II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1250 

To direct the United States Trade Representative to conduct an investigation 

of the personal exemption allowance that Canada provides for merchandise purchased abroad by Canadian residents, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 30, 2007 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To direct the United States Trade Representative to conduct 

an investigation of the personal exemption allowance that 

Canada provides for merchandise purchased abroad by 

Canadian residents, 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. PARITY WITH CANADA ON PERSONAL DUTY EX4 EMPTION. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings: 

7 (1) The United States allows a $200 duty-free 

8 personal exemption for United States residents travVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:36 May 01, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1250.IS S1250

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1 eling outside the United States on trips lasting up 

2 to 48 hours. Canada allows no personal exemption 

3 from duty for Canadian residents returning from 

4 foreign travel lasting less than 24 hours, an exemp5 tion of only $50 Canadian for foreign travel lasting 

6 between 24 and 48 hours. 

7 (2) Foreign travel by Canadian residents last8 ing 48 hours or less is almost exclusively and nec9 essarily to the United States. 

10 (3) The United States Trade Representative ac11 knowledged in its 2006 National Trade Estimate 

12 Report of Foreign Trade Barriers, that Canada’s 

13 personal duty exemption scheme ‘‘discourages shop14 ping visits to the United States by border resi15 dents.’’. 

16 (4) Under Chapter Twelve of the North Amer17 ican Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canada is 

18 obligated to accord to United States service pro19 viders, including retail and distribution service pro20 viders, treatment that is no less favorable than the 

21 treatment Canada accords to its own service pro22 viders and the service providers of any other coun23 try. 

24 (5) Despite years of objections by the United 

25 States Government and retail and distribution servVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:36 May 01, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1250.IS S1250

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1 ice providers, Canada has maintained its deliberately 

2 discriminatory personal exemption allowance scheme. 

3 (6) Canada’s personal exemption allowance 

4 scheme is unjustifiable and burdens and restricts 

5 United States commerce. 

6 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

7 (1) NAFTA.—The term ‘‘NAFTA’’ means the 

8 North American Free Trade Agreement. 

9 (2) SERVICE PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘service 

10 provider’’ has the meaning given that term in Chap11 ter Twelve of the NAFTA. 

12 (3) TRADE REPRESENTATIVE.—The term 

13 ‘‘Trade Representative’’ means the United States 

14 Trade Representative. 

15 (c) MANDATORY INVESTIGATION.— 

16 (1) INITIATION OF INVESTIGATION.—Not later 

17 than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 

18 Act, the Trade Representative shall initiate an inves19 tigation of Canada’s personal exemption allowance 

20 scheme pursuant to title III of the Trade Act of 

21 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411 et seq.) and shall report to 

22 Congress the results of that investigation and the 

23 action the Trade Representative is taking with re24 spect to that scheme under that Act. 


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1 (2) WAIVER OF PRIOR CONSULTATION.—For 

2 purposes of title III of such Act, the Trade Rep3 resentative shall not be required to conduct consulta4 tions under section 302(b)(1)(B) of such Act (19 

5 U.S.C. 2412(b)(1)(B)) before making a determina6 tion under such Act with respect to Canada’s per7 sonal exemption allowance scheme. 

Æ 


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