[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3597 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3597

 To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to increase and adjust for inflation 
  the maximum value of articles that may be imported duty-free by one 
               person on one day, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 20, 2012

 Mr. Thune (for himself and Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Tariff Act of 1930 to increase and adjust for inflation 
  the maximum value of articles that may be imported duty-free by one 
               person on one day, 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 ``Low Value Shipment Regulatory 
Modernization Act of 2012''.

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN AND ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION OF MAXIMUM VALUE OF 
              ARTICLES THAT MAY BE IMPORTED DUTY-FREE BY ONE PERSON ON 
              ONE DAY.

    (a) In General.--Section 321 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 
1321) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(2), by striking subparagraph (C) and 
        inserting the following:
                    ``(C) in any other case, the dollar amount 
                specified in subsection (c).''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Annual Adjustment of Value of Articles That May Enter Duty-
Free.--
            ``(1) Dollar amount specified.--The dollar amount specified 
        in this subsection is--
                    ``(A) for calendar year 2013, $800; and
                    ``(B) subject to paragraph (2), for any calendar 
                year after calendar year 2013, an amount equal to $800 
                increased by an amount equal to--
                            ``(i) $800, multiplied by
                            ``(ii) the percentage of the increase (if 
                        any) in the Consumer Price Index for the 
                        preceding calendar year compared to the 
                        Consumer Price Index for calendar year 2012.
            ``(2) Rounding.--Any increase under paragraph (1) of the 
        dollar amount specified in this subsection shall be rounded to 
        the nearest increment of $50.
            ``(3) Consumer price index for any calendar year.--For 
        purposes of this subsection, the Consumer Price Index for any 
        calendar year is the average of the Consumer Price Index as of 
        the close of the 12-month period ending on September 30 of that 
        calendar year.
            ``(4) Consumer price index defined.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, the term `Consumer Price Index' means the last 
        Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the 
        Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section apply to 
articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or 
after January 1, 2013.
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