trade

14 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411(c)(1)).

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