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104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3599

To authorize the President to enter into a trade agreement concerning Northern Ireland and certain Border Counties of the Republic of Ireland,

and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 6, 1996

Mr. MANTON (for himself, Mr. KING, and Mr. GILMAN) introduced the

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

A BILL

To authorize the President to enter into a trade agreement

concerning Northern Ireland and certain Border Counties

of the Republic of Ireland, 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. FINDINGS.

4 The Congress makes the following findings:

5 (1) It is in the interest of the United States

6 that the precarious peace process now underway in

7 Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland suc8 ceed, both to ensure stability for important allies
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1 and friends of the United States and to assure a

2 mutually beneficial flow of trade and commerce.

3 (2) Locally sustainable economic development

4 within Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of

5 the Republic of Ireland creates the basis for political

6 stability and enhances the likelihood of peace.

7 (3) The granting of reasonable tariff conces8 sions for products and goods originating in Northern

9 Ireland and the Border Counties of the Republic of

10 Ireland will provide an incentive for such develop11 ment.

12 (A) The Congress notes that both the

13 United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

14 are members of the European Union (EU), that

15 tariff issues relating to Northern Ireland and

16 the Border Counties are subject to the common

17 commercial policy provided for in Article 113 of

18 the Treaty of Rome and that any negotiations

19 concerning them must conform to EU law and

20 Paragraphs 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Article XXIV of

21 the GATT.

22 (B) The Congress further notes that while

23 there is no precedent in EU practice for the

24 free trade agreement contemplated in this Act,

25 the effect of such an agreement will be to sup-
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1 port important on-going EU efforts to achieve

2 greater social cohesion in a unique and dis3 advantaged region, to the long-term benefit of

4 the European Union, the United States, and

5 the larger international community.

6 (4) The President should be authorized to nego7 tiate such concessions in accordance with the terms

8 and conditions set forth in the Act.

9 SEC. 2. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH NORTHERN IRE10 LAND.

11 (a) NEGOTIATIONS.—

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President may enter

13 into a trade agreement with respect to qualified

14 areas of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire15 land which provides for—

16 (A) the harmonization, reduction, and

17 elimination of trade barriers;

18 (B) the prohibition of or limitations on the

19 impositions of trade barriers;

20 (C) the elimination or reduction of any

21 duty imposed by the United States

22 (2) AGREEMENT LIMITED TO QUALIFIED AREAS

23 OF NORTHERN IRELAND AND THE REPUBLIC OF

24 IRELAND.—Notwithstanding any other provision of

25 law, no trade benefit shall be extended to any coun-
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1 try by reason of the extension of any trade benefit

2 to another country under a trade agreement entered

3 into under paragraph (1) with such other country.

4 (b) LIMITATIONS AND STAGING.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—No proclamation may be

6 made under subsection (a) that—

7 (A) reduces any rate of duty (other than a

8 rate of duty that does not exceed 5 percent ad

9 valorem on the date of enactment of this Act)

10 to a rate of duty which is less than 5 percent

11 of the rate of duty that applies on such a date

12 of enactment;

13 (B) reduces the rate of duty on an article

14 over a period greater than 10 years after the

15 first reduction that is proclaimed to carry out

16 a trade agreement with respect to such article;

17 or

18 (C) increase any rate of duty above the

19 rate that applies on the date of the enactment

20 of this Act.

21 (2) LIMITATION ON AGGREGATE REDUCTION.—

22 The aggregate reduction in the rate of duty on any

23 article which is in effect on any day pursuant to a

24 trade agreement entered into under subsection (a)

25 shall not exceed the aggregate reduction which
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1 would have been in effect on such a day if a reduc2 tion of 3 percent ad valorem per year or a reduction

3 of 10 percent per year of the total reduction, which4 ever is greater, had taken effect on the effective date

5 of the first reduction proclaimed pursuant to sub6 section (a).

7 (3) EXEMPTION FROM STAGING.—No staging is

8 required under paragraph (2) with respect to a duty

9 reduction that is proclaimed under subsection (a) for

10 an article of a kind that is not produced in the Unit11 ed States. The United States International Trade

12 Commission shall advise the President of the iden13 tity of articles that may be exempted from staging

14 under this paragraph.

15 (4) ROUNDING.—If the President determines

16 that such action will simplify the computation of re17 ductions under paragraph (1) or (2), the President

18 may round an annual reduction by an amount equal

19 to the lesser of—

20 (A) the difference between the reduction

21 without regard to this paragraph and the next

22 lower whole numbers; or

23 (B) one-half of 1 percent ad valorem.

