[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 92 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 92

  To ensure the safety of seafood and seafood products being imported 
                        into the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 6, 2009

  Mr. Vitter introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To ensure the safety of seafood and seafood products being imported 
                        into the United States.

    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 ``Imported Seafood Safety Enhancement 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. REFUSAL OF ENTRY.

    The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall issue an order 
refusing admission into the United States of all imports of seafood or 
seafood products originating from a country or exporter if the 
Secretary determines that shipments of such seafood or seafood 
products--
            (1) do not meet the requirements regarding food safety 
        under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 
        et seq.); or
            (2) are not likely to meet the requirements of any other 
        Federal law regarding food safety.

SEC. 3. REJECTED SHIPMENTS.

    In the case in which a shipment of seafood or seafood products is 
refused admission into the United States pursuant to section 2, the 
following actions shall be taken:
            (1) Such shipment shall be clearly marked ``Refused Entry 
        by the United States Government''.
            (2) If such shipment is bound for its country of origin, 
        the importer shall first notify the appropriate authority of 
        the country of origin of the reasons and circumstances 
        preventing the admission of the shipment into the United States 
        before the rejected shipment may be released to the importer.
            (3) If such shipment is bound for a third party country, 
        the importer shall first notify the third party country's 
        appropriate authority of such refusal of admission into the 
        United States. The third party country shall notify the Food 
        and Drug Administration of the third party country's acceptance 
        of the shipment before the rejected shipment may be released to 
        the importer. If such notification of acceptance is not made by 
        the date that is 45 days after the date of notification to the 
        third party country of the rejection, then the shipment shall 
        be destroyed.
            (4) Not later than 5 days after the date of the refusal of 
        admission into the United States, the Secretary of Health and 
        Human Services shall issue a notice to all United States ports 
        of entry that such shipment was refused admission into the 
        United States.
                                 <all>