[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5469 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5469

 To provide for review in the Court of International Trade of certain 
determinations of binational panels under the North American Free Trade 
                               Agreement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 12, 2000

  Mr. Norwood (for himself, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Goode, Mr. Bishop, Mr. 
   Wicker, Mr. Velazquez, Mr. Pickering, Mr. Coble, and Mr. Graham) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for review in the Court of International Trade of certain 
determinations of binational panels under the North American Free Trade 
                               Agreement.

    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 ``Integrity of the United States 
Courts Act of 2000''.

SEC. 2. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF BINATIONAL PANEL DECISIONS.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle A of title IV of the North American Free 
Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3431 et seq.) is amended 
by inserting after section 404 the following new section:

``SEC. 404A. REVIEW OF BINATIONAL PANEL DETERMINATIONS.

    ``(a) Basis for Review in Court of International Trade.--If, within 
30 days after publication in the Federal Register of notice that a 
binational panel has issued a determination following a review under 
article 1904 of a decision of a competent investigating authority in 
the United States, a party or person within the meaning of paragraph 5 
of article 1904 alleges that--
            ``(1)(A) a member of a panel was guilty of a gross 
        misconduct, bias, or a serious conflict of interest, or 
        otherwise materially violated the rules of conduct,
            ``(B) the panel seriously departed from a fundamental rule 
        of procedure, or
            ``(C) the panel manifestly exceeded its powers, authority, 
        or jurisdiction set out in article 1904, as in failing to apply 
        the appropriate standard of review, and
            ``(2) any of the actions described in paragraph (1) has 
        materially affected the panel's decision and threatens the 
        integrity of the binational panel review process,
then such party or person may file an appeal with the United States 
Court of International Trade, seeking review of the binational panel 
determination, pursuant to section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930.
    ``(b) Decisions of the Court.--In any appeal filed under subsection 
(a) for review of a binational panel determination, the Court of 
International Trade shall, after examining the legal and factual 
analysis underlying the findings and conclusions of the panel's 
decision, determine whether any of the actions described in subsection 
(a)(1) has been established. If the court finds that any of those 
actions has been established, the court shall vacate the original panel 
decision and enter judgment accordingly. If the actions are not 
established, the court shall affirm the original binational panel 
decision. Decisions of the Court of International Trade under this 
section shall be binding on the parties with respect to the matters 
between the parties that were before the panel.
    ``(c) Exclusive Jurisdiction.--If a party or person within the 
meaning of paragraph 5 of article 1904 timely files a notice of appeal 
to the Court of International Trade pursuant to this section, then 
jurisdiction exclusively resides with the United States Court of 
International Trade, and such determinations are not subject to review 
by an extraordinary challenge committee under paragraph 13 of article 
1904.
    ``(d) Applicability.--This section applies to all goods from NAFTA 
countries which were subject to an antidumping duty or countervailing 
duty determination of a competent investigating authority in the United 
States.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents of the North 
American Free Trade Implementation Act is amended by inserting after 
the item relating to section 404 the following:

``Sec. 404A. Review of binational panel determinations.''.

SEC. 3. JURISDICTION OF THE COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE.

    Section 516A of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1516a) is 
amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A)(i)(I), by striking ``or 
                (viii)'' and inserting ``(viii), or (ix)''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by adding at the end the 
                following:
                            ``(ix) A final determination of a 
                        binational panel convened pursuant to article 
                        1904 of the NAFTA.'';
            (2) in subsection (a)(5), in the matter preceding 
        subparagraph (A), by inserting ``(other than a determination 
        described in subsection (g)(3)(A)(vii))'' after ``apply''; and
            (3) in subsection (g)(3)(A)--
                    (A) in clause (v), by striking ``or'' at the end;
                    (B) in clause (vi), by striking the period and 
                inserting ``, or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(vii) a determination which either a 
                        party or person within the meaning of paragraph 
                        5 of article 1904 of the NAFTA has requested 
                        review pursuant to section 404A of the North 
                        American Free Trade Agreement Implementation 
                        Act.''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply to any final 
determination of a binational panel convened pursuant to article 1904 
of the North American Free Trade Agreement, notice of which is 
published in the Federal Register on or after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
                                 <all>