I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2015 

To establish educational seminars at United States ports of entry to improve 

the ability of U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to classify 

and appraise articles that are imported into the United States in accordance with the customs laws of the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2015 

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. VISCLOSKY, and Mrs. LAWRENCE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To establish educational seminars at United States ports 

of entry to improve the ability of U.S. Customs and 

Border Protection personnel to classify and appraise articles that are imported into the United States in accordance with the customs laws of the United States. 

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 ‘‘Customs Training En5 hancement Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS TO IMPROVE ABILITY OF 

2 U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION 

3 PERSONNEL TO CLASSIFY AND APPRAISE IM4 PORTED ARTICLES. 

5 (a) EDUCATIONAL SEMINARS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall es7 tablish and carry out educational seminars at United 

8 States ports of entry to improve the ability of U.S. 

9 Customs and Border Protection personnel to classify 

10 and appraise articles imported into the United 

11 States in accordance with the customs laws of the 

12 United States, including to improve the ability of 

13 U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to 

14 identify and prevent the mislabeling and trans15 shipment of articles. 

16 (2) NUMBER AND EXCEPTION.—The Commis17 sioner shall establish and carry out not less than 15 

18 educational seminars each year under paragraph (1). 

19 The Commissioner may establish and carry out 

20 fewer than 15 seminars each year under paragraph 

21 (1) if the Commissioner determines and notifies 

22 Congress that it is appropriate to do so. 

23 (b) CONTENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner and in25 terested parties selected under subsection (d) should 

26 provide instruction and related instructional matemstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 rials at each educational seminar to U.S. Customs 

2 and Border Protection personnel and, as appro3 priate, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

4 personnel on the following: 

5 (A) Conducting a physical inspection of an 

6 article imported into the United States, includ7 ing testing of samples of the article, to deter8 mine if the article is mislabeled in the manifest 

9 or other accompanying documentation. 

10 (B) Reviewing the manifest and other ac11 companying documentation of an article im12 ported into the United States to determine if— 

13 (i) the country of origin of the article 

14 listed in the manifest or other accom15 panying documentation is accurate; and 

16 (ii) the industry supply chain rep17 resented in the manifest or other accom18 panying documentation is accurate. 

19 (C) Other related matters as determined to 

20 be appropriate by the Commissioner. 

21 (2) APPROVAL OF COMMISSIONER.—The in22 struction and related instructional materials at each 

23 educational seminar shall be subject to the approval 

24 of the Commissioner. 

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1 (c) COSTS AND EXPENSES.—The Commissioner shall 

2 pay the costs to establish and carry out each educational 

3 seminar and shall pay expenses for U.S. Customs and 

4 Border Protection personnel, U.S. Immigration and Cus5 toms Enforcement personnel, and interested parties to 

6 provide instruction in or receive training at the seminar. 

7 (d) SELECTION PROCESS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner shall es9 tablish a process to solicit, evaluate, and select inter10 ested parties for purposes of assisting in providing 

11 instruction in the educational seminars under this 

12 section. 

13 (2) CRITERIA.—The Commissioner shall, in 

14 consultation with the United States International 

15 Trade Commission, evaluate and select interested 

16 parties under the process established under para17 graph (1) based on— 

18 (A) availability and usefulness; 

19 (B) the volume, value, and incidence of 

20 mislabeling of an imported article that relates 

21 to a comparable domestic product of the inter22 ested party; and 

23 (C) other appropriate criteria established 

24 by the Commissioner. 

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1 (3) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The Commissioner 

2 shall publish in the Federal Register a detailed de3 scription of the process established under paragraph 

4 (1) and the criteria established under paragraph (2). 

5 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

6 In this Act: 

7 (1) COMMISSIONER.—The term ‘‘Commis8 sioner’’ means the Commissioner responsible for 

9 U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

10 (2) COMPARABLE DOMESTIC PRODUCT.—The 

11 term ‘‘comparable domestic product’’ means a prod12 uct which is comparable in characteristics and uses 

13 with an article imported into the United States and 

14 which is covered by an educational seminar under 

15 this Act. 

16 (3) CUSTOMS LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES.— 

17 The term ‘‘customs laws of the United States’’ 

18 means any law or regulation enforced or adminis19 tered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

20 (4) INTERESTED PARTY.—The term ‘‘interested 

21 party’’ means— 

22 (A) a manufacturer, producer, or whole23 saler in the United States of a comparable do24 mestic product; 

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1 (B) a certified union or recognized union 

2 or group of workers which is representative of 

3 an industry engaged in the manufacture, pro4 duction, or wholesale in the United States of a 

5 comparable domestic product; 

6 (C) a trade or business association a ma7 jority of whose members manufacture, produce, 

8 or wholesale a comparable domestic product in 

9 the United States; or 

10 (D) an association, a majority of whose 

11 members is composed of interested parties de12 scribed in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) with 

13 respect to a comparable domestic product. 

14 (5) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United 

15 States’’ means the customs territory of the United 

16 States, as defined in General Note 2 to the Har17 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States. 

18 (6) U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION

19 PERSONNEL.—The term ‘‘U.S. Customs and Border 

20 Protection personnel’’ means Import Specialists and 

21 other appropriate employees of U.S. Customs and 

22 Border Protection. 

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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

3 this Act $3,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2016 

4 through 2020. 

Æ 

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