110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7222
In the Senate of the United
States,
October 2 (legislative
day, September 17), 2008.
Amendment:
That the bill from the House of Representatives
(H.R. 7222) entitled An Act to extend the Andean Trade Preference Act,
and for other purposes.
, do pass with the following
Strike all after
the enacting clause and insert the
following:
1.Extension of Andean Trade
Preference Act
(a)Section
208 of the Andean Trade Preference Act (19 U.S.C. 3206) is amended to read as
follows:
208.Termination of
preferential treatment
(a)No duty-free treatment or other preferential treatment
extended to beneficiary countries under this title shall—
(1)remain in effect
with respect to Colombia or Peru after December 31, 2009;
(2)remain in effect
with respect to Ecuador after June 30, 2009, except that duty-free treatment
and other preferential treatment under this title shall remain in effect with
respect to Ecuador during the period beginning on July 1, 2009, and ending on
December 31, 2009, unless the President reviews the criteria set forth in
section 203, and on or before June 30, 2009, reports to the Committee on
Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives pursuant to subsection (b) that—
(A)the President has
determined that Ecuador does not satisfy the requirements set forth in section
203(c) for being designated as a beneficiary country; and
(B)in making that
determination, the President has taken into account each of the factors set
forth in section 203(d); and
(3)remain in effect
with respect to Bolivia after June 30, 2009, except that duty-free treatment
and other preferential treatment under this title shall remain in effect with
respect to Bolivia during the period beginning on July 1, 2009, and ending on
December 31, 2009, only if the President reviews the criteria set forth in
section 203, and on or before June 30, 2009, reports to the Committee on
Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives pursuant to subsection (b) that—
(A)the President has
determined that Bolivia satisfies the requirements set forth in section 203(c)
for being designated as a beneficiary country; and
(B)in making that
determination, the President has taken into account each of the factors set
forth in section 203(d).
(b)On
or before June 30, 2009, the President shall make determinations pursuant to
subsections (a)(2)(A) and (a)(3)(A) and report to the Committee on Finance of
the Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives
on—
(1)such
determinations; and
(2)the reasons for
such
determinations.
.
(b)Treatment of
certain apparel articlesSection 204(b)(3) of such Act (19 U.S.C.
3203(b)(3)) is amended—
(1)in subparagraph
(B)—
(A)in clause
(iii)—
(i)in subclause (II),
by striking 6 succeeding 1-year periods
and inserting 7
succeeding 1-year periods
; and
(ii)in subclause
(III)(bb), by striking and for the succeeding 1-year period
and
inserting and for the succeeding 2-year period
; and
(B)in clause (v)(II),
by striking 5 succeeding 1-year periods
and inserting 6
succeeding 1-year periods
; and
(2)in subparagraph (E)(ii)(II), by striking
December 31, 2008
and inserting December 31,
2009
.
2.Earned import
allowance program
(a)Title IV of the
Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act (Public Law 109–53; 119 Stat. 495) is amended by adding at
the end the following:
404.Earned import
allowance program
(a)
(1)Eligible apparel articles wholly assembled in an eligible
country and imported directly from an eligible country shall enter the United
States free of duty, without regard to the source of the fabric or yarns from
which the articles are made, if such apparel articles are accompanied by an
earned import allowance certificate that reflects the amount of credits equal
to the total square meter equivalents of fabric in such apparel articles, in
accordance with the program established under subsection (b).
(2)Determination of
quantity of SMEFor purposes of determining the quantity of
square meter equivalents under paragraph (1), the conversion factors listed in
Correlation: U.S. Textile and Apparel Industry Category System with the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States of America, 2008
, or
its successor publications, of the United States Department of Commerce, shall
apply.
(b)Earned import
allowance program
(1)The
Secretary of Commerce shall establish a program to provide earned import
allowance certificates to any producer or entity controlling production of
eligible apparel articles in an eligible country for purposes of subsection
(a), based on the elements described in paragraph (2).
