[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3364 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3364

To authorize appropriate action against Japan for failing to resume the 
  importation of United States beef in a timely manner, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 2006

 Mr. Nelson of Nebraska introduced the following bill; which was read 
             twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize appropriate action against Japan for failing to resume the 
  importation of United States beef in a timely manner, 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. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States cattle industry produces abundant, 
        safe, and healthy food for consumers in the United States and 
        around the world.
            (2) Japan has prohibited imports of beef from the United 
        States since January 20, 2006, when a single shipment of beef 
        products from the United States was found not to be in 
        compliance with the Export Verification protocol agreed to by 
        the United States and Japan in December 2005.
            (3) The noncomplying shipment presented no harm to Japanese 
        consumers and merely consisted of beef products that were not 
        approved for export to Japan. Subsequent investigations have 
        indicated that the noncomplying shipment was the result of 
        human error and that no further noncompliant shipments to Japan 
        were found.
            (4) Japan's reaction to this single incident of 
        noncompliance, by banning all imports of United States beef, 
        was unnecessarily harsh and overly broad, and it has been 
        damaging and unfair to the United States beef industry.
            (5) The United States and the Government of Japan have been 
        working diligently towards resolving the latest ban on United 
        States beef by Japan, but that ban has not been resolved in a 
        timely manner.
            (6) Notwithstanding the commitments Japan has made, Japan 
        continues to maintain an unjustified ban on imports of United 
        States beef as an unnecessarily harsh measure based on a single 
        incident of noncompliance.
            (7) Japan's continued ban on United States beef has been 
        damaging to the American beef industry, costing that industry 
        an estimated $116,000,000 per month.
            (8) The United States cannot continue to permit Japan to 
        unilaterally close trade of all United States beef products 
        based solely on a single, minor incident of noncompliance under 
        the export verification program.

SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION REGARDING UNITED STATES BEEF EXPORTS TO JAPAN.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 
United States Trade Representative shall, not later than 30 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, submit to Congress the 
certification described in subsection (b).
    (b) Certification.--The certification described in this subsection 
means a certification by the United States Trade Representative to 
Congress that Japan is no longer prohibiting the importation of beef 
from the United States.
    (c) Sanctions.--
            (1) In general.--If the certification described in 
        subsection (b) is not made, the United States shall ban the 
        importation of beef products grown or processed in, or exported 
        from, Japan.
            (2) Necessary action.--The United States Trade 
        Representative, in cooperation with the Secretary of 
        Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce, is authorized to 
        take all necessary actions to carry out the ban of imports of 
        beef and beef products from Japan.
            (3) Duration.--The sanctions imposed by this section shall 
        terminate on the date that a certification described in 
        subsection (b) is submitted to Congress.
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