I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4287

To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States relating 

to imports of certain wool products, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2004

Mr. HOUGHTON (for himself, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SHAW, Mrs. EMERSON, 

Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. HOBSON, Mr. REYNOLDS, and Mr. WALSH) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

States relating to imports of certain wool products, 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 ‘‘Wool Suit and Textile 

5 Trade Extension Act of 2004’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION AND MODIFICATION OF DUTY SUSPEN2 SION ON WOOL PRODUCTS, WOOL RESEARCH 

3 FUND, WOOL DUTY REFUNDS. 

4 (a) EXTENSION OF TEMPORARY DUTY REDUC5 TIONS.—

6 (1) HEADING 9902.51.11.—Heading 9902.51.11 

7 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

8 States is amended—

9 (A) by striking ‘‘2005’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘2010’’; and 

11 (B) by striking ‘‘17.5%’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘10%’’. 

13 (2) HEADING 9902.51.12.—Heading 9902.51.12 

14 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

15 States is amended by striking ‘‘2005’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘2010’’. 

17 (3) HEADING 9902.51.13.—Heading 9902.51.13 

18 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

19 States is amended by striking ‘‘2005’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘2010’’. 

21 (4) HEADING 9902.51.14.—Heading 9902.51.14 

22 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

23 States is amended by striking ‘‘2005’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘2010’’. 

25 (b) MODIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON QUANTITY OF

26 IMPORTS.—
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1 (1) NOTE 15.—U.S. Note 15 to subchapter II 

2 of chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

3 the United States is amended—

4 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘2002,’’; and 

5 (B) by striking ‘‘year 2003’’ and all that 

6 follows through the end period and inserting 

7 the following: ‘‘years 2003 and 2004, and 

8 5,500,000 square meter equivalents in calendar 

9 year 2005 and each calendar year thereafter for 

10 the benefit of persons who cut and sew men’s 

11 and boys’ worsted wool suits and suit-like jack12 ets and trousers in the United States, allocated 

13 as required by section 501(e)(1) of the Trade 

14 and Development Act of 2000.’’. 

15 (2) NOTE 16.—U.S. Note 16 to subchapter II 

16 of chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

17 the United States is amended—

18 (A) by striking ‘‘shall be limited to 

19 1,500,000’’ and inserting ‘‘shall be limited to—

20 ‘‘(1) 1,500,000’’; 

21 (B) by striking ‘‘and’’ after ‘‘2002,’’; and 

22 (C) by striking ‘‘year 2003’’ and all that 

23 follows through the end 5period and inserting 

24 the following: ‘‘years 2003 and 2004, 5,000,000 

25 square meter equivalents in calendar year 2005 
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1 and each calendar year thereafter for the ben2 efit of persons who cut and sew men’s and boys’ 

3 worsted wool suits and suit-like jackets and 

4 trousers in the United States, allocated as re5 quired by section 501(e)(1) of the Trade and 

6 Development Act of 2000; and 

7 ‘‘(b) 2,000,000 square meter equivalents in cal8 endar year 2005 and each calendar year thereafter 

9 for the benefit of manufacturers who weave worsted 

10 wool fabric in the United States suitable for use in 

11 men’s and boys’ suits, allocated as required by sec12 tion 501(e)(2) of the Trade and Development Act of 

13 2000.’’. 

14 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

15 (A) SUNSET STAGED REDUCTION RE16 QUIREMENT.—Section 501(a)(2) of the Trade 

17 and Development Act of 2000 (Public Law 

18 106–200; 114 Stat. 299) is amended by insert19 ing before the period ‘‘for goods entered, or 

20 withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, be21 fore January 1, 2005’’. 

