[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2097 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2097

 To amend the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to promote further United 
   States exports of environmental technologies, goods, and services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 10 (legislative day, May 2), 1994

  Mrs. Boxer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
    referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 to promote further United 
   States exports of environmental technologies, goods, and services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Environmental Export Promotion Act 
of 1994''.

SEC. 2. PROMOTION OF UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL EXPORTS.

    (a) Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee.--Section 
2313 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4728) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking subsection (d);
            (2) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (e); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
        subsections:
    ``(c) Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee.--
            ``(1) Establishment and purpose.--The Secretary, in 
        carrying out the duties of the chairperson of the TPCC, shall 
        establish the Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory 
        Committee (hereafter in this section referred to as the 
        `Committee'). The purpose of the Committee shall be to provide 
        advice and guidance to the Working Group in the development and 
        administration of programs to expand United States exports of 
        environmental technologies, goods, and services.
            ``(2) Membership.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The members of the Committee 
                shall be drawn from representatives of--
                            ``(i) environmental businesses, including 
                        small businesses;
                            ``(ii) trade associations in the 
                        environmental sector;
                            ``(iii) private sector organizations 
                        involved in the promotion of environmental 
                        exports;
                            ``(iv) the States (as defined in section 
                        2301(j)(5)) and associations representing the 
                        States; and
                            ``(v) other appropriate interested members 
                        of the public.
                    ``(B) Committee composition.--The Secretary shall 
                appoint as members of the Committee no fewer than 1 
                individual under each of clauses (i) through (v) of 
                subparagraph (A).
    ``(d) Export Plans for Priority Countries.--
            ``(1) Priority country identification.--The Working Group, 
        in consultation with the Committee, shall annually assess which 
        foreign countries have markets with the greatest potential for 
        the export of United States environmental technologies, goods, 
        and services. Of these countries, the Working Group shall 
        select the 5 countries with the greatest potential for the 
        application of United States Government export promotion 
        resources related to environmental exports as `priority 
        countries'.
            ``(2) Export plans.--The Working Group, in consultation 
        with the Committee, shall annually create a plan for each 
        priority country selected under paragraph (1), setting forth in 
        detail ways to increase United States environmental exports to 
        such country. Each plan shall--
                    ``(A) identify the primary public and private 
                sector opportunities for United States exporters of 
                environmental technologies, goods, and services in the 
                priority country;
                    ``(B) analyze the financing and other requirements 
                for major projects in the priority country which will 
                use environmental technologies, goods, and services, 
                and analyze whether such projects are dependent upon 
                financial assistance from foreign countries or 
                multilateral institutions; and
                    ``(C) list specific actions to be taken by the 
                member agencies of the Working Group to increase United 
                States exports to the priority country.''.
    (b) Additional Mechanisms To Promote Environmental Exports.--
Section 2313 of the Export Enhancement Act of 1988 (15 U.S.C. 4728) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Environmental Technologies Specialists in the United States 
and Foreign Commercial Service.--
            ``(1) Assignment of environmental technologies 
        specialists.--The Secretary shall assign a specialist in 
        environmental technologies to the office of the United States 
        and Foreign Commercial Service in each of the 5 priority 
        countries selected under subsection (d)(1), and the Secretary 
        is authorized to assign such a specialist to the office of the 
        United States and Foreign Commercial Service in any country 
        that is a promising market for United States exports of 
        environmental technologies, goods, and services. Such 
        specialist may be an employee of the Department of Commerce, an 
        employee of any relevant Government department or agency 
        assigned on a temporary or limited term basis to the Department 
        of Commerce, or a representative of the private sector assigned 
        to the Department of Commerce.
            ``(2) Duties of environmental technologies specialists.--
        Each specialist assigned under paragraph (1) shall provide 
        export promotion assistance to United States environmental 
        businesses, including--
                    ``(A) identifying factors in the country to which 
                the specialist is assigned that affect the United 
                States share of the domestic market for environmental 
                technologies, goods, and services, including market 
                barriers, standards-setting activities, and financing 
                issues;
                    ``(B) providing assessments of assistance by 
                foreign governments to producers of environmental 
                technologies, goods, and services in such countries in 
                order to enhance exports to the country to which the 
                specialist is assigned, the effectiveness of such 
                assistance on the competitiveness of United States 
                products, and whether comparable United States 
                assistance exists;
                    ``(C) training Foreign Commercial Service Officers 
