House Passes
China Trade Enforcement Bill
On July 27, 2005, the House of Representatives passed, under “regular
order,” an amended version of H.R. 3283, the “United States Trade Rights
Enforcement Act,” by a vote of 255 to 168 (a simple majority).
The House had previously failed to pass H.R. 3283 under a suspension of
the rules, which required a two-thirds majority for passage. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/27/05 news,
(Ref: 05072799) #1, for BP summary.)
(Although the House has passed
H.R. 3283, it is not in effect.
Generally, in order for a bill to be implemented, identical versions of
that bill must be passed by both the House and Senate and then the bill must be
approved (enacted) by the President.)
The following are highlights of H.R. 3283 as passed by the House, with
the amendments adopted by the House prior to passage noted. H.R. 3283 would:
a.
authorize
application of U.S.
countervailing duty law to nonmarket economies such
as China;
b.
suspend
for three years the availability of bonds for new shippers in antidumping (AD)
cases and instead require cash deposits and require a report on whether this
suspension should be extended beyond the three-year period, etc.;
c.
amend
the definition of countervailing duty so it states that, with respect to China,
if the administering authority encounters special difficulties in calculating
the amount of a subsidy benefit under 19 USC 1677(5)(E),
such authority may use methodologies for identifying and measuring the subsidy
benefit which take into account the possibility that prevailing terms and
conditions in China may not always be available as appropriate benchmarks. When
applying such methodologies, H.R. 3283 states that, where practicable,
the administering authority should adjust such prevailing terms and conditions
before using the terms and conditions prevailing outside China;
(When the House amended H.R. 3283, it added
the words “where practicable.” According
to a July 27, 2005 Textile Development Memo from the U.S. Association of
Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), this amendment added a caveat so
that third country data should be used “where practicable,” which may increase
the likelihood that the Commerce Department will use third country data rather
than trying to adjust Chinese data.)
d.
in
applying the countervailing statute to nonmarket
economy countries, ensure that there is no double counting of CV subsidies in
AD orders, etc.;
e.
require
a report on duty collection problems, including fraudulent activities intended
to avoid payment of duties, and analysis of proposed solutions;
f.
require
comprehensive monitoring of China’s compliance with its obligations regarding
intellectual property rights, market access for U.S. goods, services, and
agriculture, and accounting of Chinese subsidies; require either biannual or
monthly reports to Congress on China’s compliance with such obligations; and
require, if the President determines that China has not met all of the specified
intellectual property rights obligations, the collection of evidence of such
violations for use in a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement
proceedings;
g.
require
the Administration to provide Congress with reports on currency manipulation by
foreign countries;
h.
authorize
specific fiscal year (FY) 2006 and 2007 appropriations for the Office of the
U.S. Trade Representative and the International Trade Commission (ITC);
i.
require
the ITC to carry out a comprehensive study on trade and economic relations
between the U.S. and China; and
j.
express the sense
of Congress that the USTR should determine which of its current positions is
most responsible for carrying out trade enforcement duties and assign that position,
in addition to any other title, the title of Chief Enforcement Officer.
(This provision (j) was a new addition to
the amended version of H.R. 3283.)
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 07/21/05 news, (Ref: 05072105), for BP
summary of H.R. 3283 as introduced in the House.)
H.R. 3283, as amended and passed by the House, available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h3283eh.txt.pdf.
Published in ITT on July 29, 2005 | [Ref: 05072910] |
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