[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2181 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2181

 To impose certain restrictions on imports of softwood lumber products 
                               of Canada.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 14, 2001

Mr. DeFazio (for himself, Mr. Norwood, Ms. Hooley of Oregon, Mr. Shows, 
 Mr. Boyd, Mr. Taylor of Mississippi, Mr. Baird, Mr. Graham, Mr. Ross, 
  Mr. Pickering, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Callahan, Mr. 
 Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Kucinich, and 
 Ms. DeGette) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means.

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To impose certain restrictions on imports of softwood lumber products 
                               of Canada.

    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 ``Softwood Lumber Fair Competition 
Act''.

SEC. 2. IMPORT RELIEF.

    (a) Reduction.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, within 
60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President 
shall take the necessary steps, by imposing quotas, tariff surcharges, 
negotiated enforceable voluntary export restraint agreements, or other 
measures, on imports of softwood lumber products of Canada to ensure 
that the volume of each softwood lumber product, as measured in 
thousand board feet, that is a product of Canada and is imported into 
the United States during any month does not exceed the average volume 
of such product that was imported monthly during the 24-month period 
preceding December 1995.
    (b) Enforcement Authority.--Within 60 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury, through the 
United States Customs Service, and the Secretary of Commerce shall 
implement a program for administering and enforcing the restraints on 
imports under subsection (a). The Customs Service is authorized to 
refuse entry into the customs territory of the United States of any 
softwood lumber products that exceed the allowable levels of imports of 
such products.
    (c) Applicability.--For the purposes of this Act, the term 
``softwood lumber product'' means any product classified under any of 
the following:
            (1) Subheading 4407.10.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 
        of the United States.
            (2) Subheadings 4409.10.10, 4409.10.20, and 4409.10.90 of 
        such Schedule.
            (3) Heading 4418 of such Schedule.
    (d) Waivers During Periods of Short Supply and High Prices.--The 
President may waive the applicability of subsection (a), for periods of 
not more than 3 months each, with respect to any product referred to in 
subsection (c) if--
            (1) the President determines that the product cannot be 
        supplied by the domestic industry in commercial quantities, or 
        at an affordable cost, in a timely manner;
            (2) the President has obtained advice regarding that 
        determination from the appropriate advisory committee 
        established under section 135 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 
        U.S.C. 2155) and the United States International Trade 
        Commission;
            (3) the President has submitted to the Congress a report 
        that sets forth that determination and the reasons therefor, 
        and the advice obtained under paragraph (2); and
            (4) a period of 30 calendar days has elapsed since the 
        report was submitted under paragraph (3).
    (e) Definition.--For purposes of subsection (d), the term 
``affordable cost'' means, with respect to a product, a price at or 
below the highest average price, adjusted for inflation, for any 
calendar quarter occurring during the period beginning January 1, 1996, 
and ending December 31, 2000, per thousand board feet of that product.
    (f) Expiration.--This section shall expire at the end of the 5-year 
period beginning 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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