22 (B) ALLOCATION OF TARIFF RATE

23 QUOTAS.—Section 501(e) of the Trade and De24 velopment Act of 2000 (Public Law 106–200; 

25 114 Stat. 300) is amended—
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1 (i) by striking ‘‘In implementing’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘(1) In implementing’’; 

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘16’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘16(a)’’; and 

5 (iii) by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(2) In implementing the limitation on the 

8 quantity of worsted wool fabrics under heading 

9 9902.51.12 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

10 the United States, as required by U.S. Note 16(b) 

11 of subchapter II of chapter 99 of such Schedule, for 

12 the entry, or withdrawal from warehouse for con13 sumption, the Secretary of Commerce shall adopt 

14 regulations to allocate fairly such quantity to manu15 facturers who weave worsted wool fabric in the 

16 United States suitable for use in men’s and boys’ 

17 suits and who apply for an allocation.’’. 

18 (C) SUNSET AUTHORITY TO MODIFY LIMI19 TATION ON QUANTITY.—Section 504(b) of the 

20 Trade and Development Act of 2000 (Public 

21 Law 106–200; 114 Stat. 301) is repealed, effec22 tive January 1, 2005. 

23 (c) EXTENSION OF DUTY REFUNDS AND WOOL RE24 SEARCH TRUST FUND.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Customs 

2 Service shall pay to each manufacturer that receives 

3 a payment during calendar year 2005 under section 

4 505 of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 

5 (Public Law 106–200; 114 Stat. 303), as amended 

6 by section 5101 of the Trade Act of 2002 (116 Stat. 

7 1041), and that provides an affidavit, no later than 

8 March 1 of the year of the payment, that it remains 

9 a manufacturer in the United States as of January 

10 1 of the year of the payment, 5 additional payments, 

11 each payment equal to the payment received for cal12 endar year 2005 as follows: 

13 (A) The first payment to be made after 

14 January 1, 2006, but on or before April 15, 

15 2006. 

16 (B) The second, third, fourth, and fifth 

17 payments to be made after January 1, but on 

18 or before April 15, of each of the following four 

19 calendar years. 

20 (2) SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST.—Any manufac21 turer that becomes a successor-in-interest to a claim22 ant of a payment under section 505 of the Trade 

23 and Development Act of 2000, as amended by sec24 tion 5101 of the Trade Act of 2002, because of—

25 (A) an assignment of the claim, 
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1 (B) an assignment of the original claim2 ant’s right to manufacture under the same 

3 trade name, 

4 (C) a reorganization, 

5 or otherwise, shall be eligible to claim the payment 

6 as if the successor manufacturer were the original 

7 claimant, without regard to section 3727 of title 31, 

8 United States Code. Such right to claim payment as 

9 a successor shall be effective as if the right were in10 cluded in section 505 of the Trade and Development 

11 Act of 2000. 

12 (3) EXTENSION OF WOOL RESEARCH, DEVELOP13 MENT, AND PROMOTION TRUST FUND.—Section 

14 506(f) of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 

15 (Public Law 106–200; 114 Stat. 303), as amended 

16 by section 5102(c)(2) of the Trade Act of 2002 (116 

17 Stat. 1047), is amended by striking ‘‘2006’’ and in18 serting ‘‘2011’’. 

19 (4) COMMERCE AUTHORITY TO PROMOTE DO20 MESTIC EMPLOYMENT.—

21 (A) GRANTS TO MANUFACTURERS OF WOR22 STED WOOL FABRICS.—The Secretary of Com23 merce shall provide to—

24 (i) persons who were, during calendar 

25 years 1999, 2000, and 2001, manufactur-
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1 ers of worsted wool fabric of the kind de2 scribed in heading 9902.51.12 of the Har3 monized Tariff Schedule of the United 

4 States, and 

5 (ii) persons who were, during such 

6 calendar years, manufacturers of worsted 

7 wool fabric of the kind described in head8 ing 9902.51.11 of the Harmonized Tariff 

9 Schedule of the United States, 

10 grants in each of calendar years 2005 through 

11 2010 in the amounts determined under sub12 paragraph (B). 

