[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1904 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1904

To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to clarify 
 that certain footwear assembled in beneficiary countries is excluded 
           from duty-free treatment, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 17, 1997

  Mr. McIntyre (for himself, Mr. Spratt, Mr. Hefner, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. 
   Delahunt, and Mr. Kind) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to clarify 
 that certain footwear assembled in beneficiary countries is excluded 
           from duty-free treatment, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN FOOTWEAR.

    (a) In General.--U.S. Note 2 to subchapter II of chapter 98 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (a) by striking ``paragraph (b)'' and 
        inserting ``paragraphs (b) and (c)'';
            (2) in paragraph (b)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or footwear not accorded duty-
                free treatment under paragraph (c),'' after ``apparel 
                article,'' in the parenthetical, and
                    (B) by striking the last sentence, and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(c)(i) An article of footwear provided for in any of subheadings 
6115.93.20, 6402.91.40, 6402.99.18, 6404.11.20 through 6404.19.90, and 
6405.20.90, may not be treated as a foreign article, or as subject to 
duty, if--
            ``(A) the requirements of paragraph (b)(i) and (ii) are 
        complied with with respect to the article;
            ``(B) the article is produced by an existing footwear 
        manufacturer; and
            ``(C) the article is entered during any calendar year after 
        1996 before the aggregate quantity of footwear produced by that 
        manufacturer and entered during the calendar year exceeds the 
        annual duty-free footwear amount for the manufacturer.
    ``(ii) For purposes of this paragraph:
            ``(A) The term `annual duty-free amount' for an existing 
        footwear manufacturer means, in the case of articles of 
        footwear provided for in a subheading classification listed in 
        clause (i), an amount equal to the average monthly quantity of 
        footwear provided for under such classification that was 
        exported to the United States during calendar year 1996, by all 
        existing manufacturing facilities of such manufacturer, 
        multiplied by 12.
            ``(B) The term `existing footwear manufacturer' means a 
        person in the United States that was operating at least 1 
        existing manufacturing facility on December 31, 1996.
            ``(C) The term `existing manufacturing facility' means a 
        footwear manufacturing facility that was operating in a 
        beneficiary country on December 31, 1996.
    ``(iii) The United States International Trade Commission shall--
            ``(A) identify each existing footwear manufacturer; and
            ``(B) determine the annual duty-free footwear amount for 
        each applicable footwear subheading classification for each 
        such manufacturer,
and provide such identification and determination to the Secretary of 
the Treasury.
    ``(iv) The Secretary of the Treasury shall by regulation specify 
such relevant entry information as may be required for purposes of 
implementing this paragraph.
    ``(d) For purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c), the term `beneficiary 
country' means a country listed in general note 7(a).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section apply to 
goods entered on or after the 15th day after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
                                 <all>