I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5849 
To increase the fine and prison term for textile transshipment, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 20, 2006 
Mr. HAYES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To increase the fine and prison term for textile 
transshipment, 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 ‘‘Illegal Transshipments 
Enforcement Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that— 
(1) the textile and apparel sector in the United 
States is being seriously hurt by smuggling and 
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transshipment of textile and apparel products from 
abroad; 
(2) tens of thousands of textile and apparel 
workers in the United States have lost their jobs be-
cause of these illegal activities; 
(3) according to industry and government esti-
mates, illegal textile and apparel smuggling and 
transshipment totals billions of dollars each year; 
(4) the People’s Republic of China and other 
major Asian exporters have a decades-long history of 
illegally shipping textile and apparel goods to the 
United States; and 
(5) a new avenue of illegal trade, which involves 
the evasion of duties using countries who are pref-
erential trading partners with the United States, has 
developed and is particularly harmful to the textile 
and apparel industry in the United States. 
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act and the 
amendments made by this Act to increase and broaden 
the scope of certain penalties relating to illegal imports 
and cargo theft so as to enable the Bureau of Customs 
and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland 
Security to effectively deter commercial fraud in the 
United States, particularly concerning textile and apparel 
products. 
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SEC. 3. PUNISHMENT OF CARGO THEFT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 659 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘with intent to convert to his 
own use’’ each place it appears; 
(2) in the first undesignated paragraph— 
(A) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘trailer,’’ 
after 
‘‘motortruck,’’; 
(B) by inserting ‘‘air cargo container,’’ 
after ‘‘aircraft,’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘, or from any intermodal 
container, trailer, container freight station, 
warehouse, or freight consolidation facility,’’ 
after ‘‘air navigation facility’’; 
(3) in the fifth undesignated paragraph, by 
striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘3 years’’; and 
(4) in the eighth undesignated paragraph, by 
inserting after the first sentence the following: ‘‘For 
purposes of this section, goods and chattel shall be 
construed to be moving as an interstate or foreign 
shipment at all points between the point of origin 
and the final destination (as evidenced by the waybill 
or other shipping document of the shipment), re-
gardless of any temporary stop while awaiting trans-
shipment or otherwise.’’. 
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(b) FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES.—Pursuant 
to section 994 of title 28, United States Code, the United 
States Sentencing Commission shall review the Federal 
sentencing guidelines under section 659 of title 18, United 
States Code, as amended by this section, and, upon com-
pletion of the review, promulgate amendments to the Fed-
eral Sentencing Guidelines to provide appropriate en-
hancement of the applicable guidelines. 
Æ 
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