I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2707 

To establish trade negotiating objectives of the United States with respect 

to the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures to agricultural 

products to facilitate trade in agriculture, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2011 

Mr. NUNES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To establish trade negotiating objectives of the United States 

with respect to the application of sanitary and 

phytosanitary measures to agricultural products to facilitate trade in agriculture, 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 ‘‘Agricultural Trade Fa5 cilitation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Pursuant to article I, section 8, clause 3 of 

2 the Constitution of the United States, Congress has 

3 the authority to establish negotiating objectives for 

4 the United States for agreements related to agricul5 tural trade. 

6 (2) From 2008 to 2010, the value of United 

7 States agricultural exports averaged nearly $107 bil8 lion annually. Compared to 1998 to 2000, when the 

9 total value of agricultural exports averaged 

10 $51,000,000,000 annually, United States agricul11 tural exports have more than doubled in past ten 

12 years. 

13 (3) The Department of Agriculture’s Economic 

14 Research Service reports that each $1,000,000,000 

15 in United States agricultural exports supports ap16 proximately 8,400 jobs. The Economic Research 

17 Service further reports that United States agricul18 tural exports supported nearly 830,000 full-time 

19 American jobs both on and off-farm in 2009. 

20 (4) Even as the importance of agricultural ex21 ports to the United States economy grows, there are 

22 continued reports that non science-based sanitary 

23 and phytosanitary measures are restricting trade, 

24 acting as non-tariff barriers to trade. The elimi25 nation and reduction of unwarranted sanitary and 


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1 phytosanitary barriers to trade will increase United 

2 States agricultural exports and jobs. 

3 (5) Sanitary and phytosanitary measures are 

4 those designed ‘‘to protect human, animal or plant 

5 life or health from risks’’ arising from additives, 

6 contaminants, pests, toxins, diseases, or disease-car7 rying and causing organisms in foods, beverages, 

8 feedstuffs, animals, or plants. Sanitary and 

9 phytosanitary measures can take such forms as spe10 cific product or processing standards, requirements 

11 for products to be produced in disease-free areas, 

12 quarantine regulations, certification or inspection 

13 procedures, sampling and testing requirements, 

14 health-related labeling measures, maximum permis15 sible pesticide residue levels, and prohibitions on cer16 tain food additives. 

17 (6) There are currently 37 active disputes in18 volving sanitary and phytosanitary measures being 

19 argued within the World Trade Organization (WTO) 

20 between Member countries. These cases have been 

21 invoked under the WTO Agreement on the Applica22 tion of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. 

23 (7) While the Agreement on the Application of 

24 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, to which all 

25 WTO Member countries are parties, explicitly recogVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:22 Jul 30, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2707.IH H2707

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1 nizes the rights of each country to take their own 

2 measures, they must be science-based and applied 

3 only to the extent necessary to protect human, ani4 mal or plant health, and cannot be arbitrary or used 

5 to unjustifiably discriminate domestically or between 

6 trading partners. Member countries are also encour7 aged to observe established and recognized inter8 national standards. Improper use of measures can 

9 create substantial, if not complete, barriers to 

10 United States exports when they are disguised bar11 riers to trade, are not supported by science, or are 

12 otherwise unwarranted. 

13 (8) In 2010, a United States interagency group 

14 led by the Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Ag15 ricultural Service, reviewed more than 1,000 notifi16 cations from 50 countries as required under the 

17 Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 

18 Phytosanitary Measures. The United States Govern19 ment commented on 173 proposed or in-force sani20 tary and phytosanitary measures. Nearly one-half of 

21 the comments were measures regarding processed 

22 products, one-third addressed requirements for live 

23 animals and fish (and their products, including dairy 

24 products); and almost one-quarter were for measures 

25 that introduced new standards or entry requirements 


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1 for plants, bulk commodities (including those made 

2 with biotechnology), and horticultural products. 

3 (9) Each year, the United States Trade Rep4 resentative reports that non science-based sanitary 

5 and phytosanitary trade barriers continue to threat6 en, constrain, or block United States agricultural ex7 ports. 

8 (10) A Department of Agriculture study of the 

9 impact of foreign technical trade barriers on United 

10 States agricultural exports reported the presence of 

11 ‘‘questionable technical barriers’’ in more than 60 

12 countries affecting trade in more than 300 agricul13 tural products, valued at an estimated $5 billion of 

14 United States agricultural, forestry, and fishery ex15 ports using 1996 data, accounting for about 7 per16 cent of total agricultural exports during that year. 

17 Although more recent formal estimates of United 

18 States agricultural trade effects are not available, 

19 the United States Trade Representative continues to 

20 assert: ‘‘[Sanitary and phytosanitary] trade barriers 

21 prevent U.S. producers from shipping hundreds of 

22 millions of dollars worth of goods, hurting farms and 

23 small businesses’’. 

