Key Vote 103rd Congress > House > Vote 558
Clerk session vote number: 575
Description: NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ACT
Bill summary: TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Title I: Approval of, and General Provisions Relating to, the
North American Free Trade Agreement
Title II: Customs Provisions
Title III: Application of Agreement to Sectors and Services
Subtitle A: Safeguards
Subtitle B: Agriculture
Subtitle C: Intellectual Property
Subtitle D: Temporary Entry of Business Persons
Subtitle E: Standards
Subtitle F: Corporate Average Fuel Economy
Subtitle G: Government Procurement
Title IV: Dispute Settlement in Antidumping
(...show more)
and
Countervailing Cases
Subtitle A: Organizational, Administrative, and
Procedural Provisions Regarding the Implementation
of the Agreement
Subtitle B: Conforming Amendments and Provisions
Title V: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance and
Other Provisions
Subtitle A: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance
Program
Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Performance Under the
Agreement
Subtitle C: Funding
Subtitle D: Implementation of NAFTA Supplemental
Agreements
Title VI: Customs Modernization
Subtitle A: Improvements in Customs Enforcement
Subtitle B: National Customs Automation Program
Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Amendments to the Tariff Act
of 1930
Subtitle D: Miscellaneous
Provisions and Consequential and Conforming
Amendments to Other Laws
North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act -
Title I: Approval of, and General Provisions Relating to, the North American Free Trade Agreement
- Declares that the Congress, pursuant to the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 and the Trade Act of 1974, approves: (1) the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) entered into on December 17, 1992, with Canada and Mexico and submitted to it on November 4, 1993; and (2) the statement of administrative action proposed to implement the Agreement that was submitted to it on November 4, 1993. Sets forth conditions for entry into force of NAFTA.
(Sec. 102) Declares that U.S. laws shall prevail over provisions of NAFTA that conflict. Requires the President to consult with the States in order to achieve conformity of State laws with NAFTA. Requires the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to establish within the Office of the USTR a Federal-State consultation process to address issues relating to NAFTA that directly affect the States. Prohibits any person other than the United States from having a cause of action with respect to NAFTA.
(Sec. 105) Authorizes the President to establish within any U.S. agency a U.S. Section of the Secretariat to facilitate the operation of NAFTA. Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 106) Requires the United States to encourage the selection of individuals with expertise in environmental issues for service on the Chapter 20 panel to hear any challenge to a U.S. or State environmental law.
(Sec. 107) Sets forth provisions governing the termination or suspension of NAFTA.
(Sec. 108) Declares that the congressional approval of NAFTA may not be construed as applying to any countries other than Canada and Mexico. Sets forth provisions outlining future free trade area negotiations with other foreign countries.
Title II: Customs Provisions
- Authorizes the President to proclaim such modifications or continuation of any duty, continuation of duty-free or excise treatment, or additional duties as are necessary to carry out specified provisions of NAFTA.
(Sec. 201) Requires the President to terminate Mexico's designation as a beneficiary developing country under the Trade Act of 1974 upon entry into force of NAFTA.
Prohibits the President from considering a request to accelerate the staging of duty reductions for an article for which the United States tariff phaseout period is more than ten years if such request for such article has been denied in the preceding three years.
Authorizes the President to convert the base rate of certain textiles imported from Mexico to an ad valorem rate.
(Sec. 202) Sets forth, for purposes of implementing tariff treatment and quantitative restrictions provided in NAFTA, rules of origin with respect to goods from NAFTA countries.
(Sec. 203) Defines the term "good subject to NAFTA drawback."
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to prohibit an article manufactured in a bonded warehouse from materials that are goods subject to NAFTA drawback (refund) from being withdrawn from such warehouse for exportation to a NAFTA country without assessment of a duty on the materials in their condition and quantity, and at their weight, at the time of importation into the United States. Sets forth similar provisions with respect to articles from bonded smelting and refining warehouses.
