I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3421
To require the imposition of increased tariffs on certain products of the
People’s Republic of China until the President certifies that that country
is complying with its agreement with the United States regarding protec-
tion of intellectual property rights.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 8, 1996
Ms. PELOSI (for herself, Mr. BONO, Mr. GEPHARDT, Mr. COX of California,
Mr. BONIOR, Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. HYDE, Mr.
SCARBOROUGH, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BARTON of
Texas, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. BORSKI, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. BRYANT of
Texas, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr.
DORNAN, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. EHRLICH, Ms. ESHOO, Mr.
EVANS, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. FRANK of Massa-
chusetts, Mr. FROST, Mr. GEJDENSON, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. GORDON,
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. HOBSON, Ms. JACKSON-
LEE of Texas, Mr. KANJORSKI, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. KING, Mr. KLINK, Mr.
LANTOS, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MASCARA,
Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. MILLER of California, Mrs.
MINK of Hawaii, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. NADLER, Mr. OBEY, Mr. OLVER, Mr.
PORTER, Mr. RICHARDSON, Mr. ROSE, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr.
SCHIFF, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SMITH of New
Jersey, Mr. STARK, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. WOLF, and Ms.
WOOLSEY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To require the imposition of increased tariffs on certain
products of the People’s Republic of China until the
President certifies that that country is complying with
its agreement with the United States regarding protec-
tion of intellectual property rights.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Violations by the People’s Republic of China
of United States intellectual property rights, includ-
ing with respect to music, videos, books, and soft-
ware is a serious problem and a threat to the United
States economy and United States jobs.
(2) Repeated efforts by the United States Gov-
ernment, starting in 1991, to encourage the Chinese
Government to halt this piracy have not succeeded.
Since these efforts started, estimated losses to the
United States economy from the piracy increased to
$2,300,000,000 in 1995.
(3) On March 11, 1995, the Chinese Govern-
ment signed an agreement with the United States
pledging to implement an action plan for effective
protection and enforcement of intellectual property
rights and to remove various import and investment
barriers to persons who rely on intellectual property
protection. In this agreement, the Chinese Govern-
ment agreed to—
(A) take immediate steps to stem the pi-
racy in the People’s Republic of China of intel-
lectual property rights;
(B) establish mechanisms to ensure long-
term enforcement of protecting intellectual
property rights; and
(C) provide greater market access to
United States products protected by intellectual
property rights.
(4) One year after the agreement was signed,
counterfeiting by Chinese enterprises of copyrighted
material continues to grow, the Chinese Government
has failed to control massive production and export
of pirated materials, and there has been no increase
in market access for United States products pro-
tected by intellectual property rights.
SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF TARIFFS ON CERTAIN GOODS.
(a) IMPOSITION OF TARIFFS.—
(1) ADDITIONAL
TARIFFS.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, effective 15 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act, the President
shall impose tariffs, in addition to those already in
effect as of such date of enactment, on goods that
are the growth, product, or manufacture of the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China, that the President deter-
mines would compensate for the losses to the United
States economy resulting from the acts, policies, and
practices of the Chinese Government described in
paragraph (2).
(2) ACTS, POLICIES, AND
PRACTICES.—The
acts, policies, and practices referred to in paragraph
(1) are—
(A) those acts, policies, and practices of
the Chinese Government with respect to the en-
forcement of intellectual property rights and the
provision market access to persons who rely on
intellectual property protection, that are re-
ferred to in the determination of the United
States Trade Representative of February 7,
1995, that was published in the Federal Reg-
ister (volume 60, no. 25, pp. 7230–7234); and
(B) any other acts, policies, and practices
of the Chinese Government with respect to the
enforcement of intellectual property rights and
the provision market access to persons who rely
on intellectual property protection, in violation
of the agreement referred to in section 1(3) or
any other agreement with the United States.
(b) DURATION OF TARIFFS.—The tariffs imposed
under subsection (a)(1) shall apply until the conditions set
forth in section 3 are met.
(c) CRITERIA FOR TARIFFS.—The President shall
transmit in writing to the Congress, not later than 15 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the criteria
used to determine the tariffs, and the goods on which the
tariffs are imposed, under subsection (a)(1).
SEC. 3. CONDITIONS.
The conditions referred to in section 2(b) are the fol-
lowing:
(1) The President certifies to the Congress that
the Government of the People’s Republic of China is
complying with all the terms of the agreement re-
ferred to in section 1(3).
(2) Thirty days have elapsed since the submis-
sion of the certification and a law has not been en-
acted stating in substance that the Congress dis-
approves the certification.
Æ