13 (B) AMOUNTS.—(i) The total amount of 

14 grants to manufacturers under subparagraph 

15 (A)(i) shall be $2,666,000 each calendar year, 

16 allocated among such manufacturers on the 

17 basis of the percentage of each manufacturer’s 

18 production of the fabric described in heading 

19 9902.51.12 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 

20 of the United States for calendar years 1999, 

21 2000, and 2001, compared to the production of 

22 such fabric by all such manufacturers who qual23 ify under subparagraph (A)(i) for such grants. 

24 (ii) The total amount of grants to manu25 facturers under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall be 
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1 $2,666,000 each calendar year, allocated among 

2 such manufacturers on the basis of the percent3 age of each manufacturer’s production of the 

4 fabric described in heading 9902.51.11 of the 

5 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 

6 States for calendar years 1999, 2000, and 

7 2001, compared to the production of such fab8 ric by all manufacturers who qualify under sub9 paragraph (A)(ii) for such grants. 

10 (iii) Any grant awarded by the Secretary 

11 under this paragraph shall be final and not sub12 ject to appeal or protest. 

13 (5) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

14 be appropriated and are hereby appropriated out of 

15 amounts in the general fund of the Treasury not 

16 otherwise appropriated such sums as are necessary 

17 to carry out this subsection. 

18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE FOR DUTY REDUCTION.—The 

19 amendment made by subsection (a)(1)(B) shall apply to 

20 goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consump21 tion, on or after January 1, 2005. 
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1 SEC. 3. LABELING OF WOOL PRODUCTS TO FACILITATE 

2 COMPLIANCE AND PROTECT CONSUMERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Wool Products 

4 Labeling Act of 1939 (15 U.S.C. 68b(a)) is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(5) In the case of a wool product stamped, 

7 tagged, labeled, or otherwise identified as—

8 ‘‘(A) ‘Super 80’s’ or ‘80’s’, if the average 

9 fiber diameter thereof does not average 19.5 

10 microns or finer; 

11 ‘‘(B) ‘Super 90’s’ or ‘90’s’, if the average 

12 fiber diameter thereof does not average 19.0 

13 microns or finer; 

14 ‘‘(C) ‘Super 100’s’ or ‘100’s’, if the aver15 age fiber diameter thereof does not average 

16 18.5 microns or finer; 

17 ‘‘(D) ‘Super 110’s’ or ‘110’s’, if the aver18 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av19 erage 18.0 microns or finer; 

20 ‘‘(E) ‘Super 120’s’ or ‘120’s’, if the aver21 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av22 erage 17.5 microns or finer; 

23 ‘‘(F) ‘Super 130’s’ or ‘130’s’, if the aver24 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av25 erage 17.0 microns or finer; 
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1 ‘‘(G) ‘Super 140’s’ or ‘140’s’, if the aver2 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av3 erage 16.5 microns or finer; 

4 ‘‘(H) ‘Super 150’s’ or ‘150’s’, if the aver5 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av6 erage 16.0 microns or finer; 

7 ‘‘(I) ‘Super 160’s’ or ‘160’s’, if the average 

8 diameter of wool fiber thereof does not average 

9 15.5 microns or finer; 

10 ‘‘(J) ‘Super 170’s’ or ‘170’s’, if the aver11 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av12 erage 15.0 microns or finer; 

13 ‘‘(K) ‘Super 180’s’ or ‘180’s’, if the aver14 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av15 erage 14.5 microns or finer; 

16 ‘‘(L) ‘Super 190’s’ or ‘190’s’, if the aver17 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av18 erage 14.0 microns or finer; 

19 ‘‘(M) ‘Super 200’s’ or ‘200’s’, if the aver20 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av21 erage 13.5 microns or finer; and 

22 ‘‘(N) ‘Super 210’s’ or ‘210’s’, if the aver23 age diameter of wool fiber thereof does not av24 erage 13.0 microns or finer. 
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1 In each such case, the average fiber diameter may 

2 be subject to a variation of 0.25 microns, and may 

3 be subject to such other standards or deviations 

4 therefrom as adopted by regulation by the Commis5 sion.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to wool products manufactured on 

8 or after January 1, 2005.

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