24 (5) OTHER LIMITATIONS.—A rate of duty re25 duction or increase that may not be proclaimed by
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1 reason of paragraph (1) may take effect only if a

2 provision authorizing such reduction is included

3 within an implementing bill provided for in connec4 tion with the agreement authorized by this Act and

5 that bill is enacted into law.

6 SEC. 3. CRITERIA FOR DUTY-FREE TREATMENT OF ARTI7 CLES.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—

9 (1) ARTICLE MUST BE GROWTH, PRODUCT, OR

10 MANUFACTURE OF QUALIFIED AREA OF NORTHERN

11 IRELAND OR THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND.—The re12 duction or elimination of any duty imposed on any

13 article by the United States provided for in a trade

14 agreement entered into with a qualified area of

15 Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland under

16 this Act shall apply only if—

17 (A) that article is the growth, product, or

18 manufacture of a qualified area of Northern

19 Ireland or the Republic of Ireland or is a new

20 or different article of commerce that has been

21 grown, produced, or manufactured in a quali22 fied area of Northern Ireland or the Republic of

23 Ireland;

24 (B) that article is imported directly from a

25 qualified area of Northern Ireland or the Re-
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1 public of Ireland into the customs territory of

2 the United States; and

3 (C) the sum of—

4 (i) the cost of value of the materials

5 produced in a qualified area of Northern

6 Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, plus

7 (ii) the direct costs of processing oper8 ations performed in a qualified area of

9 Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ire10 land,

11 is not less than 35 percent of the appraised

12 value of such article at the time it is entered.

13 If the cost or value of materials produced in the cus14 toms territory of the United States is included with

15 respect to an article to which this subsection applies,

16 an amount not to exceed 15 percent of the appraised

17 value of the article at the time it is entered that is

18 attributable to such United States cost or value may

19 be applied toward determining the percentage re20 ferred to in subparagraph (C).

21 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—No article may be

22 considered to meet the requirements of paragraph

23 (1)(A) by virtue of having merely undergone—

24 (A) simple combining or packaging oper25 ations; or
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1 (B) mere dilution with water or mere dilu2 tion with another substance that does not mate3 rially alter the characteristics of the article.

4 (b) DIRECT COSTS.—As used in this section, the

5 phrase ‘‘direct costs of processing operations’’ includes,

6 but is not limited to—

7 (1) all actual labor costs involved in the growth,

8 production, manufacture, or assembly of the specific

9 merchandise, including fringe benefits, on-the-job

10 training and the cost of engineering, supervisory,

11 quality control, and similar personnel; and

12 (2) dies, molds, tooling, and depreciation on

13 machinery and equipment which are allocable to the

14 specific merchandise.

15 Such phrase does not include costs which are not directly

16 attributable to the merchandise concerned, or are not costs

17 of manufacturing the product, such as (A) profit, and (B)

18 general expenses of doing business which are either not

19 allocable to the specific merchandise or are not related to

20 the growth, production, manufacture, or assembly of the

21 merchandise, such as administrative salaries, casualty and

22 liability insurance, advertising, and salesmen’s salaries,

23 commissions, or expenses.

24 (c) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treasury,

25 after consultation with the United States Trade Rep-
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1 resentative, shall prescribe such regulations as may be

2 necessary to carry out this section.

3 SEC. 4. ITC REPORTS.

4 Before any reduction or elimination of any duty is

5 proclaimed with respect to any article under this Act, the

6 United States International Trade Commission shall ad7 vise the President regarding the probable economic effect

8 of providing duty-free treatment for such article that is

9 a product of a qualified area of Northern Ireland or the

10 Republic of Ireland on industries in the United States pro11 ducing like or directly competitive articles and on consum12 ers.

13 SEC. 5. CONSULTATION WITH CONGRESS BEFORE AGREE14 MENT ENTERED INTO.

15 (a) CONSULTATION.—Before entering into any trade

16 agreement under this Act, the President shall consult

17 with—

18 (1) the Committee on Ways and Means of the

19 House of Representatives and the Committee on Fi20 nance of the Senate; and

21 (2) each other committee of the House of Rep22 resentatives and the Senate, and each joint commit23 tee of the Congress, which has jurisdiction over leg24 islation involving subject matters which would be af25 fected by the trade agreement.
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1 (b) SCOPE.—The consultation described in subsection

2 (a) shall include consultation with respect to—

3 (1) the nature of the agreement;

4 (2) how the agreement related to the obliga5 tions of the parties; and

6 (3) all matters relating to the implementation

7 of the agreement, including whether the agreement

8 includes subject matter for which supplemental im9 plementing legislation may be required.