Authorizes merchandise, under specified conditions, to be cleaned, sorted, repacked, or otherwise changed in condition in bonded warehouses and be withdrawn: (1) for export to a NAFTA country if such merchandise consists of goods subject to NAFTA drawback (refund) and certain duties are assessed; and (2) without the payment of duties for export to NAFTA and, in certain cases, non-NAFTA countries.
Amends the Foreign Trade Zones Act to provide that, if Canada ceases to be a NAFTA country and the U.S.-Canada Free-Trade Agreement terminates, no article manufactured or otherwise changed in condition (except a change by cleaning, testing, or repacking) shall be exported to Canada without the payment of a duty unless a certain privilege has been requested and no manipulation (change of condition) has occurred.
Prohibits merchandise consisting of goods subject to NAFTA drawback that is manufactured or otherwise changed in condition from being exported to a NAFTA country without an assessment of a duty on it.
Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury (Secretary) from, on the condition of export, refunding or reducing fees imposed under the Agricultural Adjustment Act with respect to "goods subject to NAFTA drawback" that are exported to Canada after December 31, 1995, or Mexico after December 31, 2000, for so long as they are NAFTA countries. Declares that none of the amendments made under this Act shall be considered to authorize the refund, waiver, or reduction of countervailing duties or antidumping duties imposed on an imported good.
(Sec. 204) Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to prohibit customs user fees with respect to goods qualifying under the rules of origin from being: (1) charged with respect to goods that qualify to be marked as Canadian goods; and (2) increased after December 31, 1993, and charged after June 29, 1999, with respect to goods that qualify to be marked as Mexican goods.
(Sec. 205) Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to require persons who sign a NAFTA Certificate of Origin for a good for which preferential treatment is claimed to keep and render for inspection all records relating to the origin of the good. Sets forth penalties for violation of such recordkeeping requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding incorrect and false Certificates of Origin.
(Sec. 206) Authorizes the United States Customs Service to reliquidate an entry to refund excess duties paid on a good qualifying under the rules of origin under the NAFTA for which no claim for preferential tariff treatment was made or protest filed at the time of importation if the importer, within one year after the importation, files a claim that includes specified information.
(Sec. 207) Revises country of origin marking requirements with respect to certain pipe and steel products and manhole rings or frames and covers from NAFTA countries to include continuous paint stenciling, or an equally permanent method of marking, as methods for satisfying such requirements. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) adverse marking and origin determinations by the U.S. Customs Service; and (2) the judicial review of such determinations.
(Sec. 209) Declares the Secretary of Commerce may authorize the U.S. Customs Service to exchange information with any government agency of a NAFTA country provided certain safeguards are met.
(Sec. 210) Prohibits duties from being refunded (drawnback) on imported color cathode-ray television picture tubes, including video monitor cathode-ray tubes, when such items are nonoriginating goods and are: (1) exported to a NAFTA country; (2) used as a material in the production of other goods that are exported to a NAFTA country; or (3) substituted for by goods of the same kind and quality used as a material in the production of other goods that are exported to a NAFTA country.
(Sec. 211) Requires the U.S. Customs Service to monitor television and picture tube imports for a five-year period. Directs the U.S. Customs Service to make the results of such monitoring, including verification of the rules of origin, available to the President and the USTR.
Title III: Application of Agreement to Sectors and Services - Subtitle A: Safeguards - Part 1: Relief From Imports Benefitting From the Agreement
- Authorizes an entity, trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers that is representative of an industry to file with the International Trade Commission (ITC) a petition requesting the adjustment of U.S. obligations under NAFTA. Requires the ITC to investigate, and make a determination, whether as a result of the reduction or elimination of a duty under NAFTA, a Canadian or Mexican article is being imported in such increased quantities as to constitute a substantial case of serious injury, or except in the case of a Canadian article, a threat of serious injury to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, such article.
(Sec. 303) Requires the ITC, if it makes an affirmative determination, to recommend to the President the amount of import relief that is necessary to remedy or prevent such injury.
(Sec. 308) Amends the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement Implementation Act to require the Secretary to decide whether to recommend to the President the imposition of a temporary duty on Canadian fresh fruits and vegetables.
