109 HR 5849 IH: Illegal Transshipments Enforcement Act U.S. House of Representatives 2006-07-20 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5849 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES July 20, 2006 Mr. Hayes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To increase the fine and prison term for textile transshipment, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Illegal Transshipments Enforcement Act of 2006.

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.

3.

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 eighth 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.