II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2978 

To extend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, to extend the trade 

preferences made available to Haiti under that Act, to encourage foreign 

investment in Haiti, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2010 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. NELSON of Florida) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To extend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, to 

extend the trade preferences made available to Haiti 

under that Act, to encourage foreign investment in Haiti, 

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 ‘‘Renewing Hope for 

5 Haitian Trade and Investment Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TRADE FACILITATION EFFORTS IN HAITI. 

7 The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through 

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1 der Protection, shall commit sufficient resources from 

2 U.S. Customs and Border Protection— 

3 (1) to, working with the commercial attache ́

4 from the United States assigned to Haiti, enhance 

5 commercial assistance to facilitate trade between 

6 Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the United 

7 States, as envisioned in section 213A of the Carib8 bean Basin Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 

9 2703a), as added by the Haitian Hemispheric Op10 portunity Through Partnership Act of 2006 (title V 

11 of division D of Public Law 109–432; 120 Stat. 

12 3181) and amended by the Haitian Hemispheric Op13 portunity Through Partnership Act of 2008 (part I 

14 of subtitle D of title XV of Public Law 110–246; 

15 122 Stat. 2289); 

16 (2) to facilitate the preclearance of valid cargo 

17 destined for the United States from Haiti and pro18 mote the efficient and secure movement of articles 

19 entering the United States pursuant to such section 

20 213A; and 

21 (3) to provide technical assistance and training 

22 to the customs service of Haiti to improve produc23 tion validation and compliance and understanding of 

24 the customs procedures of the United States, such 

25 as the Electronic Visa Information System. 


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1 SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF THE CARIBBEAN BASIN ECONOMIC 

2 RECOVERY ACT. 

3 Section 213(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Re4 covery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)) is amended— 

5 (1) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

6 (A) in clause (iii)— 

7 (i) in subclause (II)(cc), by striking 

8 ‘‘2010’’ and inserting ‘‘2013’’; and 

9 (ii) in subclause (IV)(dd), by striking 

10 ‘‘2010’’ and inserting ‘‘2013’’; and 

11 (B) in clause (iv)(II), by striking ‘‘8’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘11’’; and 

13 (2) in paragraph (5)(D)(i), by striking ‘‘2010’’ 

14 and inserting ‘‘2013’’. 

15 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF VALUE-ADDED RULE OF ORIGIN FOR 

16 APPAREL AND OTHER TEXTILE ARTICLES IM17 PORTED FROM HAITI. 

18 Section 213A of the Caribbean Basin Economic Re19 covery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703a) is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 

21 (A) by amending subparagraph (A) to read 

22 as follows: 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘applicable 

24 1-year period’ means— 

25 ‘‘(i) the initial applicable 1-year pe26 riod; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the 1-year period beginning on 

2 the day after the last day of the initial ap3 plicable 1-year period; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) any 1-year period thereafter.’’; 

5 and 

6 (B) by striking subparagraphs (C) through 

7 (F); 

8 (2) in subsection (b)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (1)— 

10 (i) in subparagraph (B)— 

11 (I) in clause (iv)(II), by striking 

12 ‘‘each of the second, third, fourth, and 

13 fifth applicable 1-year periods’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘any applicable 1-year pe15 riod after the initial applicable 1-year 

16 period’’; and 

17 (II) in clause (v)(I)— 

18 (aa) in item (aa), by striking 

19 ‘‘, the second applicable 1-year 

20 period, and the third applicable 

21 1-year period’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘and each applicable 1-year pe23 riod thereafter through the appli24 cable 1-year period beginning on 

25 December 20, 2010’’; 


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1 (bb) in item (bb), by strik2 ing ‘‘the fourth applicable 1-year 

3 period’’ and inserting ‘‘the appli4 cable 1-year period beginning on 

5 December 20, 2011’’; and 

6 (cc) in item (cc), by striking 

7 ‘‘the fifth applicable 1-year pe8 riod’’ and inserting ‘‘each appli9 cable 1-year period beginning on 

10 or after December 20, 2012’’; 