(Sec. 309) Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to determine each period of five consecutive business days in which the daily price for frozen concentrated orange juice is less than the trigger price and the first period occurring thereafter of five consecutive business days in which the daily price for frozen concentrated orange juice is greater than the trigger price.
Sets forth a formula for determining the rate of duty on certain quantities of imported Mexican articles of frozen concentrated orange juice.
Part 2: Relief From Imports From All Countries
- Requires the ITC, if it makes an affirmative determination for import relief under the Trade Act of 1974 (or a determination which the President may treat as an affirmative determination under the Tariff Act of 1930), to also find (and report to the President) whether: (1) imports from a NAFTA country, considered individually, account for a substantial share of total imports; and (2) imports from a NAFTA country, considered individually, or, in exceptional circumstances considered collectively, contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious injury, caused by imports.
(Sec. 312) Requires the President, in determining whether to take import relief action under the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to imports from a NAFTA country, to determine whether: (1) imports from such country, considered individually, account for a substantial share of total imports; or (2) imports from such a country, considered individually, or in exceptional circumstances considered collectively, contribute importantly to the serious injury, or threat of serious injury, found by the ITC. Requires the President to take specified actions with respect to such imports.
Part 3: General Provisions
- Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to authorize an entity representing a domestic industry that produces a citrus product that is like or directly competitive with an imported citrus product to file a request with the USTR for monitoring of such imports. Requires the ITC, upon the filing of a petition alleging import injury and a request for provisional import relief, to make a determination whether increased imports of such citrus products are a substantial cause of serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic industry producing such product. Defines "citrus product" to mean any processed oranges or grapefruit, or any orange or grapefruit juice, including concentrate.
(Sec. 316) Requires the ITC, with respect to expediting an investigation concerning provisional import relief, to monitor, until January 1, 2009, imports of fresh or chilled tomatoes and peppers (other than chili peppers) as if proper requests for such monitoring have been made.
(Sec. 317) Requires the ITC to adopt certain rules and procedures with respect to the release of confidential business information under the Tariff Act of 1930 and apply them in import injury investigations under NAFTA.
Subtitle B: Agriculture
- Amends the Meat Import Act of 1979 to redefine the term "meat articles." Authorizes the President to exclude meat articles originating in a NAFTA country, Canada, or Mexico from quantitative import limitations.
(Sec. 321) Requires the President to take such action as may be necessary to ensure that imports of agricultural goods do not disrupt the orderly marketing of commodities in the United States.
Declares that nothing in NAFTA reduces or eliminates: (1) any penalty required under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938; or (2) any requirement under Marketing Agreement No. 146, Regulating the Quality of Domestically Produced Peanuts, on peanuts in the domestic market, pursuant to the Agricultural Act of 1949.
Amends the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 to express the sense of the Congress that the United States should request consultations in the Working Group on Emergency Action if imports of peanuts exceed the in-quota quantity under a tariff rate quota set out in NAFTA concerning whether: (1) the increased imports of peanuts constitute a substantial cause of, or contribute importantly to, serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic peanut industry; and (2) recourse under NAFTA or the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to designate an office within the United States Department of Agriculture to be responsible for maintaining and disseminating data accumulated for verifying citrus, fruit, vegetable, and cut flower trade between the United States and Mexico.
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a program requiring that end-use certificates be included in the documentation covering the entry into, or withdrawal from a warehouse for consumption in, the U.S. customs territory of any wheat or barley from a foreign country that requires end-use certificates of U.S. wheat or U.S. barley. Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to suspend such requirements when making a determination that the program has resulted in: (1) the reduction of income to U.S. producers of agricultural products; or (2) the reduction of the competitiveness of such U.S. producers in the world export markets. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to suspend such requirements if a foreign country that requires end-use certificates for U.S. wheat and U.S. barley eliminates the requirement.
Amends the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to grant fellowships to individuals from NAFTA countries to study agriculture in the United States, and individuals in the United States to study agriculture in other NAFTA countries. Authorizes appropriations.
