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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2193

To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to clarify

that certain footwear assembled in beneficiary countries is excluded from

duty-free treatment, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 14, 1999

Mr. MCINTYRE (for himself, Mr. SPRATT, and Ms. KAPTUR) introduced the

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United

States to clarify that certain footwear assembled in beneficiary countries is excluded from duty-free treatment,

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. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FOOTWEAR.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—U.S. Note 2 to subchapter II of

5 chapter 98 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

6 United States is amended—

7 (1) in paragraph (a) by striking ‘‘paragraph

8 (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (b) and (c)’’;
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1 (2) in paragraph (b)—

2 (A) by inserting ‘‘or footwear not accorded

3 duty-free treatment under paragraph (c),’’ after

4 ‘‘apparel article,’’ in the parenthetical, and

5 (B) by striking the last sentence, and

6 (3) by adding at the end the following new

7 paragraph:

8 ‘‘(c)(i) An article of footwear provided for in any of

9 subheadings 6402.91.40, 6402.99.18, 6404.11.20 through

10 6404.19.90, and 6405.20.90, may not be treated as a for11 eign article, or as subject to duty, if—

12 ‘‘(A) the requirements of paragraph (b)(i) and

13 (ii) are complied with with respect to the article;

14 ‘‘(B) the article is produced by an existing foot15 wear manufacturer; and

16 ‘‘(C) the article is entered during any calendar

17 year after 1998 before the aggregate quantity of

18 footwear produced by that manufacturer and entered

19 during the calendar year exceeds the annual duty20 free footwear amount for the manufacturer.

21 ‘‘(ii) For purposes of this paragraph:

22 ‘‘(A) The term ‘annual duty-free amount’ for

23 an existing footwear manufacturer means, in the

24 case of articles of footwear provided for in a sub25 heading classification listed in clause (i), an amount
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1 equal to the average monthly quantity of footwear

2 provided for under such classification that was ex3 ported to the United States during calendar year

4 1998, by all existing manufacturing facilities of such

5 manufacturer, multiplied by 12.

6 ‘‘(B) The term ‘existing footwear manufacturer’

7 means a person in the United States that was oper8 ating at least 1 existing manufacturing facility on

9 December 31, 1998.

10 ‘‘(C) The term ‘existing manufacturing facility’

11 means a footwear manufacturing facility that was

12 operating in a beneficiary country on December 31,

13 1998.

14 ‘‘(iii) The United States International Trade Com15 mission shall—

16 ‘‘(A) identify each existing footwear manufac17 turer; and

18 ‘‘(B) determine the annual duty-free footwear

19 amount for each applicable footwear subheading

20 classification for each such manufacturer,

21 and provide such identification and determination to the

22 Secretary of the Treasury.

23 ‘‘(iv) The Secretary of the Treasury shall by regula24 tion specify such relevant entry information as may be re25 quired for purposes of implementing this paragraph.
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1 ‘‘(d) For purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c), the

2 term ‘beneficiary country’ means a country listed in gen3 eral note 7(a).’’.

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

5 this section apply to goods entered, or withdrawn from

6 warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day after

7 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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