24 (11) The improper use of sanitary and 

25 phytosanitary trade barriers to trade can be reduced 


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1 through achieving and implementing agreements 

2 that provide for enhanced harmonization, trans3 parency, equivalency, improved regulatory practices, 

4 and more efficient and effective dispute settlement. 

5 The elimination and reduction in use of such bar6 riers to trade will strengthen the international trad7 ing system by providing certainty, predictability, and 

8 fair treatment. 

9 (12) The Agreement on the Application of Sani10 tary and Phytosanitary Measures has proven valu11 able to United States exporters, but experience has 

12 exposed certain inadequacies in its rules. 

13 (13) Accordingly, as the United States prepares 

14 for future trade agreements, the Administration 

15 must prioritize further strengthening of rules on 

16 sanitary and phytosanitary measures. 

17 SEC. 3. TRADE NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES OF THE UNITED 

18 STATES WITH RESPECT TO THE APPLICATION 

19 OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEAS20 URES TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 

21 (a) OVERALL TRADE NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES.— 

22 The overall trade negotiating objective of the United 

23 States with respect to the application of sanitary and 

24 phytosanitary measures to agricultural products for trade 

25 agreements between the United States and foreign counVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:22 Jul 30, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2707.IH H2707

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1 tries is to secure more open, equitable, and reciprocal mar2 ket access by strengthening the rules governing the appli3 cation of sanitary and phytosanitary measures to agricul4 tural products. 

5 (b) PRINCIPAL TRADE NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES.— 

6 The principal trade negotiating objectives of the United 

7 States with respect to the application of sanitary and 

8 phytosanitary measures to agricultural products are the 

9 following: 

10 (1) To strengthen the requirement that the ap11 plication of measures is based on scientific evidence 

12 by requiring parties to the agreement to make avail13 able their risk assessments and provide a science14 based justification for regulations, in particular in 

15 cases in which measures are more restrictive than 

16 international standards. 

17 (2) To encourage parties to the agreement to 

18 participate actively in the development of inter19 national standards relating to the application of 

20 measures and to apply those standards whenever it 

21 is appropriate to do so and to require parties to pro22 vide a scientific justification whenever they apply a 

23 standard that deviates from an established inter24 national standard. 


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1 (3) To improve regulatory coherence and in2 crease the use of systems-based approaches, to re3 quire parties to the agreement to evaluate on a time4 ly basis the health and safety protection systems of 

5 other parties and to allow imports of products if the 

6 system of the exporting party meets or exceeds the 

7 end-product standards of the importing party. 

8 (4) To require greater transparency in the de9 velopment and implementation of the measures, to 

10 require parties to the agreement to publish proposed 

11 measures, including a scientific justification, to pro12 vide an opportunity for interested parties to com13 ment on the proposal, and to take into account rea14 sonable concerns, and to require parties to provide 

15 significant advance notice before implementing new, 

16 non-emergency measures in order to provide ample 

17 time for any necessary adjustments by industry in 

18 order to come into compliance. 

19 (5) To require parties to the agreement to carry 

20 out risk analysis in a timely manner consistent with 

21 the guidelines developed by relevant international or22 ganizations, to ensure that risk assessments are 

23 based on the most relevant scientific data, to require 

24 parties to consider the full range of risk manage25 ment options and to ensure that the measures are 


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1 no more trade-restrictive than necessary to meet the 

2 intended purpose, and to require effective risk com3 munication. 

4 (6) To improve rules governing the testing of 

5 imported products, to require importing parties to 

6 use validated test methods and to provide importers 

7 with the right to a confirmatory test, and to provide 

8 the right of appeal. 

9 (7) To promote the harmonization of export 

10 certification requirements and to require that parties 

11 to the agreement limit information requirements on 

12 export documents to that which is necessary to de13 termine whether a product meets sanitary and 

14 phytosanitary standards. 

15 (8) To ensure that new sanitary and 

16 phytosanitary trade obligations are fully enforceable 

17 through an a more efficient and effective dispute 

18 settlement process. 

19 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

21 (b), this Act takes effect on the date of the enactment 

22 of this Act and applies with respect to negotiations entered 

23 into before, on, or after such date of enactment for any 

24 trade agreement relating to the application of sanitary and 

25 phytosanitary measures to agricultural products. 


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1 (b) EXCEPTION.—This Act does not apply with re2 spect to negotiations for any of the following: 

3 (1) The United States–Colombia Trade Pro4 motion Agreement. 

5 (2) The United States–Korea Free Trade 

6 Agreement. 

7 (3) The United States–Panama Trade Pro8 motion Agreement. 

9 (4) The Doha Development Round of the World 

10 Trade Organization. 

Æ 


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