of China are being imported into the United States in such
increased quantities or under such conditions as to cause
or threaten to cause market disruption to the domestic pro-
ducers of like or directly competitive products.
‘‘(2) The limitations on investigations set forth in sec-
tion 202(h)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2252(h)(1)) shall apply to investigations conducted under
this section.
‘‘(3) The provisions of subsections (a)(8) and (i) of sec-
tion 202 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(a)(8)
and (i)), relating to treatment of confidential business in-
formation, shall apply to investigations conducted under
this section.
‘‘(4) Whenever a petition is filed, or a request or reso-
lution is received, under this subsection, the Commission
shall transmit a copy thereof to the President, the Trade
Representative, the Committee on Ways and Means of the
House of Representatives, and the Committee of Finance
of the Senate, except that in the case of confidential business
information, the copy may include only nonconfidential
summaries of such information.
‘‘(5) The Commission shall publish notice of the com-
mencement of any proceeding under this subsection in the
Federal Register and shall, within a reasonable time there-
after, hold public hearings at which the Commission shall
afford interested parties an opportunity to be present, to
present evidence, to respond to the presentations of other
parties, and otherwise to be heard.
‘‘(c) MARKET DISRUPTION.—(1) For purposes of this
section, market disruption exists whenever imports of an
article like or directly competitive with an article produced
by a domestic industry are increasing rapidly, either abso-
lutely or relatively, so as to be a significant cause of mate-
rial injury, or threat of material injury, to the domestic
industry.
‘‘(2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘signifi-
cant cause’ refers to a cause which contributes significantly
to the material injury of the domestic industry, but need
not be equal to or greater than any other cause.
‘‘(d) FACTORS IN DETERMINATION.—In determining
whether market disruption exists, the Commission shall con-
sider objective factors, including—
‘‘(1) the volume of imports of the product which
is the subject of the investigation;
‘‘(2) the effect of imports of such product on
prices in the United States for like or directly com-
petitive articles; and
‘‘(3) the effect of imports of such product on the
domestic industry producing like or directly competi-
tive articles.
The presence or absence of any factor under paragraph (1),
(2), or (3) is not necessarily dispositive of whether market
disruption exists.
‘‘(e) TIME FOR COMMISSION DETERMINATIONS.—The
Commission shall make and transmit to the President and
the Trade Representative its determination under sub-
section (b)(1) at the earliest practicable time, but in no case
later than 60 days (or 90 days in the case of a petition
requesting relief under subsection (i)) after the date on
which the petition is filed, the request or resolution is re-
ceived, or the motion is adopted, under subsection (b). If
the Commissioners voting are equally divided with respect
to its determination, then the determination agreed upon
by either group of Commissioners may be considered by the
President and the Trade Representative as the determina-
tion of the Commission.
‘‘(f) RECOMMENDATIONS
OF COMMISSION
ON PRO-
POSED REMEDIES.—If the Commission makes an affirma-
tive determination under subsection (b), or a determination
which the President or the Trade Representative may con-
sider as affirmative under subsection (e), the Commission
shall propose the amount of increase in, or imposition of,
any duty or other import restrictions necessary to prevent
or remedy the market disruption. Only those members of
the Commission who agreed to the affirmative determina-
tion under subsection (b) are eligible to vote on the proposed
action to prevent or remedy market disruption. Members
of the Commission who did not agree to the affirmative de-
termination may submit, in the report required under sub-
section (g), separate views regarding what action, if any,
should be taken to prevent or remedy market disruption.
‘‘(g) REPORT BY COMMISSION.—(1) Not later than 20
days after a determination under subsection (b) is made,
the Commission shall submit a report to the President and
the Trade Representative.
‘‘(2) The Commission shall include in the report re-
quired under paragraph (1) the following:
‘‘(A) The determination made under subsection
(b) and an explanation of the basis for the determina-
tion.
‘‘(B) If the determination under subsection (b) is
affirmative, or may be considered by the President or
the Trade Representative as affirmative under sub-
section (e), the recommendations of the Commission
on proposed remedies under subsection (f) and an ex-
planation of the basis for each recommendation.
‘‘(C) Any dissenting or separate views by mem-
bers of the Commission regarding the determination
and any recommendation referred to in subpara-
graphs (A) and (B).