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to public agencies or private organizations with tax-exempt status that have experience in providing emergency services to low-income migrant or seasonal farmworkers if it is determined that implementation of the NAFTA has caused such farmworkers to lose income. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare, and submit to specified congressional committees, a biennial report on the effects of the NAFTA on U.S. producers of agricultural commodities and on U.S. rural communities.
Subtitle C: Intellectual Property
- Amends Federal patent law to extend U.S. intellectual property protections to inventions that are made in other countries by persons who are domiciled in a NAFTA country and serving in any other country in connection with operations by or on behalf of the United States or a NAFTA country.
(Sec. 332) Amends the Record Rental Amendment of 1984 to repeal a provision of such Act with respect to rental rights in sound recordings.
(Sec. 333) Amends the Trademark Act of 1946 to provide that nothing in such Act shall prevent the registration before enactment of the NAFTA: (1) of a mark which, when used on or in connection with the goods of an applicant for a trademark, is primarily geographically deceptively misdescriptive of them, and which became distinctive of the applicant's goods in commerce; or (2) on the supplemental register of a mark, capable of distinguishing the applicant's goods or services and not registrable on the principal register under such Act, that is declared to be unregistrable, if such mark has been in lawful use in commerce by the owner, on or in connection with any goods or services.
(Sec. 334) Amends Federal copyright law to grant copyright protection to motion pictures that are first fixed or published in a NAFTA country, including any work in such pictures, that enter the U.S. public domain and are first published on or after January 1, 1978, and before March 1, 1989, even though certain required notice has not been given.
Subtitle D: Temporary Entry of Business Persons
- Classifies as nonimmigrants, if otherwise eligible for a visa and admissible into the United States under the Immigration and Nationality Act, any alien trader or investor who is a citizen of Canada or Mexico, including any accompanying spouse and children of such alien.
(Sec. 341) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to authorize the admittance of aliens who are citizens of Canada or Mexico, including any spouse and children of such alien, into the United States to engage in business activities as professionals. Requires the Attorney General to establish annual numerical limits on such admissions. Prohibits such aliens from being classified as nonimmigrants if there is a strike or lockout in the course of a labor dispute in the applicable occupational classification, unless such aliens establish that their entry will not adversely affect the settlement of such strike or lockout or the employment of any person involved in the strike or lockout.
Subtitle E: Standards - Part 1: Standards and Measures
- Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to provide that nothing under such Act shall be construed to: (1) prohibit a Federal or State agency from engaging in activity related to sanitary or phytosanitary measures to protect human, animal, or plant life or health; (2) limit the authority of such agencies to determine the level of protection of human, animal, or plant life or health the agency considers appropriate; (3) prohibit a Federal agency from engaging in activity related to standards-related measures, including any such measure relating to safety, the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment or consumers; or (4) limit the authority of a Federal agency to determine the level it considers appropriate of safety or the protection of human, animal, or plant life or health, the environment or consumers. Requires the standards information center of the Department of Commerce, among other things, to make available to the public documents and information regarding: (1) general application of sanitary or phytosanitary measures by Federal or State agencies; and (2) participation of Federal and State governments and nongovernmental bodies in international and regional standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems, and in bilateral and multilateral arrangements regarding standards-related measures.
Part 2: Agricultural Standards
- Amends the Federal Seed Act to declare that provisions of such Act requiring certain seeds to be stained shall not apply to alfalfa or clover seed from Mexico.
(Sec. 361) Amends Federal law to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the importation: (1) of cattle, sheep, or other ruminants, and swine, from Canada or Mexico; and (2) from the British Virgin Islands into the U.S. Virgin Islands, for slaughter only, of cattle that have been infested with or exposed to ticks on being freed from such ticks.
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to waive provisions requiring the inspection of imported animals for contagious diseases and infections with respect to shipments between the United States and Canada or Mexico.
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to permit the importation of cattle, sheep, other ruminants, or swine (including their embryos), or the fresh, chilled, or frozen meat of such animals, from a region that the Secretary of Agriculture has determined to be, and is likely to remain, free from rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease.