(2)The
elements referred to in paragraph (1) are the following:
(A)One credit shall be issued to a producer or
an entity controlling production for every two square meter equivalents of
qualifying fabric that the producer or entity controlling production can
demonstrate that it has purchased for the manufacture in an eligible country of
articles like or similar to any article eligible for preferential treatment
under subsection (a). The Secretary of Commerce shall, if requested by a
producer or entity controlling production, create and maintain an account for
such producer or entity controlling production, into which such credits may be
deposited.
(B)Such producer or
entity controlling production may redeem credits issued under subparagraph (A)
for earned import allowance certificates reflecting such number of earned
credits as the producer or entity may request and has available.
(C)Any textile mill
or other entity located in the United States that exports qualifying fabric to
an eligible country may submit, upon such export or upon request, the Shipper’s
Export Declaration, or successor documentation, to the Secretary of
Commerce—
(i)verifying that the
qualifying fabric was exported to a producer or entity controlling production
in an eligible country; and
(ii)identifying such
producer or entity controlling production, and the quantity and description of
qualifying fabric exported to such producer or entity controlling
production.
(D)The Secretary of Commerce may require that
a producer or entity controlling production submit documentation to verify
purchases of qualifying fabric.
(E)The Secretary of
Commerce may make available to each person or entity identified in the
documentation submitted under subparagraph (C) or (D) information contained in
such documentation that relates to the purchase of qualifying fabric involving
such person or entity.
(F)The program shall be established so as to
allow, to the extent feasible, the submission, storage, retrieval, and
disclosure of information in electronic format, including information with
respect to the earned import allowance certificates required under subsection
(a)(1).
(G)The Secretary of Commerce may reconcile
discrepancies in the information provided under subparagraph (C) or (D) and
verify the accuracy of such information.
(H)The Secretary of Commerce shall establish
procedures to carry out the program under this section by September 30, 2008,
and may establish additional requirements to carry out the program.
(c)For purposes of this section—
(1)the term appropriate congressional
committees means the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
(2)the term eligible apparel
articles means the following articles classified in chapter 62 of the
HTS (and meeting the requirements of the rules relating to chapter 62 of the
HTS contained in general note 29(n) of the HTS) of cotton (but not of denim):
trousers, bib and brace overalls, breeches and shorts, skirts and divided
skirts, and pants;
(3)the
term eligible country means the Dominican Republic; and
(4)the
term qualifying fabric means woven fabric of cotton wholly formed
in the United States from yarns wholly formed in the United States and
certified by the producer or entity controlling production as being suitable
for use in the manufacture of apparel items such as trousers, bib and brace
overalls, breeches and shorts, skirts and divided skirts or pants, all the
foregoing of cotton, except that—
(A)fabric otherwise
eligible as qualifying fabric shall not be ineligible as qualifying fabric
because the fabric contains nylon filament yarn with respect to which section
213(b)(2)(A)(vii)(IV) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act
applies;
(B)fabric that would
otherwise be ineligible as qualifying fabric because the fabric contains yarns
not wholly formed in the United States shall not be ineligible as qualifying
fabric if the total weight of all such yarns is not more than 10 percent of the
total weight of the fabric, except that any elastomeric yarn contained in an
eligible apparel article must be wholly formed in the United States; and
(C)fabric otherwise
eligible as qualifying fabric shall not be ineligible as qualifying fabric
because the fabric contains yarns or fibers that have been designated as not
commercially available pursuant to—
(i)article 3.25(4) or
Annex 3.25 of the Agreement;
(ii)Annex
401 of the North American Free Trade Agreement;
(iii)section
112(b)(5) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act;
(iv)section
204(b)(3)(B)(i)(III) or (ii) of the Andean Trade Preference Act;
(v)section
213(b)(2)(A)(v) or 213A(b)(5)(A) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act;
or
(vi)any
other provision, relating to determining whether a textile or apparel article
is an originating good eligible for preferential treatment, of a law that
implements a free trade agreement entered into by the United States that is in
effect at the time the claim for preferential treatment is made.
