I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1973
To provide for review in the Court of International Trade of certain deter-
minations of binational panels under the North American Free Trade
Agreement.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 23, 2001
Mr. NORWOOD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To provide for review in the Court of International Trade
of certain determinations of binational panels under the
North American Free Trade Agreement.
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 ‘‘Integrity of the United
States Courts Act of 2001’’.
SEC. 2. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF BINATIONAL PANEL DECI-
SIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title IV of the North
American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19
U.S.C. 3431 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section
404 the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 404A. REVIEW OF BINATIONAL PANEL DETERMINA-
TIONS.
‘‘(a) BASIS
FOR REVIEW
IN COURT
OF INTER-
NATIONAL TRADE.—If, within 30 days after publication
in the Federal Register of notice that a binational panel
has issued a determination following a review under article
1904 of a decision of a competent investigating authority
in the United States, a party or person within the meaning
of paragraph 5 of article 1904 alleges that—
‘‘(1)(A) a member of a panel was guilty of a
gross misconduct, bias, or a serious conflict of inter-
est, or otherwise materially violated the rules of con-
duct,
‘‘(B) the panel seriously departed from a funda-
mental rule of procedure, or
‘‘(C) the panel manifestly exceeded its powers,
authority, or jurisdiction set out in article 1904, as
in failing to apply the appropriate standard of re-
view, and
‘‘(2) any of the actions described in paragraph
(1) has materially affected the panel’s decision and
threatens the integrity of the binational panel review
process,
then such party or person may file an appeal with the
United States Court of International Trade, seeking re-
view of the binational panel determination, pursuant to
section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930.
‘‘(b) DECISIONS OF THE COURT.—In any appeal filed
under subsection (a) for review of a binational panel deter-
mination, the Court of International Trade shall, after ex-
amining the legal and factual analysis underlying the find-
ings and conclusions of the panel’s decision, determine
whether any of the actions described in subsection (a)(1)
has been established. If the court finds that any of those
actions has been established, the court shall vacate the
original panel decision and enter judgment accordingly. If
the actions are not established, the court shall affirm the
original binational panel decision. Decisions of the Court
of International Trade under this section shall be binding
on the parties with respect to the matters between the par-
ties that were before the panel.
‘‘(c) EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION.—If a party or per-
son within the meaning of paragraph 5 of article 1904
timely files a notice of appeal to the Court of International
Trade pursuant to this section, then jurisdiction exclu-
sively resides with the United States Court of Inter-
national Trade, and such determinations are not subject
to review by an extraordinary challenge committee under
paragraph 13 of article 1904.
‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to all
goods from NAFTA countries which were subject to an
antidumping duty or countervailing duty determination of
a competent investigating authority in the United
States.’’.
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents of the North American Free Trade Implementation
Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to sec-
tion 404 the following:
‘‘Sec. 404A. Review of binational panel determinations.’’.
SEC. 3. JURISDICTION OF THE COURT OF INTERNATIONAL
TRADE.
Section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.
1516a) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)(2)—
(A) in subparagraph (A)(i)(I), by striking
‘‘or (viii)’’ and inserting ‘‘(viii), or (ix)’’; and
(B) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘(ix) A final determination of a bina-
tional panel convened pursuant to article
1904 of the NAFTA.’’;
(2) in subsection (a)(5), in the matter pre-
ceding subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘(other than
a 
determination 
described 
in 
subsection
(g)(3)(A)(vii))’’ after ‘‘apply’’; and
(3) in subsection (g)(3)(A)—
(A) in clause (v), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the
end;
(B) in clause (vi), by striking the period
and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(vii) a determination of which either
a party or person within the meaning of
paragraph 5 of article 1904 of the NAFTA
has requested review pursuant to section
404A of the North American Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any
final determination of a binational panel convened pursu-
ant to article 1904 of the North American Free Trade
Agreement, notice of which is published in the Federal
Register on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY TO GOODS FROM A NAFTA COUN-
TRY.
Pursuant to section 408 of the North American Free
Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3438),
the amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect
to goods from a NAFTA country (as defined in section
2(4) of that Act (19 U.S.C. 3301(4))).
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