‘‘(D) A description of—
‘‘(i) the short- and long-term effects that im-
plementation of the action recommended under
subsection (f) is likely to have on the petitioning
domestic industry, on other domestic industries,
and on consumers; and
‘‘(ii) the short- and long-term effects of not
taking the recommended action on the peti-
tioning domestic industry, its workers, and the
communities where production facilities of such
industry are located, and on other domestic in-
dustries.
‘‘(3) The Commission, after submitting a report to the
President under paragraph (1), shall promptly make it
available to the public (but shall not include confidential
business information) and cause a summary thereof to be
published in the Federal Register.
‘‘(h) OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT VIEWS
AND EVI-
DENCE ON PROPOSED MEASURE AND RECOMMENDATION TO
THE PRESIDENT.—(1) Within 20 days after receipt of the
Commission’s report under subsection (g) (or 15 days in
the case of an affirmative preliminary determination under
subsection (i)(1)(B)), the Trade Representative shall publish
in the Federal Register notice of any measure proposed by
the Trade Representative to be taken pursuant to subsection
(a) and of the opportunity, including a public hearing, if
requested, for importers, exporters, and other interested par-
ties to submit their views and evidence on the appropriate-
ness of the proposed measure and whether it would be in
the public interest.
‘‘(2) Within 55 days after receipt of the report under
subsection (g) (or 35 days in the case of an affirmative pre-
liminary determination under subsection (i)(1)(B)), the
Trade Representative, taking into account the views and
evidence received under paragraph (1) on the measure pro-
posed by the Trade Representative, shall make a rec-
ommendation to the President concerning what action, if
any, to take to prevent or remedy the market disruption.
‘‘(i) CRITICAL CIRCUMSTANCES.—(1) When a petition
filed under subsection (b) alleges that critical circumstances
exist and requests that provisional relief be provided under
this subsection with respect to the product identified in the
petition, the Commission shall, not later than 45 days after
the petition containing the request is filed—
‘‘(A) determine whether delay in taking action
under this section would cause damage to the relevant
domestic industry which would be difficult to repair;
and
‘‘(B) if the determination under subparagraph
(A) is affirmative, make a preliminary determination
of whether imports of the product which is the subject
of the investigation have caused or threatened to cause
market disruption.
If the Commissioners voting are equally divided with re-
spect to either of its determinations, then the determination
agreed upon by either group of Commissioners may be con-
sidered by the President and the Trade Representative as
the determination of the Commission.
‘‘(2) On the date on which the Commission completes
its determinations under paragraph (1), the Commission
shall transmit a report on the determinations to the Presi-
dent and the Trade Representative, including the reasons
for its determinations. If the determinations under para-
graph (1) are affirmative, or may be considered by the
President or the Trade Representative as affirmative under
paragraph (1), the Commission shall include in its report
its recommendations on proposed provisional measures to
be taken to prevent or remedy the market disruption. Only
those members of the Commission who agreed to the affirm-
ative determinations under paragraph (1) are eligible to
vote on the proposed provisional measures to prevent or
remedy market disruption. Members of the Commission who
did not agree to the affirmative determinations may sub-
mit, in the report, dissenting or separate views regarding
‘‘(D) Provisional relief shall cease to apply upon the
effective date of relief proclaimed under subsection (a), upon
a decision by the President not to provide such relief, or
upon a negative determination by the Commission under
subsection (b).
‘‘(j) AGREEMENTS WITH THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF
CHINA.—(1) The Trade Representative is authorized to
enter into agreements for the People’s Republic of China
to take such action as necessary to prevent or remedy mar-
ket disruption, and should seek to conclude such agreements
before the expiration of the 60-day consultation period pro-
vided for under the product-specific safeguard provision of
the Protocol of Accession of the People’s Republic of China
to the WTO, which shall commence not later than 5 days
after the Trade Representative receives an affirmative deter-
mination provided for in subsection (e) or a determination
which the Trade Representative considers to be an affirma-
tive determination pursuant to subsection (e).
‘‘(2) If no agreement is reached with the People’s Re-
public of China pursuant to consultations under paragraph
(1), or if the President determines than an agreement
reached pursuant to such consultations is not preventing
or remedying the market disruption at issue, the President
shall provide import relief in accordance with subsection
(a).
‘‘(k) STANDARD
FOR PRESIDENTIAL ACTION.—(1)
Within 15 days after receipt of a recommendation from the
Trade Representative under subsection (h) on the appro-
priate action, if any, to take to prevent or remedy the mar-
ket disruption, the President shall provide import relief for
such industry pursuant to subsection (a), unless the Presi-
dent determines that provision of such relief is not in the
national economic interest of the United States or, in ex-
traordinary cases, that the taking of action pursuant to sub-
section (a) would cause serious harm to the national secu-
rity of the United States.
