[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 418 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                  S. 418

  To require the administering authority to initiate an investigation 
   under title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to Airbus 
                               Industrie.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             February 24 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

   Mr. Danforth (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Bond, and Mrs. Murray) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require the administering authority to initiate an investigation 
   under title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to Airbus 
                               Industrie.

    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 ``Civil Aircraft Trade Enforcement Act 
of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Airbus Industrie is a multinational consortium of 4 
        aircraft manufacturers organized to develop, produce, and sell 
        large civil aircraft.
            (2) Airbus Industrie's shareholders are Aerospatiale of 
        France, British Aerospace of the United Kingdom, Deutsche 
        Aerospace of the Federal Republic of Germany, and 
        Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A. of Spain.
            (3) The governments of the countries of the Airbus 
        Industrie member companies have signed agreements guaranteeing 
        political and financial support for Airbus Industrie's aircraft 
        programs.
            (4) The United States Department of Commerce has 
        commissioned an analysis of the various Airbus Industrie 
        aircraft programs in order to advise the United States 
        Government regarding the economic performance of Airbus 
        Industrie programs, to document the past levels of government 
        support provided to the Airbus Industrie member companies by 
        their respective governments, to assess the financial viability 
        of Airbus Industrie aircraft programs to determine whether such 
        programs could have been undertaken by a commercial entity, and 
        to examine the effects of Airbus Industrie on the United States 
        aircraft, aircraft engine, and avionics manufacturing 
        industries.
            (5) The Department of Commerce analysis concluded that--
                    (A) the governments of France, the Federal Republic 
                of Germany, and the United Kingdom provided 
                $8,200,000,000 to support Airbus Industrie member 
                companies through 1989,
                    (B) another $2,300,000,000 in government support 
                had been pledged as of 1989 for the Airbus A330/A340 
                program,
                    (C) the government of the Federal Republic of 
                Germany committed $3,000,000,000 to Deutsche Aerospace 
                as part of the merger between Daimler-Benz and MBB, the 
                parent company of Deutsche Aerospace,
                    (D) the total government funds committed to Airbus 
                Industrie would be valued at $25,900,000,000, if Airbus 
                Industrie were required to pay commercial rates for the 
                government support it received through 1989,
                    (E) the governments of the countries of the Airbus 
                Industrie member companies have provided almost 75 
                percent of the development funds for the various Airbus 
                Industrie aircraft,
                    (F) the financial analysis of Airbus Industrie 
                indicates that there is little likelihood that this 
                government support will be repaid in full,
                    (G) Airbus Industrie programs, taken individually 
                or as a group, have not been and will not become 
                commercially viable in the foreseeable future; all 
                programs have a negative net present value when the 
                cash flows are discounted at the average commercial 
                borrowing rate in Europe,
                    (H) if Airbus Industrie continues to sell its 
                aircraft at subsidized prices, United States aircraft 
                manufactures will lose market share even while being 
                pressured to lower their own prices,
                    (I) as a consequence, both current and expected 
                profits for United States aircraft manufacturers will 
                decline due to continued government support for Airbus 
                Industrie programs,
                    (J) reduced profits on current United States 
                aircraft programs have significant impacts because 
                United States aircraft manufacturers have traditionally 
                relied heavily upon internally generated funds to make 
                the necessary multibillion dollar investments in new 
                aircraft programs, and
                    (K) lower than expected profits on existing United 
                States aircraft programs may discourage the 
                introduction of new, advanced-technology United States 
                aircraft at the same time that Airbus Industrie is 
                introducing advanced technology models.
            (6) Airbus Industrie's worldwide market share of jet 
        aircraft orders has increased from 7 percent in 1980 to 28 
        percent in 1992, while the worldwide market share for United 
        States aircraft manufacturers has declined from 88 percent in 
        1980 to 63 percent in 1992.
            (7) Airbus Industrie's market share of United States jet 
        aircraft orders has increased from zero percent in 1980 to 44 
        percent in 1992, while the United States market share for 
        United States aircraft has declined from 100 percent in 1980 to 
        56 percent in 1992.
            (8) United States imports of Airbus Industrie large civil 
        aircraft have increased from $133,000,000 in 1981 to 
        $844,000,000 in the first 3 quarters (January-September) of 
        1992.
            (9) Employment in the United States civil aircraft 
        manufacturing industry has declined from approximately 326,000 
        positions in 1989, to an estimated 266,000 positions in 1993.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to initiate a 
countervailing duty investigation with respect to large civil aircraft 
produced by Airbus Industrie.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act--
            (1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce.
            (2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the United 
        States International Trade Commission.
            (3) Large civil aircraft.--The term ``large civil 
        aircraft'' means aircraft, other than military aircraft, 
        described in subheading 8802.40.00 of the Harmonized Tariff 
        Schedule of the United States.
            (4) Administering authority.--The term ``administering 
        authority'' has the meaning given such term by section 771(1) 
        of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(1)).
            (5) Interested party.--The term ``interested party'' has 
        the meaning given such term by section 771(9) of the Tariff Act 
        of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1677(9)).

SEC. 4. INITIATION OF COUNTERVAILING DUTY INVESTIGATION.

    (a) Collection of Information.--Not later than 5 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall begin collecting 
information regarding--
            (1) subsidies provided by France, the Federal Republic of 
        Germany, and the United Kingdom to Airbus Industrie member 
        companies with respect to the manufacture, production, and 
        exportation of large civil aircraft imported or sold for 
        importation into the United States, and
            (2) whether the United States large civil aircraft 
        manufacturing industry is materially injured, or is threatened 
        with material injury, by reason of imports of Airbus Industrie 
        large civil aircraft, or by reason of sales (or the likelihood 
        of sales) of Airbus Industrie large civil aircraft for 
        importation.
    (b) Initiation of Investigation.--Not later than 45 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the administering authority shall 
initiate a countervailing duty investigation pursuant to section 702(a) 
of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671a(a)) with respect to imports 
and sales for import of civil aircraft manufactured by Airbus 
Industrie.
    (c) Application of Title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930.--Except as 
otherwise provided in this Act, the provisions of title VII of the 
Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) shall apply to the 
countervailing duty investigation initiated under this section with 
respect to Airbus Industrie.
    (d) Termination or Suspension of Investigation.--
            (1) Termination.--Subsections (a) and (k) of section 704 of 
        the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671c) shall not apply to the 
        investigation initiated pursuant to subsection (b) of this 
        section.
            (2) Suspension.--The investigation initiated pursuant to 
        subsection (b) of this section may be suspended pursuant to 
        subsection (b) or (c) of section 704 of such Act, if the 
        requirements of paragraph (3) are satisfied.
            (3) Suspension of investigation procedure.--The 
        requirements of this paragraph are satisfied, if, not less than 
        30 days before suspending the investigation, the administering 
        authority--
                    (A) notifies the Committee on Finance of the 
                Senate, the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
                Representatives, the Commission, and other parties to 
                the investigation, of the administering authority's 
                intention to suspend the investigation,
                    (B) consults with such committees regarding such 
                suspension,
                    (C) provides a copy of the proposed agreement to 
                such committees, together with an explanation of--
                            (i) how the agreement will be carried out 
                        and enforced,
                            (ii) how the agreement meets the 
                        requirements of either subsections (b) and (d) 
                        of section 704 of the Tariff Act of 1930, or 
                        subsections (c) and (d) of such section 704, 
                        and
                            (iii) any action required of the foreign 
                        governments, and
                    (D) permits all interested parties to submit 
                comments and information for the record before the date 
                on which notice of suspension of the investigation is 
                published.

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