[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3661 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3661

To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide for the seizure, forfeiture, 
 and destruction of textile and apparel articles imported in violation 
     of certain laws of the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 8, 2003

  Mr. Hayes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide for the seizure, forfeiture, 
 and destruction of textile and apparel articles imported in violation 
     of certain laws of the United States, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Illegal Transshipments Enforcement 
Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
            (1) the textile and apparel sector in the United States is 
        being seriously hurt by smuggling and transshipment of textile 
        and apparel products from abroad;
            (2) tens of thousands of textile and apparel workers in the 
        United States have lost their jobs because of these illegal 
        activities;
            (3) according to industry and government estimates, illegal 
        textile and apparel smuggling and transshipment totals billions 
        of dollars each year;
            (4) the People's Republic of China and other major Asian 
        exporters have a decades-long history of illegally shipping 
        textile and apparel goods to the United States; and
            (5) a new avenue of illegal trade, which involves the 
        evasion of duties using countries who are preferential trading 
        partners with the United States, has developed and is 
        particularly harmful to the textile and apparel industry in the 
        United States.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act and the amendments made 
by this Act to increase and broaden the scope of certain penalties 
relating to illegal imports and cargo theft so as to enable the Bureau 
of Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security 
to effectively deter commercial fraud in the United States, 
particularly concerning textile and apparel products.

SEC. 3. SEIZURE AND DESTRUCTION OF CERTAIN TEXTILE AND APPAREL 
              ARTICLES.

    Part V of title IV of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1581 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 632. DESTRUCTION OF FORFEITED TEXTILE AND APPAREL PRODUCTS.

    ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the appropriate 
customs officer may destroy textile or apparel products that have been 
forfeited by reason of a violation of the customs laws.''.

SEC. 4. AUTHORITY TO SEIZE MERCHANDISE IN CERTAIN CASES.

    Section 596(c)(2)(F) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 
1595a(c)(2)(F)) is amended by striking ``identical''.

SEC. 5. INCREASED PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS BY CUSTOMS BROKERS.

    Section 641(d)(2)(A) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 
1641(d)(2)(A)) is amended by striking ``$30,000 in total for a 
violation or violations of this section'' and inserting ``$100,000 for 
each violation of this section''.

SEC. 6. PUNISHMENT OF CARGO THEFT.

    (a) In General.--Section 659 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``with intent to convert to his own use'' 
        each place it appears;
            (2) in the first undesignated paragraph--
                    (A) by inserting ``trailer,'' after 
                ``motortruck,'';
                    (B) by inserting ``air cargo container,'' after 
                ``aircraft,''; and
                    (C) by inserting ``, or from any intermodal 
                container, trailer, container freight station, 
                warehouse, or freight consolidation facility,'' after 
                ``air navigation facility'';
            (3) in the fifth undesignated paragraph, by striking ``one 
        year'' and inserting ``3 years''; and
            (4) in the penultimate undesignated paragraph, by inserting 
        after the first sentence the following: ``For purposes of this 
        section, goods and chattel shall be construed to be moving as 
        an interstate or foreign shipment at all points between the 
        point of origin and the final destination (as evidenced by the 
        waybill or other shipping document of the shipment), regardless 
        of any temporary stop while awaiting transshipment or 
        otherwise.''.
    (b) Federal Sentencing Guidelines.--Pursuant to section 994 of 
title 28, United States Code, the United States Sentencing Commission 
shall review the Federal sentencing guidelines under section 659 of 
title 18, United States Code, as amended by this section, and, upon 
completion of the review, promulgate amendments to the Federal 
Sentencing Guidelines to provide appropriate enhancement of the 
applicable guidelines.
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