Strengthening America's Trade Laws Act

Bill: 112-s-1267
Sponsor: Sen. Rockefeller, John D., IV [D-WV]
Introduced: 2011-06-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance
Subjects: Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Advisory bodies
Asia
Canada
China
Civil actions and liability
Computers and information technology
Congressional operations and organization
Congressional oversight
Customs enforcement
Department of Homeland Security
Department of the Treasury
Executive agency funding and structure
Federal officials
Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Free trade and trade barriers
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Intellectual property
International monetary system and foreign exchange
International organizations and cooperation
Latin America
Law enforcement officers
Legislative rules and procedure
Mexico
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Public-private cooperation
Tariffs
Trade agreements and negotiations
Trade restrictions
Travel and tourism

Summary:
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: 
Strengthening America's Trade Laws Act - Allows, under specified conditions, certain U.S. persons supportive of the government's position before a dispute settlement panel or Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to participate in consultations and panel or Appellate Body proceedings.
 
Establishes the Congressional Advisory Commission on WTO Dispute Settlement to provide advice to Congress on the operation of the WTO dispute settlement system.
 
Amends the Uruguay Round Agreements Act to require congressional approval before any modification of an agency regulation or practice that has been adversely affected by a WTO decision.
 
Directs the United States to negotiate with the WTO to determine clarification of its obligations under the Uruguay Round Agreement due to an adverse WTO decision if the United States, Congress, or Commission finds that such decision created obligations never agreed to by the United States.
 
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to make specified changes to strengthen the Act's antidumping and countervailing duty provisions. Requires congressional approval for revocation of nonmarket economy country determinations made by the administering authority.
 
Expands the authority of the administering authority or the International Trade Commission (ITC) to impose countervailing duties on products from a nonmarket economy country that have been provided a countervailable subsidy. 
 
Authorizes the use of alternative methodologies in determining whether a subsidy is countervailable with respect to the People's Republic of China (PRC).
 
Deems subsidies provided predominantly or disproportionately by the PRC to a state-owned enterprise as specific to that enterprise (and so vulnerable to a countervailing duty) if state-owned enterprises are the predominant recipients of such subsidies or state-owned enterprises receive disproportionately large amounts of them. 
Includes exchange-rate manipulation by a country as a countervailable subsidy. 
Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require a recommendation from the ITC before the President can impose a duty on an imported Chinese product that causes or threatens market disruption to a like U.S. product. Requires congressional approval for an ITC recommendation to take effect in cases where the President takes action that differs from that recommended by the ITC.
 
Establishes within the Department of the Treasury the position of Director of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement. Requires the Director to develop annually a strategic plan for more effective use of the authorities of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce intellectual property rights.
 
Prescribes requirements for the appointment of CBP and ICE coordinators of intellectual property rights enforcement activities.
 
Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, acting through the CBP Commissioner, to accelerate efforts to apply risk assessment modeling techniques to border enforcement activities to combat counterfeiting and piracy of goods.
 
Directs the Commissioner to: (1) ensure that the system for recordation of copyrights, trademarks, and other forms of intellectual property does not impede the rapid seizure of goods that infringe the rights of the owners; (2) create a voluntary certification program for low-risk shippers that have taken specific measures to strengthen and protect their supply chains to prevent the infiltration of counterfeit and pirated goods; and (3) prepare a plan for a Watch List database of importers, shippers, freight forwarders, and others in the import, export, and transshipment process whose activities merit additional scrutiny at ports of entry.
 
Directs the Secretary to increase CBP and ICE staffing and resources in providing training and technical assistance to customs services and enforcement agencies of foreign countries to improve their effectiveness in enforcing intellectual property rights.
 
Expands the prohibitions on the importation or exportation of counterfeit or pirated goods to include goods protected by copyright. Subjects persons who violate such prohibition to a civil penalty, which in certain circumstances shall be tripled.
 
Applies the amendments made by this Act to goods from Canada and Mexico.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2011-06-23
text: Introduced in Senate