‘‘(2) The President may determine under paragraph
(1) that providing import relief is not in the national eco-
nomic interest of the United States only if the President
finds that the taking of such action would have an adverse
impact on the United States economy clearly greater than
the benefits of such action.
‘‘(l) PUBLICATION OF DECISION AND REPORTS.—(1)
The President’s decision, including the reasons therefor and
the scope and duration of any action taken, shall be pub-
lished in the Federal Register.
‘‘(2) The Commission shall promptly make public any
report transmitted under this section, but shall not make
public any information which the Commission determines
to be confidential, and shall publish notice of such report
in the Federal Register.
‘‘(m) EFFECTIVE DATE OF RELIEF.—Import relief
under this section shall take effect not later than 15 days
after the President’s determination to provide such relief.
‘‘(n) MODIFICATIONS OF RELIEF.—(1) At any time
after the end of the 6-month period beginning on the date
on which relief under subsection (m) first takes effect, the
President may request that the Commission provide a re-
port on the probable effect of the modification, reduction,
or termination of the relief provided on the relevant indus-
try. The Commission shall transmit such report to the
President within 60 days of the request.
‘‘(2) The President may, after receiving a report from
the Commission under paragraph (1), take such action to
modify, reduce, or terminate relief that the President deter-
mines is necessary to continue to prevent or remedy the
market disruption at issue.
‘‘(3) Upon the granting of relief under subsection (k),
the Commission shall collect such data as is necessary to
allow it to respond rapidly to a request by the President
under paragraph (1).
‘‘(o) EXTENSION OF ACTION.—(1) Upon request of the
President, or upon petition on behalf of the industry con-
cerned filed with the Commission not earlier than the date
which is 9 months, and not later than the date which is
6 months, before the date any relief provided under sub-
section (k) is to terminate, the Commission shall investigate
to determine whether action under this section continues to
be necessary to prevent or remedy market disruption.
‘‘(2) The Commission shall publish notice of the com-
mencement of any proceeding under this subsection in the
Federal Register and shall, within a reasonable time there-
after, hold a public hearing at which the Commission shall
afford interested parties and consumers an opportunity to
be present, to present evidence, and to respond to the presen-
tations of other parties and consumers, and otherwise to
be heard.
‘‘(3) The Commission shall transmit to the President
a report on its investigation and determination under this
subsection not later than 60 days before the action under
subsection (m) is to terminate.
‘‘(4) The President, after receiving an affirmative de-
termination from the Commission under paragraph (3),
may extend the effective period of any action under this
section if the President determines that the action continues
to be necessary to prevent or remedy the market disruption.
‘‘SEC. 422. ACTION IN RESPONSE TO TRADE DIVERSION.
‘‘(a) MONITORING
BY CUSTOMS SERVICE.—In any
case in which a WTO member other than the United States
requests consultations with the People’s Republic of China
under the product-specific safeguard provision of the Pro-
tocol of Accession of the People’s Republic of China to the
World Trade Organization, the Trade Representative shall
inform the United States Customs Service, which shall mon-
itor imports into the United States of those products of Chi-
nese origin that are the subject of the consultation request.
Data from such monitoring shall promptly be made avail-
able to the Commission upon request by the Commission.
‘‘(b) INITIATION OF INVESTIGATION.—(1) Upon the fil-
ing of a petition by an entity described in section 202(a)
of the Trade Act of 1974, upon the request of the President
or the Trade Representative, upon resolution of either of
the Committees, or on its own motion, the Commission shall
promptly make an investigation to determine whether an
action described in subsection (c) has caused, or threatens
to cause, a significant diversion of trade into the domestic
market of the United States.
‘‘(2) The Commission shall publish notice of the com-
mencement of any proceeding under this subsection in the
Federal Register and shall, within a reasonable time there-
after, hold public hearings at which the Commission shall
afford interested parties an opportunity to be present, to
present evidence, to respond to the presentations of other
parties, and otherwise to be heard.
‘‘(3) The provisions of subsections (a)(8) and (i) of sec-
tion 202 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(a)(8)
and (i)), relating to treatment of confidential business in-
formation, shall apply to investigations conducted under
this section.