10 SEC. 6. IMPLEMENTATION OF TRADE AGREEMENTS.

11 (a) NOTIFICATION AND SUBMISSION.—Any agree12 ment entered into under this Act shall enter into force

13 with respect to the United States if (and only if)—

14 (1) the President, at least 90 calendar days be15 fore the day on which the President enters into the

16 trade agreement, notifies the House of Representa17 tives and the Senate of the President’s intention to

18 enter into the agreement, and promptly thereafter

19 published notice of such intention in the Federal

20 Register;

21 (2) within 60 days after entering into the

22 agreement, the President submits to the Congress a

23 description of those changes to existing laws that the

24 President considers would be required in order to
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1 bring the United States into compliance with the

2 agreement;

3 (3) after entering into the agreement, the Presi4 dent submits a copy of the final text of the agree5 ment, together with—

6 (A) a draft of an implementing bill, if nec7 essary;

8 (B) a statement of any administrative ac9 tion proposed to implement the trade agree10 ment; and

11 (C) the supporting information described

12 in paragraph (2); and

13 (4) the implementing bill, if necessary, is en14 acted into law.

15 (b) SUPPORTING INFORMATION.—The supporting in16 formation required under subsection (a)(3)(C) consists

17 of—

18 (1) an explanation as to how the implementing

19 bill and proposed administrative action will change

20 or affect existing law; and

21 (2) a statement setting forth the reasons of the

22 President regarding how the agreement serves the

23 interest of United States commerce.
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITION OF QUALIFYING AREA.

2 As used in this Act, the term ‘‘qualifying area’’

3 means a county that—

4 (1) is contiguous to Northern Ireland;

5 (2) suffers from the severest form of economic

6 deprivation as defined by the United Kingdom’s re7 port, Relative Deprivation in Northern Ireland, Oc8 casional Paper Number 28, Policy Planning and Re9 search Unit, September; and the European Union’s

10 report, Special Support Programme for Peace and

11 Reconciliation 1995–1999. Those counties to be in12 cluded as ‘‘qualified areas’’ are: Derry, Limavady,

13 Strabane, Magherafelt, Omagh, Cookstown,

14 Dungannon, Fermanagh, Moyle, Newry and Mourne,

15 Armagh, and those parts of Belfast Urban area

16 known as ‘‘Making Belfast Work’’ designated areas,

17 in Northern Ireland; and the border counties of

18 Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and

19 Louth in the Republic of Ireland;

20 (3) has a rate of unemployment higher than the

21 local or urban average of unemployment in Northern

22 Ireland; and

23 (4) the employers in counties where there is a

24 history of workplace discrimination who would be eli25 gible shall be in compliance with the principles of
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1 economic justice, known as the ‘‘MacBride Prin2 ciples.’’ Specifically, these principles are—

3 (A) increasing the representation of indi4 viduals, from underrepresented religious groups

5 in the workforce, including managerial, super6 visory, administrative, clerical, and technical

7 jobs.

8 (B) providing adequate security for the

9 protection of minority employees at the work10 place;

11 (C) banning provocative sectarian or politi12 cal emblems from the workplace;

13 (D) providing that all job openings be ad14 vertised publicly and providing that special re15 cruitment efforts be made to attract applicants

16 from underrepresented religious groups;

17 (E) providing that layoff, recall and termi18 nation procedures do not favor a particular reli19 gious group;

20 (F) abolishing job reservations, apprentice21 ship restrictions and differential employment

22 criteria which discriminate on the basis of reli23 gion;

24 (G) providing for the development of train25 ing programs that will prepare substantial num-
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1 bers of minority employees for skilled jobs, in2 cluding the expansion of existing programs and

3 the creation of new programs to train, upgrade

4 and improve the skills of minority employees;

5 (H) establishing procedures to assess, iden6 tify and actively recruit minority employees

7 with the potential for further advancement; and

8 (I) approving for the appointment of a sen9 ior management staff member to be responsible

10 for the employment efforts of the entity and,

11 within a reasonable period of time, the imple12 mentation of the principles described above.

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