(d)
(1)The
United States International Trade Commission shall carry out a review of the
program under this section annually for the purpose of evaluating the
effectiveness of, and making recommendations for improvements in, the
program.
(2)The
United States International Trade Commission shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees annually a report on the results of the review carried
out under paragraph (1).
(e)Effective date
and applicability
(1)The program under this section shall be in effect for the
10-year period beginning on the date on which the President certifies to the
appropriate congressional committees that sections A, B, C, and D of the Annex
to Presidential Proclamation 8213 (December 20, 2007) have taken effect.
(2)The program under this section shall apply
with respect to qualifying fabric exported to an eligible country on or after
August 1,
2007.
.
(b)The table of
contents for the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to
section 403 the following:
Sec. 404. Earned import allowance
program.
.
3.African Growth and
Opportunity Act
(a)Section 112 of the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (19 U.S.C. 3721) is amended—
(1)in
subsection (b)(6)(A), by striking ethic
in the second sentence
and inserting ethnic
; and
(2)in
subsection (c)—
(A)in
paragraph (1), by striking , and subject to paragraph
(2),
;
(B)by
striking paragraphs (2) and (3);
(C)in
paragraph (4)—
(i)by
striking Subsection (b)(3)(C)
and inserting Subsection
(b)(3)(B)
; and
(ii)by
redesignating such paragraph (4) as paragraph (2); and
(D)by
striking paragraph (5) and inserting the following:
(3)In this subsection, the term lesser
developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country means—
(A)a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country
that had a per capita gross national product of less than $1,500 in 1998, as
measured by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
(B)Botswana;
(C)Namibia; and
(D)Mauritius.
.
(b)The
amendments made by subsection (a) apply to goods entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse for consumption, on or after the 15th day after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
(c)
(1)
(A)The United States International Trade
Commission shall conduct a review to identify yarns, fabrics, and other textile
and apparel inputs that through new or increased investment or other measures
can be produced competitively in beneficiary sub-Saharan African
countries.
(B)Not later than 7 months after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the United States International Trade Commission
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and the Comptroller
General a report on the results of the review carried out under subparagraph
(A).
(2)Not later than 90 days
after the submission of the report under paragraph (1)(B), the Comptroller
General shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report that,
based on the results of the report submitted under paragraph (1)(B) and other
available information, contains recommendations for changes to United States
trade preference programs, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (19
U.S.C. 3701 et seq.) and the amendments made by that Act, to provide incentives
to increase investment and other measures necessary to improve the
competitiveness of beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries in the production
of yarns, fabrics, and other textile and apparel inputs identified in the
report submitted under paragraph (1)(B), including changes to requirements
relating to rules of origin under such programs.
(3)In
this subsection—
(A)the term appropriate congressional
committees means the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate; and
(B)the term
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries has the meaning given
the term in section 506A(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2466a(c)).
(d)Section 6002(a)(2)(B) of Public Law 109–432 is amended
by striking (B) by striking
and inserting (B) in
paragraph (3), by striking
.
4.Generalized
System of PreferencesSection
505 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2465) is amended by striking
December 31, 2008
and inserting December 31,
2009
.
5.
(a)Section 13031(j)(3)
of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C.
58c(j)(3)) is amended—
(1)in subparagraph (A), by striking
November 14, 2017
and inserting February 14,
2018
; and
(2)in subparagraph
(B)(i), by striking October 7, 2017
and inserting January
31, 2018
.
(b)Section 15201 of the Food, Conservation,
and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–246) is amended by striking subsections
(c) and (d).
6.Time for payment of
corporate estimated taxesThe
percentage under subparagraph (C) of section 401(1) of the Tax Increase
Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 in effect on the date of the
enactment of this Act is increased by 2 percentage points.
7.Section 15402 of
the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–246) is
amended—
(1)in
subsections (a) and (b), by striking Carribean
each place it
appears and inserting Caribbean
; and
(2)in subsection (d), by striking
231A(b)
and inserting 213A(b)
.
Secretary