II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 261

To amend the Trade Act of 1974, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 20, 1999

Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. BYRD, Mr. DEWINE, Mr.

HOLLINGS, Mr. SANTORUM, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. KOHL, Mr. SESSIONS, and Mr. MOYNIHAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Trade Act of 1974, 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 ‘‘Trade Fairness Act

5 of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. RELIEF FROM INJURY.

7 (a) TEST FOR POSITIVE ADJUSTMENT TO IMPORT

8 COMPETITION.—Section 201(a) of the Trade Act of 1974

9 (19 U.S.C. 2251(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘substantial’’.
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1 (b) INVESTIGATIONS AND DETERMINATIONS.—Sec2 tion 202 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2252) is amended—

3 (1) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘sub4 stantial’’;

5 (2) by amending subsection (b)(1)(B) to read

6 as follows:

7 ‘‘(B) Imports shall be considered to be a ‘cause

8 of serious injury, or the threat thereof,’ if a causal

9 link is established between imports and injury to the

10 domestic industry.’’;

11 (3) by amending subsection (c)(1)(A) to read as

12 follows:

13 ‘‘(A) with respect to serious injury—

14 ‘‘(i) the rate and amount of the in15 crease in imports of the product concerned

16 in absolute and relative terms;

17 ‘‘(ii) the share of the domestic market

18 taken by increased imports;

19 ‘‘(iii) changes in the level of sales;

20 ‘‘(iv) production;

21 ‘‘(v) productivity;

22 ‘‘(vi) capacity utilization;

23 ‘‘(vii) profits and losses; and

24 ‘‘(viii) employment.’’;
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1 (4) in subsection (c)(1)(C), by striking ‘‘with

2 respect to substantial cause’’ and inserting ‘‘with re3 spect to whether there is a causal link between im4 ports and serious injury’’; and

5 (5) in subsection (c)(3), by striking ‘‘substan6 tial’’.

7 (c) ACTION REGARDING ITC INVESTIGATION OF IN8 JURY.—Section 264(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19

9 U.S.C. 2354(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘substantial’’.

10 SEC. 3. STEEL IMPORT PERMIT AND MONITORING PRO11 GRAM.

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the

13 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce,

14 in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall

15 establish and implement a steel import permit and mon16 itoring program. The program shall include a requirement

17 that any person importing a product classified under chap18 ter 72 or 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the

19 United States obtain an import permit before such prod20 ucts are entered into the United States.

21 (b) STEEL IMPORT PERMITS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—In order to obtain a steel

23 import permit, an importer shall submit to the Sec24 retary of Commerce an application containing—

25 (A) the importer’s name and address;
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1 (B) the name and address of the supplier

2 of the goods to be imported;

3 (C) the name and address of the producer

4 of the goods to be imported;

5 (D) the country of origin of the goods;

6 (E) the country from which the goods are

7 to be imported;

8 (F) the United States Customs port of

9 entry where the goods will be entered;

10 (G) the expected date of entry of the goods

11 into the United States;

12 (H) a description of the goods, including

13 the classification of such goods under the Har14 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States;

15 (I) the quantity (in kilograms and net

16 tons) of the goods to be imported;

17 (J) the cost insurance freight (CIF) and

18 free alongside ship (FAS) values of the goods to

19 be entered;

20 (K) whether the goods are being entered

21 for consumption or for entry into a bonded

22 warehouse or foreign trade zone;

23 (L) a certification that the information

24 furnished in the permit application is correct;

25 and
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1 (M) any other information the Secretary of

2 Commerce determines to be necessary and ap3 propriate.

4 (2) ENTRY INTO CUSTOMS TERRITORY.—In the

5 case of merchandise classified under chapter 72 or

6 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United

7 States that is initially entered into a bonded ware8 house or foreign trade zone, a steel import permit

9 shall be required before the merchandise is entered

10 into the customs territory of the United States.

11 (3) ISSUANCE OF PERMIT.—The Secretary of

12 Commerce shall issue a steel import permit to any

13 person who files an application that meets the re14 quirements of this section. Such permit shall be

15 valid for a period of 30 days from the date of

16 issuance.

17 (c) STATISTICAL INFORMATION.—

18 (1) IN GENERAL.— The Secretary of Commerce

19 shall compile and publish on a weekly basis informa20 tion described in paragraph (2).

21 (2) INFORMATION DESCRIBED.—Information

22 described in this paragraph means information ob23 tained from steel import permit applications con24 cerning steel imported into the United States and

25 includes with respect to such imports the Har-
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1 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States classi2 fication (to the tenth digit), the country of origin,

3 the port of entry, quantity, value of steel imported,

4 and whether the imports are entered for consump5 tion or are entered into a bonded warehouse or for6 eign trade zone. Such information shall also be com7 piled in aggregate form and made publicly available

8 by the Secretary of Commerce on a weekly basis by

9 public posting through an Internet website. The in10 formation provided under this section shall be in ad11 dition to any information otherwise required by law.

12 (d) FEES.—The Secretary of Commerce may pre13 scribe reasonable fees and charges to defray the costs of

14 carrying out the provisions of this section, including a fee

15 for issuing a permit under this section.

16 (e) SINGLE PRODUCER AND EXPORTER COUN17 TRIES.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

18 Secretary of Commerce shall make publicly available all

19 information required to be released pursuant to subsection

20 (c), including information obtained regarding imports

21 from a foreign producer or exporter that is the only pro22 ducer or exporter of goods subject to this section from a

23 foreign country.

24 (f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Commerce may

25 prescribe such rules and regulations relating to the steel
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1 import permit and monitoring program as may be nec2 essary to carry out the provisions of this section.

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