[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2707 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2707

  To establish trade negotiating objectives of the United States with 
 respect to the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures to 
agricultural products to facilitate trade in agriculture, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2011

  Mr. Nunes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To establish trade negotiating objectives of the United States with 
 respect to the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures to 
agricultural products to facilitate trade in agriculture, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Agricultural Trade Facilitation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Pursuant to article I, section 8, clause 3 of the 
        Constitution of the United States, Congress has the authority 
        to establish negotiating objectives for the United States for 
        agreements related to agricultural trade.
            (2) From 2008 to 2010, the value of United States 
        agricultural exports averaged nearly $107 billion annually. 
        Compared to 1998 to 2000, when the total value of agricultural 
        exports averaged $51,000,000,000 annually, United States 
        agricultural exports have more than doubled in past ten years.
            (3) The Department of Agriculture's Economic Research 
        Service reports that each $1,000,000,000 in United States 
        agricultural exports supports approximately 8,400 jobs. The 
        Economic Research Service further reports that United States 
        agricultural exports supported nearly 830,000 full-time 
        American jobs both on and off-farm in 2009.
            (4) Even as the importance of agricultural exports to the 
        United States economy grows, there are continued reports that 
        non science-based sanitary and phytosanitary measures are 
        restricting trade, acting as non-tariff barriers to trade. The 
        elimination and reduction of unwarranted sanitary and 
        phytosanitary barriers to trade will increase United States 
        agricultural exports and jobs.
            (5) Sanitary and phytosanitary measures are those designed 
        ``to protect human, animal or plant life or health from risks'' 
        arising from additives, contaminants, pests, toxins, diseases, 
        or disease-carrying and causing organisms in foods, beverages, 
        feedstuffs, animals, or plants. Sanitary and phytosanitary 
        measures can take such forms as specific product or processing 
        standards, requirements for products to be produced in disease-
        free areas, quarantine regulations, certification or inspection 
        procedures, sampling and testing requirements, health-related 
        labeling measures, maximum permissible pesticide residue 
        levels, and prohibitions on certain food additives.
            (6) There are currently 37 active disputes involving 
        sanitary and phytosanitary measures being argued within the 
        World Trade Organization (WTO) between Member countries. These 
        cases have been invoked under the WTO Agreement on the 
        Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures.
            (7) While the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 
        Phytosanitary Measures, to which all WTO Member countries are 
        parties, explicitly recognizes the rights of each country to 
        take their own measures, they must be science-based and applied 
        only to the extent necessary to protect human, animal or plant 
        health, and cannot be arbitrary or used to unjustifiably 
        discriminate domestically or between trading partners. Member 
        countries are also encouraged to observe established and 
        recognized international standards. Improper use of measures 
        can create substantial, if not complete, barriers to United 
        States exports when they are disguised barriers to trade, are 
        not supported by science, or are otherwise unwarranted.
            (8) In 2010, a United States interagency group led by the 
        Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service, 
        reviewed more than 1,000 notifications from 50 countries as 
        required under the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 
        Phytosanitary Measures. The United States Government commented 
        on 173 proposed or in-force sanitary and phytosanitary 
        measures. Nearly one-half of the comments were measures 
        regarding processed products, one-third addressed requirements 
        for live animals and fish (and their products, including dairy 
        products); and almost one-quarter were for measures that 
        introduced new standards or entry requirements for plants, bulk 
        commodities (including those made with biotechnology), and 
        horticultural products.
            (9) Each year, the United States Trade Representative 
        reports that non science-based sanitary and phytosanitary trade 
        barriers continue to threaten, constrain, or block United 
        States agricultural exports.
            (10) A Department of Agriculture study of the impact of 
        foreign technical trade barriers on United States agricultural 
        exports reported the presence of ``questionable technical 
        barriers'' in more than 60 countries affecting trade in more 
        than 300 agricultural products, valued at an estimated $5 
        billion of United States agricultural, forestry, and fishery 
        exports using 1996 data, accounting for about 7 percent of 
        total agricultural exports during that year. Although more 
        recent formal estimates of United States agricultural trade 
        effects are not available, the United States Trade 
        Representative continues to assert: ``[Sanitary and 
        phytosanitary] trade barriers prevent U.S. producers from 
        shipping hundreds of millions of dollars worth of goods, 
        hurting farms and small businesses''.
            (11) The improper use of sanitary and phytosanitary trade 
        barriers to trade can be reduced through achieving and 
        implementing agreements that provide for enhanced 
        harmonization, transparency, equivalency, improved regulatory 
        practices, and more efficient and effective dispute settlement. 
        The elimination and reduction in use of such barriers to trade 
        will strengthen the international trading system by providing 
        certainty, predictability, and fair treatment.
            (12) The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and 
        Phytosanitary Measures has proven valuable to United States 
        exporters, but experience has exposed certain inadequacies in 
        its rules.
            (13) Accordingly, as the United States prepares for future 
        trade agreements, the Administration must prioritize further 
        strengthening of rules on sanitary and phytosanitary measures.

