[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1073 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1073

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to ensure that United States industry is 
  consulted with respect to all aspects of the WTO dispute settlement 
                                process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 May 18 (legislative day, May 14), 1999

  Mr. Ashcroft (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Burns, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
Roberts, Mr. Enzi, and Mr. Hagel) introduced the following bill; which 
        was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to ensure that United States industry is 
  consulted with respect to all aspects of the WTO dispute settlement 
                                process.

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

SECTION 1. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN IMPLEMENTING WTO DISPUTE 
              SETTLEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 306(b)(2) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2416(b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``If the'' and inserting ``(A) Failure to 
        implement recommendation.--If the''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) Comment on panel and appellate body 
                reports.--In any case in which a panel or Appellate 
                Body report is adopted in favor of the United States 
                pursuant to the dispute settlement proceedings of the 
                World Trade Organization, the Trade Representative 
                shall within 90 days of the adoption of the panel 
                report (or, if the panel report is appealed, within 90 
                days of the adoption of the Appellate Body report)--
                            ``(i) make publicly available information 
                        on--
                                    ``(I) the report,
                                    ``(II) the plans of the foreign 
                                country against which the report is 
                                issued to implement the recommendations 
                                contained in the report, and
                                    ``(III) the time by which the 
                                foreign country has agreed to implement 
                                the recommendations;
                            ``(ii) seek advice from the appropriate 
                        committee pursuant to section 135; and
                            ``(iii) seek advice from the Committee on 
                        Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways 
                        and Means of the House of Representatives and, 
                        where appropriate, from the Committee on 
                        Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the 
                        Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the 
                        House of Representatives.
                    ``(C) Comments when reasonable period beyond 220 
                days.--If, pursuant to paragraph 3 of article 21 of the 
                Understanding On Rules And Procedures Governing the 
                Settlement of Disputes of the World Trade Organization, 
                it is agreed that a foreign country described in 
                subparagraph (B) shall have a time period of more than 
                220 days to implement the recommendations of a report 
                described in subparagraph (B), the Trade Representative 
                shall 90 days before the expiration of the agreed time 
                period--
                            ``(i) provide notice and give interested 
                        parties a 30-day period to comment regarding--
                                    ``(I) the progress of the foreign 
                                country in implementing the 
                                recommendations;
                                    ``(II) any action (including the 
                                implementation of any retaliation list) 
                                that should be taken if the 
                                recommendations are not being 
                                implemented or if the foreign country's 
                                plan for implementing the 
                                recommendations is inconsistent with 
                                the report; and
                                    ``(III) any other information that 
                                may be relevant to the Trade 
                                Representative in monitoring the 
                                foreign country's compliance with the 
                                recommendations;
                            ``(ii) submit a report to Congress 
                        regarding the progress made by the foreign 
                        country in implementing the recommendations and 
                        any action the Trade Representative is 
                        considering if the recommendations are not 
                        implemented or if the plan for implementing the 
                        recommendations is inconsistent with the 
                        report; and
                            ``(iii) seek advice from the appropriate 
                        committee pursuant to section 135.
                    ``(D) Comments after agreed time period expires.--
                In the case of a panel or Appellate Body report 
                described in subparagraph (B), the Trade Representative 
                shall, 60 days after the expiration of the period of 
                time agreed to for implementation pursuant to article 
                21 of the Understanding On Rules And Procedures 
                Governing the Settlement of Disputes of the World Trade 
                Organization--
                            ``(i) provide notice and give interested 
                        parties a 40-day period to comment regarding 
                        implementation by the foreign country of the 
                        recommendations contained in the report; and
                            ``(ii) 20 days after the close of the 
                        comment period described in clause (i), report 
                        to Congress regarding--
                                    ``(I) the foreign country's 
                                implementation of the recommendations; 
                                and
                                    ``(II) if the foreign country is 
                                not implementing the recommendations, 
                                the actions the Trade Representative 
                                intends to take under paragraph (1).''.

SEC. 2. UNITED STATES OBJECTIVES WITH RESPECT TO WTO DISPUTE 
              SETTLEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--In any multilateral review of the Understanding of 
Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes, the United 
States Trade Representative shall seek the adoption of procedures that 
would require any WTO member against whom a panel or Appellate Body has 
issued a report--
            (1) to submit to all interested parties the member's plans 
        for implementing the recommendations contained in the panel 
        report (or Appellate Body report, whichever is applicable) not 
        later than 6 months before the end of the reasonable period 
        allowed for the implementation; and
            (2) to consult with all interested parties regarding the 
        member's plans for implementing the recommendations so that any 
        request for modification of the recommendations can be 
        considered before implementation and before the end of the 
        reasonable period.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Reasonable period.--The term ``reasonable period'' has 
        the meaning the term has when used in the Understanding of 
        Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes.
            (2) Understanding of rules and procedures covering the 
        settlement of disputes.--The term ``Understanding of Rules and 
        Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes'' means the 
        Understanding of Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement 
        of Disputes adopted as part of the WTO Agreement.
            (3) Uruguay round agreements.--The term ``Uruguay Round 
        Agreements'' has the meaning given such term in section 2(7) of 
        the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501(7)).
            (4) World trade organization.--The term ``World Trade 
        Organization'' means the organization established pursuant to 
        the WTO Agreement.
            (5) WTO agreement.--The term ``WTO Agreement'' means the 
        Agreement Establishing The World Trade Organization entered 
        into on April 15, 1994.
            (6) WTO and wto member.--The terms ``WTO'' and ``WTO 
        member'' have the meanings given those terms in section 2 of 
        the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
                                 <all>