[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 553 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 553

To provide additional trade benefits to countries that comply with the 
                   provisions of the ILO Convention.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 1999

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide additional trade benefits to countries that comply with the 
                   provisions of the ILO Convention.

    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 ``International Child Welfare 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL BENEFITS FOR CERTAIN BENEFICIARY COUNTRIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 503(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
U.S.C. 2463(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph:
                    ``(D) Additional benefits for ilo eligible 
                beneficiary countries.--Notwithstanding any other 
                provision of this title, the President may proclaim a 
                rate of duty that is equal to 50 percent of the rate of 
                duty that would otherwise apply under this title with 
                respect to any article referred to in subsection (b)(1) 
                (A), (C), (E), (F), or (G), if the article is an 
                article originating in an ILO eligible beneficiary 
                country.
    (b) Waiver of Competitive Need Limitation.--Section 503(c)(2)(D) of 
such Act (19 U.S.C. 2463(c)(2)(D)) is amended to read as follows:
                    ``(D) Least-developed beneficiary developing 
                country; ilo eligible beneficiary country.--
                Subparagraph (A) shall not apply to any least-developed 
                beneficiary developing country or any beneficiary 
                developing country that is an ILO eligible beneficiary 
                country.''.
    (c) Withdrawal, Suspension, or Limitation of Additional Benefits.--
Section 503 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2463) is amended by adding at the 
end the following new subsection:
    ``(g) Withdrawal, Suspension, or Limitation of Additional 
Benefits.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law, the President may withdraw, suspend, or limit the 
        designation of any country as an ILO eligible beneficiary 
        country for purposes of the benefits described in subsection 
        (a)(1)(D) if the President determines that--
                    ``(A) the country no longer meets the criteria set 
                forth in section 507(6); or
                    ``(B) imports of the article to which such 
                additional benefits have been granted have increased in 
                such amounts as to cause, or threaten to cause, injury 
                to a domestic industry producing an article like or 
                directly competitive with the article.
            ``(2) Effective date of withdrawal, etc.; advice to 
        congress.--
                    ``(A) Effective date.--A country shall cease to be 
                an ILO eligible beneficiary country on the day on which 
                the President issues an Executive order or Presidential 
                proclamation revoking the designation of such country 
                under this title.
                    ``(B) Advice to congress.--The President shall, as 
                necessary, advise Congress on the application of 
                subsection (a)(1)(D) and the actions the President has 
                taken to withdraw, to suspend, or to limit the 
                application of preferential treatment with respect to 
                any country which has failed to adequately meet the 
                criteria described in section 507(6).''.
    (d) Definitions.--Section 507 of such Act (19 U.S.C. 2467) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) ILO eligible beneficiary country.--The term `ILO 
        eligible beneficiary country' means a least-developed 
        beneficiary developing country or a beneficiary developing 
        country that--
                    ``(A) the President determines, after consultation 
                with the Secretary of Labor, is implementing and 
                enforcing the provisions of Convention No. 138 of the 
                General Conference of the International Labor 
                Organization; and
                    ``(B) has requested the additional benefits 
                described in section 503(a)(1)(D).
            ``(7) Article originating in an ilo eligible beneficiary 
        country.--An article is an article originating in an ILO 
        eligible beneficiary country if the article meets the rules of 
        origin for an article set forth in section 503(a)(2), except 
        that in applying section 503(a)(2), any reference to a 
        beneficiary developing country shall be deemed to refer to an 
        ILO eligible beneficiary country.''.
                                 <all>