Amends the Honeybee Act to authorize the importation into the United States of honeybees from Canada or Mexico if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that the region from which such honeybee originated is, and is likely to remain, free of diseases or parasites harmful to honeybees, and undesirable species or subspecies of honeybees.
Amends the Poultry Products Inspection Act to require all poultry, or parts or products of poultry, that are intended as human food and imported into the United States from Canada and Mexico to meet inspection, sanitary, and processing standards that are equivalent to those in the United States.
Amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to require the Secretary of Agriculture to submit to specified congressional committees a report that includes, among other things, a certification by the Secretary of Agriculture that foreign plants in Canada and Mexico that export carcasses or meat or meat products have complied with requirements that are equivalent to U.S. requirements with regard to inspection and building construction standards.
Requires all domestic peanut butter and peanut paste to be processed from peanuts that meet the quality standards established for peanuts under Marketing Agreement No. 146.
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to a land grant college or university for the construction of a facility (to be known as the Southwest Regional Animal Health Biocontainment Facility) at such college or university to do research in animal health, disease-transmitting insects, and toxic chemicals that requires the use of biocontainment facilities and equipment. Authorizes appropriations.
Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare, and submit to specified congressional committees, annual reports on the impact of the NAFTA on the inspection of imported meat, poultry, other foods, animals, or plants.
Subtitle F: Corporate Average Fuel Economy
- Amends the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act to provide that, for purposes of calculating the corporate average fuel economy of certain passenger automobiles, such automobiles shall be considered domestically manufactured in a model year if at least 75 percent of the manufacturer's cost is attributable to value added in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, unless the assembly of the automobile is completed in Canada or Mexico and such automobile is not imported into the United States prior to the expiration of 30 days following the end of that model year.
Subtitle G: Government Procurement
- Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to revise provisions regarding the waiver of discriminating purchasing requirements with respect to Government contracting to apply to countries that are parties to the NAFTA. Declares that the President's authority to waive such requirements does not authorize the waiver of any small business or minority preference.
Title IV: Dispute Settlement in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Cases - Subtitle A: Organizational, Administrative, and Procedural Provisions Regarding the Implementation of Chapter 19 of the Agreement
- Sets forth organizational and administrative provisions regarding the selection of individuals to serve on binational panels and extraordinary challenge committees.
(Sec. 402) Establishes within the interagency trade organization an interagency group, which shall be chaired by the USTR and consist of appropriate officers, to annually prepare, and submit to appropriate congressional committees, lists of individuals who are qualified to serve on such panels and committees.
(Sec. 407) Authorizes an entity, including a trade association, firm, certified or recognized union, or group of workers, that is representative of a U.S. industry to file with the USTR a petition requesting that the industry be appropriately identified whenever it has reason to believe that: (1) as a result of implementation of NAFTA, the industry is likely to face increased competition from subsidized imports from a NAFTA country, or such industry is likely to face increased competition from subsidized imports from any other country designated by the President as benefitting from a reduction of tariffs or other trade barriers under a trade agreement that enters into force with the United States after January 1, 1994; and (2) the industry is likely to experience a deterioration of its competitive position before more rules relating to the use of government subsidies have been developed with respect to the subject country. Requires the USTR upon receipt of a petition to decide whether to identify the industry on the basis of both the subsidization and deterioration of its competitive position. Requires the USTR, if there is an identification, to take appropriate action, including: (1) compiling and making available to the industry certain trade information; and (2) recommending to the President that the ITC commence an investigation under the Tariff Act of 1930.
Subtitle B: Conforming Amendments and Provisions
- Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to apply provisions of such Act regarding time limits for commencing judicial review in antidumping duty and countervailing duty actions to cases involving merchandise from a free trade area (NAFTA) country.
