Short title

This Act may be cited as the

Agricultural Trade Facilitation Act

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.

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.

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.