[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6924 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6924

   To provide for the modification of duties on environmental goods.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 17, 2008

    Mr. Herger (for himself and Mr. Brady of Texas) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for the modification of duties on environmental goods.

    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 ``Green Export Enhancement Act'' or 
``GREEN Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Trade liberalization is among the vital actions that 
        can be taken to facilitate efforts to protect the environment 
        and halt climate change by providing greater access to climate-
        friendly goods and technologies, particularly in developing 
        countries.
            (2) Promoting trade in environmental goods complements and 
        supports the objectives of the United Nations Framework 
        Convention on Climate Change and contributes to the goal of 
        United States and foreign trade officials in ensuring that 
        climate change mitigation and trade liberalization are 
        conducted in a mutually supportive manner.
            (3) According to a recent study conducted by the World 
        Bank, entitled ``International Trade and Climate Change: 
        Economic, Legal, and Institutional Perspectives'', the removal 
        of tariffs and nontariff barriers to key environmental 
        technologies could increase trade in these technologies by an 
        additional 7 to 14 percent annually.
            (4) Reducing or eliminating tariffs on environmental goods, 
        where reciprocal duty reductions or elimination has been 
        achieved for such goods as a result of negotiations in the 
        World Trade Organization, will make a significant and real 
        contribution to furthering global environmental and climate 
        change objectives.

SEC. 3. ENVIRONMENTAL GOODS TARIFF AUTHORITY.

    (a) Proclamation Authority.--Subject to the consultation and 
layover requirements of section 115 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act 
(19 U.S.C. 3524), the President may proclaim the modification of any 
duty or staged rate reduction of any duty in Schedule XX on 
environmental goods, as defined in a multilateral negotiation for the 
reciprocal elimination, reduction, or harmonization of duties under the 
auspices of the World Trade Organization, if the United States agrees 
to such modification or staged rate reduction in such a multilateral 
negotiation.
    (b) Definition.--In this section, the term ``Scheduled XX'' has the 
meaning given that term in section 2(5) of the Uruguay Round Agreements 
Act (19 U.S.C. 3501(5)).
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