[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2271 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2271

  To prohibit the awarding of contracts by the Federal Government to 
  Chinese entities until the People's Republic of China signs the WTO 
                  Agreement on Government Procurement.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 22, 2011

  Mr. Royce (for himself and Mr. Connolly of Virginia) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the awarding of contracts by the Federal Government to 
  Chinese entities until the People's Republic of China signs the WTO 
                  Agreement on Government Procurement.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) is a 
        plurilateral agreement among 41 members of the World Trade 
        Organization (WTO) that provides reciprocal market access for 
        certain government procurement projects.
            (2) Members of the GPA submit schedules containing lists of 
        covered government entities, as well as goods and services that 
        are open to bidding by firms of the other GPA members.
            (3) The People's Republic of China became an official 
        observer of the GPA committee in February 2002, and formally 
        applied for GPA membership in December 2007, when it submitted 
        its first offer.
            (4) The United States, along with several other major GPA 
        parties, deemed China's accession bid unacceptable.
            (5) China submitted a follow-up bid to join the GPA on July 
        9, 2010, that was viewed as an improvement from its previous 
        offer, but was ultimately unacceptable to all GPA members, in 
        part because the Chinese offer excluded purchases by local and 
        provincial governments as well as state-owned enterprises.
            (6) Chinese entities continue to be awarded United States 
        Government contracts, despite not being a party to the GPA.
            (7) Concerns remain over China's alleged discriminatory 
        procurement practices and policies against foreign firms.
            (8) China estimated its public procurement market at 
        $110,000,000,000 in 2009.
            (9) The United States Department of Commerce estimated the 
        Chinese public procurement market could be as high as 
        $200,000,000,000 or more in its report entitled ``Doing 
        Business in China, 2011 Country Commercial Guide for United 
        States Companies''.
            (10) The European Chamber of Commerce's report, ``Public 
        Procurement in China: European Business Experiences Competing 
        for Public Contracts in China'' found that ``China's overall 
        public procurement market could be worth over 7 trillion RMB. 
        FIEs (Foreign Invested Enterprise) competing for this market 
        face numerous significant non-market challenges''.
            (11) Congress urges the Chinese Government to end these 
        discriminatory practices against United States businesses.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS.

    (a) Prohibition.--No department or agency of the United States may 
enter into any contract with any Chinese entity for the procurement of 
goods or services until the Peoples Republic of China becomes a 
signatory to the Agreement on Government Procurement.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Agreement on government procurement.--The term 
        ``Agreement on Government Procurement'' means the Agreement on 
        Government Procurement referred to in section 101(d)(17) of the 
        Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3511(d)(17).
            (2) Chinese entity.--The term ``Chinese entity'' means any 
        entity--
                    (A) which is located in the People's Republic of 
                China; and
                    (B) the majority of the equity or other ownership 
                interests of which are owned or controlled by the 
                Government of the People's Republic of China or by 
                Chinese nationals.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Section 2 applies to contracts entered into on or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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