                in the country to which the specialist is assigned, 
                other countries in the region, and United States and 
                Foreign Commercial Service offices in the United 
                States, in environmental technologies and the 
                international environmental market;
                    ``(D) providing assistance in identifying potential 
                customers and market opportunities in the country to 
                which the specialist is assigned;
                    ``(E) providing assistance in obtaining necessary 
                business services in the country to which the 
                specialist is assigned;
                    ``(F) providing information on environmental 
                standards and regulations in the country to which the 
                specialist is assigned; and
                    ``(G) providing information on all United States 
                programs that could assist the promotion, financing, 
                and sale of United States environmental technologies, 
                goods, and services in the country to which the 
                specialist is assigned.
    ``(g) Environmental Training in One-Stop Shops.--In addition to the 
training provided under subsection (f)(2)(C), the Secretary shall 
establish a mechanism to train--
            ``(1) Commercial Service Officers assigned to the one-stop 
        shops provided for in section 2301(b)(8); and
            ``(2) Commercial Service Officers assigned to district 
        offices in districts having large numbers of environmental 
        businesses;
in environmental technologies and in the international environmental 
marketplace, and ensure that such officers receive appropriate training 
under such mechanism. Such training may be provided by officers or 
employees of the Department of Commerce, and other United States 
departments and agencies, with appropriate expertise in environmental 
technologies and the international environmental workplace, and by 
appropriate representatives of the private sector.
    ``(h) International Regional Environmental Initiatives.--
            ``(1) Establishment of initiatives.--The TPCC shall 
        establish not less than one international regional 
        environmental initiative, the purpose of which shall be to 
        coordinate the activities of Federal departments and agencies 
        in order to build environmental partnerships between the United 
        States and the geographic region outside of the United States 
        for which such initiative is established. Such partnerships 
        shall enhance environmental protection and promote sustainable 
        development by using technical expertise and financial 
        resources of the United States departments and agencies that 
        provide foreign assistance, and by expanding United States 
        exports of environmental technologies, goods, and services to 
        that region.
            ``(2) Activities.--In carrying out each international 
        regional environmental initiative, the TPCC shall--
                    ``(A) support the development of sound 
                environmental policies and practices in countries in 
                the geographic region for which the initiative is 
                established, including the development of 
                environmentally sound regulatory regimes and 
                enforcement mechanisms, through the provision of 
                foreign assistance;
                    ``(B) identify and disseminate to United States 
                environmental businesses information regarding specific 
                environmental business opportunities in that geographic 
                region;
                    ``(C) coordinate existing Federal efforts to 
                promote environmental exports to that geographic 
                region, and ensure that such efforts are fully 
                coordinated with environmental export promotion efforts 
                undertaken by the States and the private sector;
                    ``(D) increase assistance provided by the United 
                States to promote exports from the United States of 
                environmental technologies, goods, and services to that 
                geographic region, such as trade missions, reverse 
                trade missions, trade fairs, and programs in the United 
                States to train foreign nationals in United States 
                environmental technologies; and
                    ``(E) increase high-level advocacy by Government 
                officials (including the United States ambassadors to 
                the countries in the geographic region outside of the 
                United States) for United States environmental 
                businesses seeking market opportunities in that 
                geographic region.
    ``(i) Environmental Technologies Project Advocacy Calendar and 
Information Dissemination Program.--The Working Group shall--
            ``(1) maintain a calendar, updated at the end of each 
        calendar quarter, of significant opportunities for United 
        States environmental businesses in foreign markets and trade 
        promotion events, which shall--
                    ``(A) be made available to the public;
                    ``(B) identify not less than 50 nor more than 100 
                environmental infrastructure and procurement projects 
                in foreign markets that have the greatest potential in 
                the calendar quarter for United States exports of 
                environmental technologies, goods, and services; and
                    ``(C) include trade promotion events, such as trade 
                missions and trade fairs, in the environmental sector; 
                and
            ``(2) provide, through the National Trade Data Bank and 
        other information dissemination channels, information on 
        opportunities for environmental businesses in foreign markets 
        and information on Federal export promotion programs.
    ``(j) Regional Centers.--The Secretary, through the Assistant 
Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the United States and 
Foreign Commercial Service, is authorized to provide matching funds for 
the establishment in the United States of regional environmental 
business and technology cooperation centers that will draw upon the 
expertise of the private sector and institutions of higher education 
and existing Federal programs to provide export promotion assistance 
related to environmental technologies, goods, and services.
    ``(k) Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`environmental business' means a business that produces environmental 
technologies, goods, or services.''.

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