[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 486 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 486

 To amend the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to clarify 
    the limitation for accession to the GATT and the WTO of foreign 
             countries that have state trading enterprises.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 20, 1997

 Mr. Brownback (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Hagel, and Mr. Johnson) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 to clarify 
    the limitation for accession to the GATT and the WTO of foreign 
             countries that have state trading enterprises.

    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 ``Fairness in State Trading Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) State trading enterprises play a significant role in 
        the economies of several countries that have applied to the 
        World Trade Organization (referred to in this Act as the 
        ``WTO'').
            (2) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (referred to 
        in this Act as the ``GATT''), and especially GATT Article XVII, 
        does not adequately prevent countries from using state trading 
        enterprises as a disguised barrier to imports from the United 
        States.
            (3) The United States economy will be adversely affected by 
        the accession to the WTO of foreign countries that have state 
        trading enterprises that make production or procurement 
        decisions based upon noncommerical considerations.
            (4) State trading enterprises have a particularly negative 
        impact on United States farmers.

SEC. 3. ACCESSION OF COUNTRIES WITH STATE TRADING ENTERPRISES TO 
              GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE OR WORLD TRADE 
              ORGANIZATION.

    Section 1106 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 
(19 U.S.C. 2905) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``major foreign country'' each place it 
        appears and inserting ``foreign country'';
            (2) in subsection (a), by amending paragraph (1) to read as 
        follows:
            ``(1) whether state trading enterprises produce or procure 
        a significant share of--
                    ``(A) the goods exported from such foreign country;
                    ``(B) the goods imported into such foreign country; 
                or
                    ``(C) the goods produced domestically in such 
                foreign country; and''; and
            (3) in subsection (b)(2)(A)--
                    (A) by amending clause (i) to read as follows:
                            ``(i) will make purchases and sales in 
                        international trade based solely on commercial 
                        considerations (including price, quality, 
                        availability, marketability, and 
                        transportation), and''; and
                    (B) in clause (ii), by striking ``, in accordance 
                with customary practice,''.
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