‘‘(c) ACTIONS DESCRIBED.—An action is described in
this subsection if it is an action—
‘‘(1) by the People’s Republic of China to prevent
or remedy market disruption in a WTO member other
than the United States;
‘‘(2) by a WTO member other than the United
States to withdraw concessions under the WTO Agree-
ment or otherwise to limit imports to prevent or rem-
edy market disruption;
‘‘(3) by a WTO member other than the United
States to apply a provisional safeguard within the
meaning of the product-specific safeguard provision of
the Protocol of Accession of the People’s Republic of
China to the WTO; or
‘‘(4) any combination of actions described in
paragraphs (1) through (3).
‘‘(d) BASIS FOR DETERMINATION OF SIGNIFICANT DI-
VERSION.—(1) In determining whether significant diver-
sion or the threat thereof exists for purposes of this section,
the Commission shall take into account, to the extent such
evidence is reasonably available—
‘‘(A) the monitoring conducted under subsection
(a);
‘‘(B) the actual or imminent increase in United
States market share held by such imports from the
People’s Republic of China;
‘‘(C) the actual or imminent increase in volume
of such imports into the United States;
‘‘(D) the nature and extent of the action taken
or proposed by the WTO member concerned;
‘‘(E) the extent of exports from the People’s Re-
public of China to that WTO member and to the
United States;
‘‘(F) the actual or imminent changes in exports
to that WTO member due to the action taken or pro-
posed;
‘‘(G) the actual or imminent diversion of exports
from the People’s Republic of China to countries other
than the United States;
‘‘(H) cyclical or seasonal trends in import vol-
umes into the United States of the products at issue;
and
‘‘(I) conditions of demand and supply in the
United States market for the products at issue.
The presence or absence of any factor under any of subpara-
graphs (A) through (I) is not necessarily dispositive of
whether a significant diversion of trade or the threat thereof
exists.
‘‘(2) For purposes of making its determination, the
Commission shall examine changes in imports into the
United States from the People’s Republic of China since the
time that the WTO member commenced the investigation
that led to a request for consultations described in sub-
section (a).
‘‘(3) If more than 1 action by a WTO member or WTO
members against a particular product is identified in the
petition, request, or resolution under subsection (b) or dur-
ing the investigation, the Commission may cumulatively as-
sess the actual or likely effects of such actions jointly in
determining whether a significant diversion of trade or
threat thereof exists.
‘‘(e) COMMISSION DETERMINATION; AGREEMENT AU-
THORITY.—(1) The Commission shall make and transmit
to the President and the Trade Representative its deter-
mination under subsection (b) at the earliest practicable
time, but in no case later than 45 days after the date on
which the petition is filed, the request or resolution is re-
ceived, or the motion is adopted, under subsection (b). If
the Commissioners voting are equally divided with respect
to its determination, then the determination agreed upon
by either group of Commissioners may be considered by the
President and the Trade Representative as the determina-
tion of the Commission.
‘‘(2) The Trade Representative is authorized to enter
into agreements with the People’s Republic of China or the
other WTO members concerned to take such action as nec-
essary to prevent or remedy significant trade diversion or
threat thereof into the domestic market of the United States,
and should seek to conclude such agreements before the expi-
ration of the 60-day consultation period provided for under
the product-specific safeguard provision of the Protocol of
Accession of the People’s Republic of China to the WTO,
which shall commence not later than 5 days after the Trade
Representative receives an affirmative determination pro-
vided for in paragraph (1) or a determination which the
Trade Representative considers to be an affirmative deter-
mination pursuant to paragraph (1).
‘‘(3) REPORT BY COMMISSION.—
‘‘(A) Not later than 10 days after a determina-
tion under subsection (b) is made, the Commission
shall transmit a report to the President and the
Trade Representative.
‘‘(B) The Commission shall include in the report
required under subparagraph (A) the following:
‘‘(i) The determination made under sub-
section (b) and an explanation of the basis for
the determination.
‘‘(ii) If the determination under subsection
(b) is affirmative, or may be considered by the
President or the Trade Representative as affirm-
ative under subsection (e)(1), the recommenda-
tions of the Commission on increased tariffs or
other import restrictions to be imposed to pre-
vent or remedy the trade diversion or threat
thereof, and explanations of the bases for such
recommendations. Only those members of the
Commission who agreed to the affirmative deter-
mination under subsection (b) are eligible to vote
on the proposed action to prevent or remedy the
trade diversion or threat thereof.
‘‘(iii) Any dissenting or separate views by
members of the Commission regarding the deter-
mination and any recommendation referred to
in clauses (i) and (ii).
