[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1469 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1469

  To extend the United States-Israel free trade agreement to the West 
                          Bank and Gaza Strip.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 12, 1995

  Mr. Brown (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To extend the United States-Israel free trade agreement to the West 
                          Bank and Gaza Strip.

    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 ``Warm Peace Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Congress approved a free trade agreement between 
        the United States and Israel on April 29, 1985.
            (2) The agreement applies to articles that were the growth, 
        product, or manufacture of the occupied territories of the West 
        Bank and Gaza Strip.
            (3) The Declaration of Principles, signed by Israel and the 
        Palestinian Authority in 1993, is a significant step forward in 
        bringing peace to the Middle East region.
            (4) Sending an unambiguous signal that the United States 
        supports peace in the Middle East is a top United States 
        priority.
            (5) Failure to extend free trade treatment to articles that 
        are the growth, product, or manufacture of the West Bank and 
        Gaza Strip after the signing of the Declaration of Principles 
        economically penalizes the Palestinian Authority for entering 
        into a peace agreement with Israel.
            (6) Articles that are the growth, product, or manufacture 
        of the West Bank and Gaza Strip should not be subjected to less 
        favorable treatment now than the articles received before the 
        Declaration of Principles was signed.

SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL PROCLAMATION AUTHORITY.

    The United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act (19 
U.S.C. 2112 note) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section:

``SEC. 9. ADDITIONAL PROCLAMATION AUTHORITY.

    ``(a) Elimination or Modifications of Duties.--The President is 
authorized to proclaim elimination or modification of any existing duty 
as the President determines is necessary to exempt any article from 
duty if--
            ``(1) that article is wholly the growth, product, or 
        manufacture of the West Bank or Gaza Strip or a qualifying 
        industrial zone or is a new or different article of commerce 
        that has been grown, produced, or manufactured in the West Bank 
        or Gaza Strip or a qualifying industrial zone;
            ``(2) that article is imported directly from the West Bank, 
        Gaza Strip, Israel, or a qualifying industrial zone; and
            ``(3) the sum of--
                    ``(A) the cost or value of the materials produced 
                in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel, or a qualifying 
                industrial zone, plus
                    ``(B) the direct costs of processing operations 
                performed in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Israel, or a 
                qualifying industrial zone,
        is not less than 35 percent of the appraised value of the 
        product at the time it is entered into the United States.
For purposes of determining the 35 percent content requirement 
contained in paragraph (3)(B), the cost or value of materials which are 
used in the production of an article in the West Bank or Gaza Strip or 
qualifying industrial zone, and are the products of the United States, 
may be counted in an amount up to 15 percent of the appraised value of 
the article.
    ``(b) Treatment as Articles of Israel.--The President is authorized 
to proclaim that articles may be treated as though they were articles 
of Israel for the purposes of the Agreement even if shipped to the 
United States from the West Bank or Gaza Strip or a qualifying 
industrial zone, if the articles otherwise meet the requirements of the 
Agreement.
    ``(c) Treatment of Cost or Value of Materials.--The President is 
authorized to proclaim that the cost or value of materials produced in 
the West Bank or Gaza Strip or a qualifying industrial zone may be 
included in the cost or value of materials produced in Israel under 
section 1(c)(i) of Annex 3 of the Agreement, and the direct costs of 
processing operations performed in the West Bank or Gaza Strip or a 
qualifying industrial zone may be included in the direct costs of 
processing operations performed in Israel under section 1(c)(ii) of 
Annex 3 of the Agreement.
    ``(d) Applicability of Certain Provisions of Agreement.--For 
purposes of this section, the provisions of paragraphs (2) through (9) 
of Annex 3 of the Agreement shall apply mutatis mutandis.
    ``(e) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, a `qualifying 
industrial zone' means any area encompassing portions of the territory 
of Israel and Jordan or Israel and Egypt designated by local 
authorities as an enclave where merchandise may enter without payment 
of duty or excise taxes, that has been specified by the President as a 
qualifying industrial zone.''.
                                 <all>