11 and 

12 (ii) in subparagraph (C)— 

13 (I) by striking the table and in14 serting the following: 

‘‘During: the corresponding 

percentage is: 

the initial applicable 1-year period ....................... 1 percent. 

each applicable 1-year period after the initial applicable 1-year period ....................................... 1.25 percent.’’; and 

15 (II) in the flush text, by striking 

16 ‘‘the last day of the fifth applicable 1- 

17 year period’’ and inserting ‘‘December 

18 19, 2013’’; and 

19 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

20 (i) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by strik21 ing ‘‘9’’ and inserting ‘‘13’’; and 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by strik2 ing ‘‘9’’ and inserting ‘‘13’’; 

3 (3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘5-year pe4 riod’’ and inserting ‘‘7-year period’’; and 

5 (4) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘2018’’ and 

6 inserting ‘‘2022’’. 

7 SEC. 5. HAITI RECOVERY AND INVESTMENT TASK FORCE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established a task force, 

9 to be known as the ‘‘Haiti Recovery and Investment Task 

10 Force’’ (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Task Force’’), 

11 to— 

12 (1) facilitate— 

13 (A) foreign direct investment in Haiti and 

14 the provision of credit and finance for private15 sector investment in Haiti, including by reas16 sessing and addressing obstacles to affordable 

17 finance and credit for persons seeking to invest 

18 in Haiti; 

19 (B) the flow of remittances and investment 

20 to Haiti by the Haitian-American community in 

21 the United States and the Haitian Diaspora; 

22 and 

23 (C) the provision of grants by international 

24 donors and international financial institutions 

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1 national Financial Institutions Act (22 U.S.C. 

2 262r(c)(2)) to the Government of Haiti; and 

3 (2) work with the Government of Haiti to en4 sure that investment in Haiti described in paragraph 

5 (1) supports Haiti’s long-term development needs 

6 and complements strategies developed in Haiti’s Na7 tional Strategy for Growth and the Reduction of 

8 Poverty, as set forth in the International Monetary 

9 Fund Country Report Number 08/115. 

10 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force shall be com11 posed of the following officials or their designees: 

12 (1) The Secretary of the Treasury, who shall 

13 serve as the chairperson of the Task Force. 

14 (2) The United States Trade Representative. 

15 (3) The Secretary of Commerce. 

16 (4) The President of the Overseas Private In17 vestment Corporation. 

18 (5) The Chairman of the Export-Import Bank. 

19 (c) ADMINISTRATION.—The Task Force shall— 

20 (1) periodically convene public hearings; and 

21 (2) establish procedures for the operation of the 

22 Task Force that are transparent and encourage pub23 lic participation. 

24 (d) REPORTS.—Not later than 180 days after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 


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1 thereafter, the Task Force shall submit to Congress a re2 port containing— 

3 (1) an assessment of the progress made by the 

4 Task Force in facilitating investment in Haiti and 

5 enabling Haiti to attract foreign investment; 

6 (2) a description of obstacles to investment in 

7 Haiti identified by the Task Force; and 

8 (3) any recommendations of the Task Force for 

9 enacting or amending laws to facilitate investment in 

10 Haiti. 

11 (e) TERMINATION DATE.—The Task Force shall ter12 minate on the date that is 12 years after the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 6. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORT 

15 ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HOPE 

16 TRADE PREFERENCES. 

17 Not later than May 31, 2010, the Comptroller Gen18 eral of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

19 that— 

20 (1) assesses the effectiveness of the trade pref21 erences under section 213A of the Caribbean Basin 

22 Economic Recovery Act (19 U.S.C. 2703a), as added 

23 by the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through 

24 Partnership Act of 2006 (title V of division D of 

25 Public Law 109–432; 120 Stat. 3181) and amended 


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1 by the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through 

2 Partnership Act of 2008 (part I of subtitle D of title 

3 XV of Public Law 110–246; 122 Stat. 2289); and 

4 (2) makes recommendations for improving those 

5 trade preferences, particularly with respect to meas6 ures to facilitate the expansion of trade and in7 creased employment in Haiti following the January 

8 2010 earthquake. 

Æ 


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