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105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 723

To require the United States Trade Representative to determine whether

the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations

under certain trade agreements relating to United States meat and

pork exporting facilities, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 12, 1997

Mr. HOSTETTLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Ways and Means

A BILL

To require the United States Trade Representative to determine whether the European Union has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations under certain trade

agreements relating to United States meat and pork

exporting facilities, 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 ‘‘Fair Trade in Meat

5 and Pork Products Act of 1997’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) The European Union’s Third Country Meat

2 Directive has been used to decertify more than 400

3 United States facilities exporting beef and pork

4 products to the European Union even though United

5 States health inspection procedures are equivalent to

6 those provided for in the Third Country Meat Direc7 tive.

8 (2) An effect of the decertifications is to pro9 hibit the importation of United States beef and pork

10 products into the European Union.

11 (3) As a result of the decertifications, the high12 ly competitive United States pork industry loses as

13 much as $60,000,000 each year from trade with Eu14 ropean Union countries.

15 (4) In July 1987 and November 1990, at the

16 request of affected United States industries, the

17 United States initiated investigations under section

18 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into the European

19 Union’s administration of the Third Country Meat

20 Directive and sought resolution of the meat and

21 pork trade problems through the dispute settlement

22 process established under the General Agreement on

23 Tariffs and Trade.

24 (5) The United States Trade Representative

25 preliminarily concluded on October 10, 1992, that
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1 the European Union’s administration of the Third

2 Country Meat Directive created a burden on and re3 stricted United States commerce.

4 (6) Bilateral talks, initiated as a result of that

5 finding, resulted in an Exchange of Letters in which

6 the United States and the European Union con7 cluded that the meat inspection systems of the

8 United States and the European Union provided

9 ‘‘equivalent safeguards against public health risks’’

10 and agreed to take steps to resolve remaining dif11 ferences regarding meat inspection.

12 (7) Even though the United States terminated

13 the section 301 investigation as a result of the Ex14 change of Letters, the United States determined

15 that the practices under investigation would have

16 been actionable if an acceptable agreement had not

17 been reached.

18 (8) United States meat and pork producers

19 have displayed consistent interest in exporting prod20 ucts to the European Union and have undertaken

21 substantial investment to take the steps specified by

22 the Exchange of Letters.

23 (9) The European Union has failed to acknowl24 edge changes in plant safety and inspection proce25 dures undertaken in the United States specifically at
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1 the European Union’s request and has not fulfilled

2 its obligation to inspect and relist United States pro3 ducers who have taken the steps specified by the Ex4 change of Letters.

5 (10) The actions of the European Union in con6 ducting United States plant inspections places the

7 European Union in violation of commitments made

8 in the Exchange of Letters.

9 (11) The European Union, in addition to being

10 a party to the Exchange of Letters, is a signatory

11 to GATT 1994 and to the Agreement on the Appli12 cation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures,

13 which requires that meat and pork inspection proce14 dures under Department of Agriculture regulations

15 be treated as equivalent to inspection procedures re16 quired by the European Union under the Third

17 Country Meat Directive if the regulations achieve

18 the European level of sanitary protection.

19 (12) Whenever a foreign country is not satisfac20 torily implementing an international trade measure

21 or agreement, the United States Trade Representa22 tive is required under section 306(b)(1) of the Trade

23 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2416(b)(1)) to determine

24 the actions to be taken under section 301(a) of such

25 Act.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

2 For purposes of this Act:

3 (1) EXCHANGE OF LETTERS.—The term ‘‘Ex4 change of Letters’’ means the exchange of letters

5 concerning the application of the Community Third

6 Country Directive, signed in May 1991 and Novem7 ber 1992, which constitute the agreement between

8 the United States and the European Economic Com9 munity regarding the Third Country Meat Directive.

10 (2) GATT 1994.—The term ‘‘GATT 1994’’

11 means the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

12 annexed to the World Trade Organization Agree13 ment, entered into on April 15, 1994.

14 (3) THIRD COUNTRY MEAT DIRECTIVE; COMMU15 NITY THIRD COUNTRY DIRECTIVE.—The terms

16 ‘‘Third Country Meat Directive’’ and ‘‘Community

17 Third Country Directive’’ mean the European

18 Union’s Council Directive 72/462/EEC relating to

19 inspection and certification of slaughter and process20 ing plants that export meat and pork products to

21 the European Union.

22 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT FOR DETERMINATION BY UNITED

23 STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE.

24 Not later than thirty days after the date of enactment

25 of this Act, the United States Trade Representative shall

26 determine, for purposes of section 306(b)(1) of the Trade
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1 Act of 1974, whether the European Union has failed to

2 implement satisfactorily its obligations under the Ex3 change of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of

4 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other Agree5 ment.

6 SEC. 5. REQUEST FOR DISPUTE SETTLEMENT.

7 If the United States Trade Representative determines

8 under section 4 that the European Union has failed to

9 implement satisfactorily its obligations under the Ex10 change of Letters, the Agreement on the Application of

11 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other agree12 ment, the United States Trade Representative shall

13 promptly request proceedings on the matter under the for14 mal dispute settlement procedures as set forth in section

15 301 of the United States Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.

16 2411).

17 SEC. 6. REVIEW OF CERTAIN MEAT FACILITIES.

18 (a) REVIEW BY FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION

19 SERVICE.—If the United States Trade Representative de20 termines pursuant to section 4 that the European Union

21 has failed to implement satisfactorily its obligations under

22 the Exchange of Letters, the Agreement on the Applica23 tion of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, or any other

24 Agreement, the United States Trade Representative shall

25 request the Secretary of Agriculture (who, upon receipt
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1 of the request, shall) direct the Food Safety and Inspec2 tion Service of the Department of Agriculture to review

3 certifications for European Union facilities that import

4 meat and other agricultural products into the United

5 States.

6 (b) RELATIONSHIP TO USTR AUTHORITY.—The re7 view authorized under subsection (a) is in addition to the

8 authority of the United States Trade Representative to

9 take actions described in section 301(c)(1) of the Trade

10 Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411(c)(1)).

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