SEC. 3. TRADE NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES OF THE UNITED STATES WITH RESPECT 
              TO THE APPLICATION OF SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES 
              TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS.

    (a) Overall Trade Negotiating Objectives.--The overall trade 
negotiating objective of the United States with respect to the 
application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures to agricultural 
products for trade agreements between the United States and foreign 
countries is to secure more open, equitable, and reciprocal market 
access by strengthening the rules governing the application of sanitary 
and phytosanitary measures to agricultural products.
    (b) Principal Trade Negotiating Objectives.--The principal trade 
negotiating objectives of the United States with respect to the 
application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures to agricultural 
products are the following:
            (1) To strengthen the requirement that the application of 
        measures is based on scientific evidence by requiring parties 
        to the agreement to make available their risk assessments and 
        provide a science-based justification for regulations, in 
        particular in cases in which measures are more restrictive than 
        international standards.
            (2) To encourage parties to the agreement to participate 
        actively in the development of international standards relating 
        to the application of measures and to apply those standards 
        whenever it is appropriate to do so and to require parties to 
        provide a scientific justification whenever they apply a 
        standard that deviates from an established international 
        standard.
            (3) To improve regulatory coherence and increase the use of 
        systems-based approaches, to require parties to the agreement 
        to evaluate on a timely basis the health and safety protection 
        systems of other parties and to allow imports of products if 
        the system of the exporting party meets or exceeds the end-
        product standards of the importing party.
            (4) To require greater transparency in the development and 
        implementation of the measures, to require parties to the 
        agreement to publish proposed measures, including a scientific 
        justification, to provide an opportunity for interested parties 
        to comment on the proposal, and to take into account reasonable 
        concerns, and to require parties to provide significant advance 
        notice before implementing new, non-emergency measures in order 
        to provide ample time for any necessary adjustments by industry 
        in order to come into compliance.
            (5) To require parties to the agreement to carry out risk 
        analysis in a timely manner consistent with the guidelines 
        developed by relevant international organizations, to ensure 
        that risk assessments are based on the most relevant scientific 
        data, to require parties to consider the full range of risk 
        management options and to ensure that the measures are no more 
        trade-restrictive than necessary to meet the intended purpose, 
        and to require effective risk communication.
            (6) To improve rules governing the testing of imported 
        products, to require importing parties to use validated test 
        methods and to provide importers with the right to a 
        confirmatory test, and to provide the right of appeal.
            (7) To promote the harmonization of export certification 
        requirements and to require that parties to the agreement limit 
        information requirements on export documents to that which is 
        necessary to determine whether a product meets sanitary and 
        phytosanitary standards.
            (8) To ensure that new sanitary and phytosanitary trade 
        obligations are fully enforceable through an a more efficient 
        and effective dispute settlement process.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
takes effect on the date of the enactment of this Act and applies with 
respect to negotiations entered into before, on, or after such date of 
enactment for any trade agreement relating to the application of 
sanitary and phytosanitary measures to agricultural products.
    (b) Exception.--This Act does not apply with respect to 
negotiations for any of the following:
            (1) The United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.
            (2) The United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
            (3) The United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement.
            (4) The Doha Development Round of the World Trade 
        Organization.
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