[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4448 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4448

 To address loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
   States that allow companies to avoid the duty rate applicable to 
                           dehydrated garlic.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 20, 2019

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To address loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
   States that allow companies to avoid the duty rate applicable to 
                           dehydrated garlic.

    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 ``Giving Agriculture Relief from 
Loopholes in International Commerce Act'' or the ``GARLIC Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States domestic dried garlic industry 
        currently provides approximately 50,000,000 pounds of dried 
        garlic for the United States market and has the capacity to 
        increase production.
            (2) Dried garlic imported from China accounts for 
        approximately 140,000,000 pounds of the total amount sold in 
        the United States market.
            (3) Dried garlic is classifiable under subheading 
        0712.90.40 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
        States, with a duty rate of 29.8 percent.
            (4) Chinese companies have found apparent loopholes in the 
        Harmonized Tariff Schedule and are importing dehydrated garlic 
        at much lower tariff rates, causing direct harm to the United 
        States domestic industry.
            (5) Imports of Chinese dehydrated garlic under the 
        subheading for dried garlic, 0712.90.40, have decreased 
        approximately 70 percent over the past few years, but there has 
        not been a corresponding change in United States consumption or 
        imports from other locations.
            (6) Importers of Chinese dried garlic are now engaging in 
        limited further processing of the product and importing it as a 
        ``further processed vegetable'' classifiable under subheading 
        2005.99.97, at a duty rate of 11.2 percent.
            (7) Importers of Chinese dried garlic are also adding 
        minimal amounts of other dehydrated vegetables, such as onion, 
        to the dehydrated garlic and importing it as ``other mixed 
        vegetables'' classifiable under subheading 0712.90.85, at a 
        duty rate of 8.3 percent.
            (8) The dried garlic products imported from China under 
        subheadings 2005.99.97 and 0712.90.85 are still marketed and 
        sold in the United States as dried garlic and directly compete 
        against United States-produced dried garlic.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the duty rate on dried garlic was set at 29.8 percent 
        to support United States domestic producers of dried garlic and 
        create a more level playing field when competing against low-
        cost dried garlic imported from China;
            (2) the use of these loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff 
        Schedule of the United States is directly harming United States 
        domestic dried garlic producers, their employees, and the 
        farmers that grow garlic in support of this domestic industry; 
        and
            (3) the use of these loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff 
        Schedule of the United States has resulted in a loss of 
        approximately $40,000,000 in revenue to the United States over 
        the past 2 years alone.

SEC. 4. ADDITION OF U.S. NOTES AND NEW SUBHEADINGS RELATED TO 
              DEHYDRATED GARLIC.

    (a) Addition of U.S. Note.--The Additional U.S. Notes to chapter 7 
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States are amended by 
inserting in numerical sequence the following:
            ``6. In the assessment of duty on dried garlic, the 
        presence of other vegetables mixed with the dried garlic shall 
        not remove the product from subheading 0712.90.40 unless the 
        percentage of garlic, by weight, is less than 50 percent.
            ``7. In the assessment of duty on dried garlic, the 
        application of additional heat to dried garlic does not 
        constitute further processing such that the dried garlic would 
        be excluded from subheading 0712.90.40 unless the resulting 
        dried garlic has an extractable color (optical index) of 1000+/
        -500 as set forth under Section IV.C.5 of the American 
        Dehydrated Onion and Garlic Association (ADOGA) standards for 
        roasted or toasted garlic.''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall--
            (1) take effect on the 30th day after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act; and
            (2) apply to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse 
        for consumption, on or after such 30th day.
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