II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 735 

To require that any trade agreement eligible for expedited consideration 

by Congress include requirements with respect to paying adequate wages 

and maintaining sustainable production methods, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 12, 2015 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To require that any trade agreement eligible for expedited 

consideration by Congress include requirements with respect to paying adequate wages and maintaining sustainable production methods, 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 ‘‘Level Playing Field 

5 in Trade Agreements Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INELIGIBILITY FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION 

2 BY CONGRESS OF CERTAIN TRADE AGREE3 MENTS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—No trade agreement with a coun5 try or implementing bill with respect to a trade agreement 

6 may receive expedited consideration by Congress under 

7 any provision of law, including any limitation on amend8 ments or debate in either the Senate or the House of Rep9 resentatives (other than under rule XXII of the Standing 

10 Rules of the Senate, as in effect on the date of the enact11 ment of this Act) unless the agreement— 

12 (1) includes binding and enforceable require13 ments that all producers of merchandise exported to 

14 the United States from that country pay adequate 

15 wages and maintain sustainable production methods; 

16 and 

17 (2) provides that, for purposes of merchandise 

18 from that country, the application of antidumping 

19 duty laws under subtitle B of title VII of the Tariff 

20 Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1673 et seq.) shall be modi21 fied as provided under subsection (b). 

22 (b) ADJUSTMENT OF NORMAL VALUE TO INCLUDE

23 THE COST OF PAYING ADEQUATE WAGES AND MAINTAIN24 ING SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION METHODS.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para26 graph (3), in determining the price of covered merVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:20 Mar 18, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S735.IS S735

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1 chandise under subsection (a)(1)(B) of section 773 

2 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677b) for 

3 purposes of determining the normal value of the cov4 ered merchandise under that section, the admin5 istering authority shall increase the price by the dif6 ference, if any, between— 

7 (A) the actual cost of producing the cov8 ered merchandise; and 

9 (B) the estimated cost of producing the 

10 covered merchandise if the producer paid its 

11 employees adequate wages and maintained sus12 tainable production methods. 

13 (2) DEMONSTRATION OF INJURY.—An inter14 ested party described in subparagraph (C), (D), (E), 

15 (F), or (G) of section 771(9) of the Tariff Act of 

16 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(9)) that files a petition under 

17 section 732(b)(1) of that Act (19 U.S.C. 

18 1673a(b)(1)) with respect to covered merchandise 

19 that relies on calculations of normal value made 

20 under this subsection shall be presumed to dem21 onstrate that the party is materially injured or 

22 threatened with material injury by reason of imports 

23 of the covered merchandise unless— 

24 (A) the country from which the covered 

25 merchandise is exported is covered by a 


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1 precertification issued under paragraph 

2 (3)(A)(ii); or 

3 (B) the estimated cost of producing the 

4 covered merchandise under paragraph (1)(B) is 

5 equal to or greater than the cost of producing 

6 the merchandise in the country in which the in7 terested party is located. 

8 (3) PRECERTIFICATION.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.— 

10 (i) EXPORTER- OR PRODUCER-SPE11 CIFIC PRECERTIFICATION.—If an exporter 

12 or producer of covered merchandise dem13 onstrates to the satisfaction of the admin14 istering authority that all such merchan15 dise, including significant components or 

16 ingredients of the covered merchandise, 

17 was or will be produced under conditions 

18 under which all employees receive adequate 

19 wages or sustainable production methods 

20 are maintained, the administering author21 ity shall issue to that exporter or producer, 

22 upon request, a precertification with re23 spect to wages, production methods, or 

24 both, that covers all covered merchandise 

25 by that exporter or producer. 


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1 (ii) COUNTRY PRECERTIFICATION.— 

2 The administering authority may issue a 

3 precertification for all covered merchandise 

4 imported from a country if the government 

5 of that country maintains and enforces 

6 laws requiring all producers of such mer7 chandise in that country to pay its employ8 ees adequate wages and to maintain sus9 tainable production methods. 

