[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 842 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 842

  To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to eliminate disincentives to fair 
                           trade conditions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 24, 1999

  Mr. Regula (for himself, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. Canady of Florida, Ms. 
Lofgren, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Cunningham, Mr. Doyle, Mr. 
Klink, Mr. Ney, Mr. Skelton, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Strickland, Mrs. Thurman, 
 Mr. Aderholt, Mr. Whitfield, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Skeen, Mr. 
   Mollohan, Mr. Souder, Mr. Deutsch, and Mr. Spratt) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to eliminate disincentives to fair 
                           trade conditions.

    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 ``Continued Dumping or Subsidy Offset 
Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS OF CONGRESS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Consistent with the rights of the United States under 
        the World Trade Organization, injurious dumping is to be 
        condemned and actionable subsidies which cause injury to 
        domestic industries must be effectively neutralized.
            (2) United States unfair trade laws have as their purpose 
        the restoration of conditions of fair trade so that jobs and 
        investment that should be in the United States are not lost 
        through false market signals.
            (3) The continued dumping or subsidization of imported 
        product after the issuance of antidumping orders or findings or 
        countervailing duty orders can frustrate the remedial purpose 
        of the laws by preventing market prices from returning to fair 
        levels.
            (4) Where dumping or subsidization continues, domestic 
        producers will be reluctant to reinvest or rehire and may be 
        unable to maintain pension and health care benefits that 
        conditions of fair trade would permit. Similarly, small 
        businesses and America's farmers and ranchers may be unable to 
        pay down accumulated debt, to obtain working capital or 
        otherwise remain viable.
            (5) United States trade laws should be strengthened to see 
        that the remedial purpose of the laws is achieved in fact.

SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE TARIFF ACT OF 1930.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of subtitle C of title VII of the Tariff 
Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 754. CONTINUED DUMPING OR SUBSIDY OFFSET.

    ``(a) In General.--Whenever continued dumping or subsidization is 
found to exist by the administering authority under section 751(a) of 
this Act or by operation of law, any duties assessed shall be 
distributed to the affected domestic producers for qualifying 
expenditures on an annual basis. Such disbursement shall be known as 
the `continued dumping or subsidy offset'.
    ``(b) Definitions.--As used in this section:
            ``(1) The term `affected domestic producer' means any 
        manufacturer, producer, farmer, rancher or worker 
        representative, including associations of such individuals and 
        entities, that was a petitioner or interested party in support 
        of the petition with respect to which an antidumping duty 
        finding or order or countervailing duty order has been entered 
        and remains in operation. Companies or businesses that have 
        ceased the production of the product covered by the order or 
        finding or who have been acquired by a company or business that 
        is related to a company that opposed the investigation shall 
        not be an affected domestic producer.
            ``(2) The term `Commissioner' means the Commissioner of the 
        United States Customs Service.
            ``(3) The term `Commission' means the United States 
        International Trade Commission.
            ``(4) The term `qualifying expenditure' means an 
        expenditure incurred after the issuance of the antidumping duty 
        finding or order or countervailing duty order in any of the 
        following categories:
                    ``(A) plant;
                    ``(B) equipment;
                    ``(C) research and development;
                    ``(D) personnel training;
                    ``(E) acquisition of technology;
                    ``(F) health care benefits to employees paid for by 
                the employer;
                    ``(G) pension benefits to employees paid for by the 
                employer;
                    ``(H) environmental equipment, training, or 
                technology;
                    ``(I) acquisition of raw materials and other 
                inputs; and
                    ``(J) borrowed working capital or other funds 
                needed to maintain production.
    ``(c) Disbursement Procedures.--The Commissioner shall prescribe 
procedures for disbursing the continued dumping or subsidies offset 
required by this section provided that disbursement shall occur for 
monies assessed during a fiscal year not later than sixty days after 
the beginning of the following fiscal year.
    ``(d) Parties Eligible for Distribution of Antidumping and 
Countervailing Duties Assessed.--
            ``(1) The Commission shall forward to the Commissioner 
        within sixty days of the effective date of this section or 
        within sixty days of an antidumping or countervailing duty 
        order issued after the effective date of this section a list of 
        petitioners and companies that indicate support of the petition 
        by inclusion in the petition or supplements thereto, by letter 
        or through questionnaire response. Where no injury test was 
        required or where the Commission's records do not permit an 
        identification of those in support of a petition the Commission 
        shall consult with the Department of Commerce to determine the 
        identity of the petitioner and those domestic parties who have 
        entered appearances during administrative reviews conducted by 
        Commerce and sought vigorous enforcement of United States law.
            ``(2) The Commissioner shall publish in the Federal 
        Register at least thirty days prior to the issuance of 
        payments, a notice of intention to distribute duty assessments, 
        the list of companies eligible based on the list obtained from 
        the Commission, and shall request a certification from each 
        recipient as to--
                    ``(A) desire to receive distribution,
                    ``(B) continued eligibility as an affected domestic 
                producer, and
                    ``(C) the qualifying expenditures incurred since 
                the issuance of the order for which distribution under 
                this section has not previously been made.
            ``(3) The Commissioner shall distribute all funds 
        (including all interest earned) from assessments received in 
        the completed fiscal year to affected domestic producers based 
        on the affirmative responses to paragraph (2) on a pro rata 
        basis based on new and remaining qualifying expenditures.
    ``(e) Special Accounts.--
            ``(1) Within fourteen days of the effective date of this 
        provision for outstanding antidumping orders and findings or 
        for outstanding countervailing duty orders or within fourteen 
        days of the date an antidumping or countervailing duty order 
        takes effect, the Commissioner shall establish in the Treasury 
        a special account with respect to that order or finding.
            ``(2) The Commissioner shall have deposited into the 
        special accounts all antidumping or countervailing duties, 
        including interest on such duties, that are assessed under the 
        antidumping order or finding or the countervailing duty order 
        with respect to which the account was established since the 
        effective date of this section.
            ``(3) The monies in a special account shall be available 
        for distribution to the extent of actual assessment (including 
        interest).
            ``(4) Consistent with the requirements of subsection (c), 
        the Commissioner shall by regulation prescribe the time and 
        manner in which distribution of funds from special accounts 
        will be made.
            ``(5) The special accounts shall remain in existence until 
        all entries relating to an order which has been terminated are 
        liquidated and duties assessed collected and the Commissioner 
        has provided one last notice of opportunity to obtain 
        distribution pursuant to subsection (c). Amounts not claimed 
        within 90 days of the time of such final distribution shall be 
        returned to the general fund of the Treasury.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for title VII of 
the Tariff Act of 1930 is amended by inserting the following new item 
after the item relating to section 753:

``Sec. 754. Continued dumping or subsidy offset.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The continued antidumping or subsidy offset 
shall apply with regard to all assessments made on or after October 1, 
1996, on outstanding antidumping findings or orders or countervailing 
duty orders.
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