I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4392 
To direct the President to withdraw the application of the duty-free treatment 
with respect to Burma under the Generalized System of Preferences 
program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 
Mr. SHERMAN (for himself and Mrs. WAGNER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To direct the President to withdraw the application of the 
duty-free treatment with respect to Burma under the 
Generalized System of Preferences program, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allowing for the Safe 
Return of Rohingyas to Burma Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Since August 2017, the Burmese military, 
the Tatmadaw, has engaged in a brutal crackdown 
on the Rohingya population in the northern Rakhine 
state of Burma (formerly Myanmar). 
(2) Before the 2017 crisis, an estimated 
1,000,000 Rohingya people lived in the Rakhine 
state. 
(3) As a result of the brutal crackdown of 
2017, 740,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh 
and another 127,000 Rohingya fled to camps for in-
ternally displaced persons (IDPs) in the central 
Rakhine state. 
(4) Bangladesh was already enduring a humani-
tarian crisis as a result of approximately 287,000 
Rohingya refugees fleeing Burma during earlier 
crackdowns by the Burmese military in 2012 and 
2016. 
(5) In March 2019, the United Nations Office 
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs esti-
mated there were 909,000 registered Rohingya in 
Bangladeshi refugee camps. 
(6) On March 5, 2019, the United States Agen-
cy for International Development reported that the 
United 
States 
has 
contributed 
more 
than 
$494,000,000 to Bangladesh since August 2017 in 
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order to help Bangladesh cope with the influx of 
Rohingya refugees. 
(7) The U.S. Secretary of State has called the 
Burmese security forces attacks on the Rohingya an 
‘‘ethnic cleansing’’ but has yet to recognize them as 
a crime against humanity or genocide. 
(8) On December 13, 2018, the United States 
House of Representatives passed House Resolution 
1091, which expressed the sense of the House that 
‘‘the atrocities committed against the Rohingya by 
the Burmese military and security forces since Au-
gust 2017 constitute crimes against humanity and 
genocide’’ and called upon the Secretary of State to 
review the available evidence and make a similar de-
termination. 
(9) The United Nations Human Rights Coun-
cil’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission 
on Myanmar (the Mission) concluded in August 
2018 and August 2019 reports that ‘‘there is suffi-
cient information to warrant the investigation and 
prosecution’’ of Tatmadaw officials to determine 
their ‘‘liability for genocide’’ and also found that a 
‘‘pervasive culture of impunity at the domestic 
level,’’ which led the Mission to conclude that ‘‘the 
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impetus for accountability must come from the inter-
national community’’. 
(10) The ability of Rohingyas to leave Ban-
gladesh to return home is impeded by many factors, 
not least of which: the lack of Burmese citizenship 
for the Rohingya minority, that the homes of the 
Rohingya were largely destroyed in the 2017 vio-
lence, and that Rohingya still fear the ongoing vio-
lence due to the civil war and military officers who 
act with impunity against the local civilian popu-
lation. 
(11) In 2016, after a 27-year suspension pe-
riod, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) 
program for Burma was re-instated, and Burma was 
designated as a least-developed beneficiary devel-
oping country under the program. 
(12) Just one year after having the GSP pro-
gram reinstated, Burma’s GSP-eligible exports to 
the United States were valued at $93,900,000, the 
second highest value for least-developed beneficiary 
developing countries after Cambodia. 
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SEC. 3. WITHDRAWAL OF DESIGNATION OF BURMA UNDER 
THE 
GENERALIZED 
SYSTEM 
OF 
PREF-
ERENCES PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall with-
draw the application of the duty-free treatment under title 
V of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) with 
respect to Burma. 
(b) CERTIFICATION.—The President may reinstate 
the application of duty-free treatment under title V of the 
Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.) with respect 
to Burma after the date on which the authority of sub-
section (a) is exercised only if the President submits to 
the appropriate congressional committees a certification 
that contains a determination of the President that the 
Government of Burma— 
(1) allows for the safe, voluntary, and dignified 
return of Rohingya refugees; 
(2) has taken the necessary steps to provide 
Burmese citizenship to such Rohingya refugees; and 
(3) has addressed the root causes of the crisis 
in Rakhine State. 
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
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