[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 8, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
             UNWARRANTED ACTION BY THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of 
Senate Resolution 183, a resolution condemning the actions of the 
Government of France and their effect on United States seafood 
producers; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that 
the resolution and the preamble be agreed to; that the motions to 
reconsider be laid on the table en bloc and any statements thereon 
appear at the appropriate place in the Record as though read.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I join in expressing my strong 
disapproval of the continuing actions by the French Government against 
United States seafood imports. There is no justification for France's 
protectionist actions against these imports. The actions clearly 
violate the international trade agreements that we have negotiated in 
good faith with both France and the European Union.
  The continued harassment by France has resulted in serious damage to 
American fishermen. The United States fishing industry exports 
thousands of dollars worth of fresh seafood each day to France. New 
England fisherman have already been hard hit by the recent recession, 
and they certainly cannot afford to suffer further economic loss as a 
result of unjust French trade policies.
  Although France recently added the United States to its list of 
countries from which seafood products can be imported, France continues 
to harass our products by requiring them to undergo rigorous and 
unwarranted inspections. In addition, certain ports of entry into 
France remain closed to our imports. These unnecessary obstructions, 
restrictions, and needless delays have resulted in the spoilage of many 
fresh seafood products.
  The trade barriers that France continues to impose on these imports 
must be eliminated immediately. The Senate resolution that we are 
introducing today urges France to comply with international trade 
regulations and end its harassment of United States seafood imports. It 
also asks restitution to the American fishing industry for the damage 
that has been suffered, and it urges the President to identify 
appropriate countermeasures to be taken against France if this 
distressing situation is not resolved immediately.


           government of france disruption of seafood imports

  Mr. KERRY. Madam President, I would like to report on the recent 
events in France where French fishermen strikes demanding higher prices 
for their products turned into angry riots. The Government of France, 
in an attempt to prevent its rebellious fishermen from taking further 
violent actions initiated a ban of United States Seafood Products on 
February 5, 1994, followed 4 days later by the lifting of the ban and 
the imposition of an arduous and unjustified 100-percent United States 
seafood inspection program. Accompanying these actions was the closure 
of the primary point of entry of fresh seafood products, Charles de 
Gaulle Airport, to U.S. products. These actions were in direct 
contravention of French and European international trade obligations.
  The immediate effect of France's actions was striking. Approximately 
25 to 30 tons of fresh fish, valued at $250,000, was stranded without 
refrigeration at the customs office at Charles de Gaulle Airport where 
began to rot and had to be destroyed. The long-term effects of these 
policies were just as significant since the United States fishing 
industry, especially the portion that deals in fresh products, expects 
to lose $200,000 per month as the actions of the French continue.
  I applaud the swift and firm actions of U.S. Trade Representative 
Ambassador Michael Kantor, the State Department, the Department of 
Commerce, and the rest of the Federal agencies that are working to 
resolve this urgent problem. The administration quickly convened all 
the concerned agencies with the Trade Representative taking the lead. 
The Trade Representative began a series of communications with the 
Government of France in an effort to resolve the problems. This 
coordination and communication process with another country normally 
could take weeks or months. However, the Federal agencies involved have 
recognized the urgency of this problem and the process was completed in 
a few days. Most significantly, Ambassador Kantor's letter of March 3, 
1994, advised the Government of France of the seriousness of its 
actions and the unacceptability of its responses and warned that 
retaliatory measures were imminent if it did not properly address the 
situation and restore free trade.
  Up to this point things did not look good for those involved in the 
industry of exporting U.S. fish products. The main point of entry for 
fresh seafood products, Charles de Gaulle Airport, remained closed and 
all products were being subjected to 100 percent testing under obsolete 
standards that were established in 1979 and, until now, had not been 
recently enforced. This had disastrous affects on the seafood 
producers, especially in Massachusetts. I have heard from the owners of 
fresh fish processing and exporting companies in New England that have 
closed down operations, one employing 65 people, since their markets 
have been closed. Other exporters using alternate routes through other 
European Union countries have been operating at little or no profit in 
order to keep their customers in France supplied with products. Many 
companies are hurting badly since France is the only market for many so 
called underutilized species or alternate species, including dogfish, 
skate and monkfish. Other companies dealing in frozen products are 
taking a chance and continuing to ship their products by ships, hoping 
that these cargoes will pass the ambiguous inspection standards and 
will be allowed to enter, even though it may take weeks longer than 
before. But despite this severe damage already caused to the United 
States seafood industry, it is an uncertainty about what standards the 
Government of France is applying and what steps it is going to take 
next that is really worrying the industry.

  The actions of France and uncertainty of the availability of markets 
are compounding the problems of the New England fishing industry that 
is bracing itself for the implementation of Commerce Department 
regulations that are reducing fishing of traditional groundfish species 
including cod and haddock by half over the next 5 years. The new 
regulations alone are expected to have disastrous effects on 
traditional fishing communities like New Bedford and Gloucester.
  I have been in continuous contact with the Secretary of Commerce, the 
United States Trade Representative, the State Department, and the 
National Marine Fisheries Service and they have done a good job of 
briefing Congress and affected industry representatives, formally and 
informally, about the progress of negotiations with France. Senator 
Kennedy, Congressman Frank, and I have personally encouraged Secretary 
Brown to continue efforts to lift the de facto French embargo. I have 
continued to provide the Trade Representative and the State Department 
with examples of the impact these restrictions are having on the New 
England fishing industry. Senator Kennedy and I, along with Senators 
Pell, Mitchell, Cohen, Stevens, and Murkowski introduced the resolution 
now before the Senate to call upon the Government of France to stop its 
harassment of U.S. seafood imports and to ask for President Clinton to 
identify areas for retaliatory trade sanctions against France. In the 
House, Representatives Frank, Studds, and Torkildsen introduced a 
resolution with a similar purpose. These resolutions send a message to 
the Government of France about the seriousness of its actions. 
Additionally, letters have been sent, signed by a number of Members of 
both houses, to the French Ambassador to the United States and the 
appropriate French Ministries urging the Government of France to take 
immediate action to end its harassment of United States seafood 
importers so that the need for such countermeasures is avoided.

  I was encouraged by the recent developments on March 4, 1994 when 
Ambassador Kantor advised that he had reached preliminary 
understandings with French officials in order to resolve 
their differences and restore the normal flow of U.S. seafood exports 
to France. Ambassador Kantor also advises that the French authorities 
have reopened Charles de Gaulle Airport to fish trade and have resumed 
normal spot inspection procedures as of Monday, March 7, 1994. However, 
the reinstitution of normal inspection procedures applies only to those 
exporters whose prior shipments were found not to raise any concerns. I 
also am glad to hear that the French officials have advised that future 
seafood testing will be conducted in a manner that does not lead to any 
deterioration of the products tested nor cause commercial harm to the 
companies involved. I realize that there are several technical 
questions remaining and that to resolve these a team of United States 
health experts has flown to France and is meeting with the French to 
discuss the inspection standards and methodologies employed by the 
French. I look forward to their report.

  Many of my congressional colleagues and I are not satisfied that the 
situation is resolved. For this reason we are continuing action on this 
resolution. Congressman Studds, who chairs the House Merchant Marine 
and Fisheries Committee, has scheduled a hearing on the matter on 
Thursday, March 10, 1994, before the Subcommittee on Fisheries 
Management to be chaired by Congressman Manton. I look forward to 
testifying at the hearing and listening to the agencies' up-to-date 
reports on the situation.
  I join Ambassador Kantor in welcoming the commitments made by French 
authorities to remove the impediments to trade they imposed. However, 
in light of the comments by French Premier Edouard Balladur on March 5, 
1994, that American threats to retaliate for French restrictions on 
fish imports amount to a breach of international trade rules, I will 
not be satisfied that this trade problem has been resolved until I 
confirm that the technical problems have been worked out, the United 
States fishing and exporting industry is back to normal, and the flow 
of free trade has been restored.

  I hope that this problem is, indeed, moving to a quick conclusion. 
But if the Government of France reneges, I believe the United States 
will have no choice except to carry out the actions called for in the 
Senate and House resolutions and implement appropriate trade sanctions 
against France.
  I want to thank the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee and the ranking member, and the staff of the majority and the 
minority, for their assistance in moving this resolution to passage 
today. I also want to express special appreciation to Penny Dalton of 
the Commerce Committee's national ocean policy study staff, Steve 
Metruck, a fellow in my office, and Kate English and Sarah Woodhouse of 
my staff for their work on this issue and the resolution.
  I yield the floor, and urge speedy adoption of the resolution.
  So the resolution was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 183), with its preamble, is as follows:

                              S. Res. 183

       Whereas the United States sells over $100 million of fresh 
     and frozen seafood products to France annually;
       Whereas the actions of the Government of France are 
     adversely affecting the United States fishing industry;
       Whereas this adverse effect is particularly severe on those 
     parts of the industry that harvest, process, and market fresh 
     ``underutilized species'' such as dogfish, monkfish and 
     skate, and causes disruptions to the normal flow of commerce 
     for developed United States fisheries such as salmon and 
     groundish;
       Whereas the French markets for these species and other 
     species are important since Europeans, particularly the 
     French, value fresh seafood products highly;
       Whereas the Government of France is continuing to require 
     inspections and testing, despite accepting the existing 
     United States seafood certification programs of the National 
     Marine Fisheries Service and the Food and Drug 
     Administration;
       Whereas the Government of France's additional inspections 
     and testing are continuing without adequate justification or 
     evidence of human health risks;
       Whereas the unsubstantiated additional inspections and 
     testing required by the Government of France, which can take 
     up to four days, delay the delivery of fresh seafood products 
     to the point where they begin to spoil and thus have 
     effectively closed the French market to fresh United States 
     seafood products; and
       Whereas the harassment by the Government of France of 
     seafood producers and products from the United States 
     violates international agreements and raises serious 
     questions about the usefulness of entering into agreements 
     with the European Union and France: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (a) calls upon the Government of France to stop immediately 
     its harassment of United States seafood producers and 
     products;
       (b) demand that the Government of France compensate United 
     States companies that have had seafood products damaged by 
     its actions; and
       (c) calls upon the President of the United States to 
     identify appropriate forms of sanctions that can be taken 
     against the Government of France for its egregious violation 
     of international agreements.

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