[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3331 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3331

To provide for universal intercountry adoption accreditation standards, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 21, 2012

   Mr. Kerry (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Ms. Landrieu, and Mr. Inhofe) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for universal intercountry adoption accreditation standards, 
                        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 ``Intercountry Adoption Universal 
Accreditation Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. UNIVERSAL ACCREDITATION REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--The provisions of title II and section 404 of the 
Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14901 et seq.), and 
related implementing regulations, shall apply to any person offering or 
providing adoption services in connection with a child described in 
section 101(b)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 
1101(b)(1)(F)), to the same extent as they apply to the offering or 
provision of adoption services in connection with a Convention 
adoption. The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 
the Attorney General (with respect to section 404(b) of the 
Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 14944)), and the 
accrediting entities shall have the duties, responsibilities, and 
authorities under title II and title IV of the Intercountry Adoption 
Act of 2000 and related implementing regulations with respect to a 
person offering or providing such adoption services, irrespective of 
whether such services are offered or provided in connection with a 
Convention adoption.
    (b) Effective Date.--The provisions of this section shall take 
effect 18 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, but shall 
not apply to any case in which, as of such effective date--
            (1) a petition to classify an orphan as an immediate 
        relative is pending or has been approved; or
            (2) an application for advance processing of orphan 
        petition is pending or has been approved and such approval has 
        not expired.

SEC. 3. AVAILABILITY OF COLLECTED FEES FOR ACCREDITING ENTITIES.

    Section 403 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 
14943) is amended by striking subsection (c).

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act, the terms ``accrediting entity'', ``adoption 
service'', ``Convention adoption'', and ``person'' have the meanings 
given those terms in section 3 of the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 
(42 U.S.C. 14902).
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