‘‘(iv) A description of—
‘‘(I) the short- and long-term effects
that implementation of the action rec-
ommended under clause (ii) is likely to have
on the petitioning domestic industry, on
other domestic industries, and on con-
sumers; and
‘‘(II) the short- and long-term effects of
not taking the recommended action on the
petitioning domestic industry, its workers
and the communities where production fa-
cilities of such industry are located, and on
other domestic industries.
‘‘(C) The Commission, after submitting a report
to the President under subparagraph (A), shall
promptly make it available to the public (with the ex-
ception of confidential business information) and
cause a summary thereof to be published in the Fed-
eral Register.
‘‘(f) PUBLIC COMMENT.—If consultations fail to lead
to an agreement with the People’s Republic of China or the
WTO member concerned within 60 days, the Trade Rep-
resentative shall promptly publish notice in the Federal
Register of any proposed action to prevent or remedy the
trade diversion, and provide an opportunity for interested
persons to present views and evidence on whether the pro-
posed action is in the public interest.
‘‘(g) RECOMMENDATION TO THE PRESIDENT.—Within
20 days after the end of consultations pursuant to sub-
section (e), the Trade Representative shall make a rec-
ommendation to the President on what action, if any,
should be taken to prevent or remedy the trade diversion
or threat thereof.
‘‘(h) PRESIDENTIAL ACTION.—Within 20 days after
receipt of the recommendation from the Trade Representa-
tive, the President shall determine what action to take to
prevent or remedy the trade diversion or threat thereof.
‘‘(i) DURATION OF ACTION.—Action taken under sub-
section (h) shall be terminated not later than 30 days after
expiration of the action taken by the WTO member or mem-
bers involved against imports from the People’s Republic
of China.
‘‘(j) REVIEW OF CIRCUMSTANCES.—(1) The Commis-
sion shall review the continued need for action taken under
subsection (h) if the WTO member or members involved no-
tify the Committee on Safeguards of the WTO of any modi-
fication in the action taken by them against the People’s
Republic of China pursuant to consultation referred to in
subsection (a). The Commission shall, not later than 60
days after such notification, determine whether a signifi-
cant diversion of trade continues to exist and report its de-
termination to the President. The President shall determine,
within 15 days after receiving the Commission’s report,
whether to modify, withdraw, or keep in place the action
taken under subsection (h).
‘‘SEC. 423. REGULATIONS; TERMINATION OF PROVISION.
‘‘(a) TO CARRY OUT RESTRICTIONS
AND MONI-
TORING.—The President shall by regulation provide for the
efficient and fair administration of any restriction pro-
claimed pursuant to the subtitle and to provide for effective
monitoring of imports under section 422(a).
‘‘(b) TO CARRY OUT AGREEMENTS.—To carry out an
agreement concluded pursuant to consultations under sec-
tion 421(j) or 422(e)(2), the President is authorized to pre-
scribe regulations governing the entry or withdrawal from
warehouse of articles covered by such agreement.
‘‘(c) TERMINATION DATE.—This subtitle and any reg-
ulations issued under this subtitle shall cease to be effective
12 years after the date of entry into force of the Protocol
of Accession of the People’s Republic of China to the WTO.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table on contents
of the Trade Act of 1974 is amended—
(1) in the item relating to title IV, by striking
‘‘CURRENTLY’’;
(2) by inserting before the item relating to sec-
tion 401 the following:
‘‘CHAPTER 1—TRADE RELATIONS WITH CERTAIN COUNTRIES’’; and
(3) by adding after the item relating to section
409 the following:
‘‘CHAPTER 2—RELIEF FROM MARKET DISRUPTION TO INDUSTRIES AND
DIVERSION OF TRADE TO THE UNITED STATES MARKET
‘‘Sec. 421. Action to address market disruption.
‘‘Sec. 422. Action in response to trade diversion.
‘‘Sec. 423. Regulations; termination of provision.’’.
SEC. 4. AMENDMENT TO SECTION 123 OF THE TRADE ACT
OF 1974—COMPENSATION AUTHORITY.
Section 123(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2133(a)(1)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘title III’’ the
following; ‘‘, or under chapter 2 of title IV of the Trade
Act of 1974’’.
Union Calendar No. 347
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4444
[Report No. 106–632]
A BILL
To authorize extension of nondiscriminatory treat-
ment (normal trade relations treatment) to the
People’s Republic of China.
MAY 22, 2000
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed