II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1662

To grant the President authority to proclaim the elimination or staged rate

reduction of duties on certain environmental goods.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 29, 1999

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. GRAMS, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To grant the President authority to proclaim the elimination

or staged rate reduction of duties on certain environmental goods.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

4 Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) United States trade policy should facilitate

6 export of American products which improve the

7 quality of life.
2

•S 1662 IS

1 (2) United States firms possess a variety of

2 technologies which can measure, limit, and prevent

3 environmental damage.

4 (3) The World Trade Organization is consid5 ering a proposal generated in the Asia Pacific Eco6 nomic Cooperation (APEC) to reduce barriers to

7 trade in environmental products. The proposal in8 cludes the elimination of tariff barriers on such

9 products.

10 (4) Eliminating such tariffs would benefit both

11 the environment and United States exporters.

12 (5) The President, after consultation with Con13 gress, should have the authority to enter into a

14 broad-based agreement to eliminate tariff barriers

15 with respect to environmental products under the

16 auspices of the World Trade Organization.

17 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

18 The purpose of this Act is to reduce barriers to inter19 national trade in environmental products.

20 SEC. 3. PROCLAMATION AUTHORITY.

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—If the President determines that

22 any existing duty or other import restriction of any foreign

23 country or the United States is unduly burdening or re24 stricting the foreign trade of the United States with re25 spect to an environmental product described in subsection
3

•S 1662 IS

1 (b) and the United States enters into an agreement to

2 eliminate or reduce the duty or remove the burden or re3 striction with respect to such product as part of a multilat4 eral negotiation under the auspices of the World Trade

5 Organization, the President may proclaim the elimination

6 or staged rate reductions of any duty on such environ7 mental product.

8 (b) ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DESCRIBED.—An

9 environmental product described in this subsection

10 means—

11 (1) any product used to measure, prevent, limit,

12 or correct environmental damage to water, air, and

13 soil;

14 (2) any product used to address environmental

15 problems related to waste, noise, and ecosystems;

16 and

17 (3) any technology, process, and product which

18 reduces environmental risk and minimizes pollution

19 or use of materials.

20 (c) CONSULTATION AND LAYOVER.—Any duty elimi21 nation or staged rate reduction provided for in this Act

22 may be proclaimed only if the President—

23 (1) has obtained advice regarding the proposed

24 action from the appropriate advisory committees es25 tablished under section 135 of the Trade Act of
4

•S 1662 IS

1 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2155) and the International Trade

2 Commission;

3 (2) has submitted a report to the Committee on

4 Ways and Means of the House of Representatives

5 and the Committee on Finance of the Senate that

6 sets forth—

7 (A) the action proposed to be proclaimed;

8 (B) the reasons for such action; and

9 (C) the advice obtained under paragraph

10 (1); and

11 (3) has consulted with the committees regard12 ing the proposed action during the 60-calendar day

13 period, beginning on the first day after the day on

14 which the President has met the requirements of

15 paragraphs (1) and (2).

Æ