I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 909
To encourage liberty inside the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 13, 1995
Mr. DORNAN (for himself, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. WOLF, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr.
KING, Mr. PORTER, and Mr. CUNNINGHAM) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on International Relations
A BILL
To encourage liberty inside the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES.
(a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to create
principles governing the conduct of commercial coopera-
tion projects of United States nationals in the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam.
(b) PRINCIPLES.—It is the sense of the Congress that
any United States national conducting a commercial co-
operation project in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
should adhere to the following principles:
the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
concerns about restrictions on importation of foreign
publications.
(8) Undertake to promote a full accounting of
all Americans missing in action from the Vietnam
conflict.
(c) PROMOTION
OF PRINCIPLES
BY OTHER NA-
TIONS.—The Secretary of State shall forward a copy of
the principles described in subsection (b) to the member
nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development and encourage them to promote principles
similar to these principles.
SEC. 2. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Each United States national con-
ducting a commercial cooperation project in the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam shall register with the Secretary of
State and indicate whether the United States national
agrees to implement the principles described in section
1(b). No fee shall be required for registration under this
subsection.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The registration require-
ment of subsection (a) shall take effect 6 months after
the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.
(a) REPORT.—Each United States national conduct-
ing a commercial cooperation project in the Socialist Re-
public of Vietnam shall report to the Department of State
describing the United States national’s adherence to the
principles described in section 1(b). Such national shall
submit a completed reporting form furnished by the De-
partment of State. The first report shall be submitted not
later than 1 year after the date on which the national reg-
isters under section 2 and not later than the end of each
1-year period occurring thereafter.
(b) REVIEW OF REPORT.—The Secretary of State
shall review each report submitted under subsection (a)
and determine whether the United States national submit-
ting the report is adhering to the principles described in
section 1(b). The Secretary may request additional infor-
mation from the United States national and other sources
to verify the information submitted.
(c) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary of State shall
submit a report to the Congress and to the Secretariat
of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devel-
opment, describing the level of adherence to the principles
described in section 1(b) by United States nationals sub-
ject to the reporting requirement of subsection (a). This
report shall be submitted not later than 2 years after the
date of the enactment of this Act and not later than the
end of each 1-year period occurring thereafter.
SEC. 4. EXPORT MARKETING SUPPORT.
(a) SUPPORT.—Departments and agencies of the
United States may only intercede with a foreign govern-
ment or foreign national regarding export marketing activ-
ity in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on behalf of a
United States national subject to the reporting require-
ments of section 3(a) if that United States national ad-
heres to the principles.
(b) TYPE OF CONTACT.—The term ‘‘intercede with
a foreign government or foreign national’’ includes any
contact by an officer or employee of the United States with
officials of any foreign government or foreign national in-
volving or contemplating any effort to assist in selling a
good, service, or technology in the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam. Such term does not include multilateral or bilat-
eral government-to-government trade negotiations in-
tended to resolve trade issues which may affect United
States nationals who do not adhere to the principles.
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall take
effect 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the terms ‘‘adhere to the principles’’, ‘‘ad-
hering to the principles’’ and ‘‘adherence to the prin-
ciples’’ mean—
(A) agreeing to implement the principles
described in section 1(b);
(B) implementing those principles by tak-
ing good faith measures with respect to each
such principle; and
(C) reporting accurately to the Department
of State on the measures taken to implement
those principles;
(2) the term ‘‘commercial cooperation project’’
refers to a for-profit activity the business operations
of which employ more than 25 individuals or have
assets greater than $25,000; and
(3) the term ‘‘United States national’’ means—
(A) a citizen or national of the United
States or a permanent resident of the United
States; and
(B) a corporation, partnership, and other
business association organized under the laws
of the United States, any State or territory
thereof, the District of Columbia, the Common-
wealth of Puerto Rico, or the Commonwealth of
the Northern Mariana Islands.
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