10 (B) SAFE HARBOR.— 

11 (i) IN GENERAL.—If the admin12 istering authority has issued a 

13 precertification under subparagraph (A), 

14 covered merchandise to which the 

15 precertification applies shall not be subject 

16 to an antidumping duty solely because a 

17 petition filed under section 732(b)(1) of 

18 the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 

19 1673a(b)(1)) with respect to the covered 

20 merchandise alleges that the covered mer21 chandise was not produced under condi22 tions under which all employees receive 

23 adequate wages and sustainable production 

24 methods are maintained. 


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1 (ii) CHALLENGING

2 PRECERTIFICATION.—An interested party 

3 described in subparagraph (C), (D), (E), 

4 (F), or (G) of section 771(9) of the Tariff 

5 Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(9)) that files 

6 a petition under section 732(b)(1) of that 

7 Act (19 U.S.C. 1673a(b)(1)) with respect 

8 to covered merchandise covered by a 

9 precertification issued under subparagraph 

10 (A) bears the burden of proving that the 

11 covered merchandise was not produced 

12 under conditions under which all employees 

13 receive adequate wages, sustainable pro14 duction methods are maintained, or both, 

15 depending on the scope of the 

16 precertification. 

17 (C) USE OF THIRD-PARTY STANDARDS.— 

18 (i) IN GENERAL.—The administering 

19 authority, the Secretary of Labor, and the 

20 Administrator of the Environmental Pro21 tection Agency may jointly establish proce22 dures pursuant to which obtaining certifi23 cation from an organization described in 

24 clause (ii) may demonstrate the eligibility 

25 of an exporter or producer for a 


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1 precertification under subparagraph (A)(i) 

2 or the eligibility of a country for a 

3 precertification under subparagraph 

4 (A)(ii). 

5 (ii) ORGANIZATION DESCRIBED.—An 

6 organization described in this clause is an 

7 independent third-party organization that 

8 sets standards with respect to adequate 

9 wages or sustainable production methods. 

10 (D) GUIDANCE ON COMPLIANCE.—Not 

11 later than one year after the date of the enact12 ment of this Act, the administering authority 

13 shall publish in the Federal Register guidance 

14 with respect to how persons producing covered 

15 merchandise for exportation to the United 

16 States or seeking to import covered merchan17 dise into the United States may obtain a 

18 precertification under subparagraph (A). 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) ADEQUATE WAGES.—The term ‘‘adequate 

21 wages’’— 

22 (A) means compensation for a regular 

23 work week that is sufficient to meet the basic 

24 needs of the employee and any dependents of 


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1 the employee, including providing reasonable 

2 discretionary income; and 

3 (B) includes, at a minimum— 

4 (i) the payment of the higher of the 

5 minimum wage or the appropriate pre6 vailing wage; 

7 (ii) compliance with all legal require8 ments relating to wages (including freedom 

9 of association relating to the bargaining re10 lating to wages and related matters); and 

11 (iii) the provision of such benefits as 

12 are required by law or contract. 

13 (2) ADMINISTERING AUTHORITY.—The term 

14 ‘‘administering authority’’ has the meaning given 

15 that term in section 771(1) of the Tariff Act of 

16 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(1)). 

17 (3) COVERED MERCHANDISE.—The term ‘‘cov18 ered merchandise’’ means merchandise imported into 

19 the United States from a country described in sub20 section (a). 

21 (4) SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION METHODS.— 

22 The term ‘‘sustainable production methods’’— 

23 (A) means the application of technologies 

24 and methods that are necessary to provide for 

25 workplace safety, toxic waste control, control of 


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1 discharge of pollutants to air, water, and land, 

2 and the reasonable conservation of energy and 

3 natural resources, taking into account local 

4 standards and conditions; and 

5 (B) includes, at a minimum, the use of 

6 technologies and methods that would be re7 quired for similar production facilities in the 

8 United States. 

Æ 


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