Title V: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance and Other Provisions - Subtitle A: NAFTA Transitional Adjustment Assistance Program
- NAFTA Worker Security Act - Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require a group of workers, including workers in any agricultural firm or subdivision of an agricultural firm, to be certified as eligible for adjustment assistance if the Secretary of Labor determines that a significant number of workers in such firm or subdivision have become totally or partially separated, or are threatened to become totally or partially separated, and either that: (1) the sales or production, or both, of such firm or subdivision have decreased, imports from Mexico or Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the firm's articles have increased, and such increase in imports contributed to such workers' separation or threat of separation and to the decline in the firm's sales or production; or (2) there has been a shift in production by such workers' firm or subdivision to Mexico or Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the firm's articles.
(Sec. 502) Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) the filing of petitions for worker adjustment assistance; (2) petition findings; and (3) review of petitions by the Secretary of Labor.
(Sec. 503) Prohibits a worker from receiving duplicative assistance.
(Sec. 504) Authorizes appropriations.
(Sec. 507) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for a self-employment assistance program which makes certain qualified individuals eligible to receive an allowance in lieu of regular unemployment compensation under State law in order to assist such an individual in establishing a business and becoming self-employed.
Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Performance Under the Agreement
- Expresses the sense of the Congress that a State, province, or other governmental entity of a NAFTA country that discriminatorily enforces sales or other taxes so as to afford protection to its domestic production or domestic service providers shall be considered in violation of the NAFTA. Requires the USTR to pursue all appropriate remedies when such discriminatory enforcement adversely affects U.S. producers of goods or U.S. service providers.
(Sec. 512) Requires the President, by not later than July 1, 1997, to provide the Congress a comprehensive study on the operation and effects of NAFTA.
(Sec. 513) Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to require the USTR, no later than 30 days after a specified report is submitted to specified congressional committees, to identify any act, policy, or practice of Canada which: (1) affects cultural industries; (2) is adopted or expanded after December 17, 1992; and (3) is actionable under the NAFTA.
(Sec. 514) Requires the USTR to annually submit to specified congressional committees a report on how effective the NAFTA is on increasing U.S. exports of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts to Mexico.
(Sec. 515) Amends the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act to authorize and direct the Commissioner of Customs to make grants to an institution (or consortium of such institutions) to assist it in establishing in Texas a Center for the Study of Western Hemispheric Trade in order to promote and study trade between the Western Hemisphere countries.
Subtitle C: Funding - Part 1: Customs User Fees
- Amends the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 to increase for FY 1994 through 1997 the customs user fees for the arrival of each passenger aboard a commercial vessel or commercial aircraft from outside the U.S. customs territory. Maintains for FY 1998 and thereafter the current five dollar customs user fee for the arrival of each passenger aboard such vessel or aircraft from a place outside the United States.
Part 2: Internal Revenue Code Amendments
- Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the Secretary to disclose to officers and employees of the Department of the Treasury (particularly the Customs Service) certain tax information.
(Sec. 523) Directs the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the development of an electronic fund transfer system for the collection of depository taxes.
Subtitle D: Implementation of NAFTA Supplemental Agreements - Part 1: Agreements Relating to Labor and Environment
- Authorizes the United States to participate in: (1) the Commission for Labor Cooperation in accordance with the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation; (2) the Commission for Environmental Cooperation in accordance with the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation; and (3) the Border Environment Cooperation Commission in accordance with the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement. Authorizes appropriations.
Part 2: North American Development Bank and Related Provisions
- Authorizes the President to accept membership for the United States in the North American Development Bank.
(Sec. 541) Amends Federal banking law to exempt the Bank from the securities laws with respect to the issuance of certain securities by such Bank.
(Sec. 543) Authorizes the President to enter into agreements with the Bank for implementation of a community adjustment and investment program pursuant to the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement. Requires the President to establish the Community Adjustment and Investment Program Advisory Committee to provide advice to the President with respect to the implementation of such program. Authorizes appropriations.
Title VI: Customs Modernization - Subtitle A: Improvements in Customs Enforcement
- Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to revise customs procedures with respect to: (1) electronic transmission of forged, altered, or false data to the United States Customs Service with regard to the entry of imported merchandise; (2) penalties for failure to declare imported controlled substances; (3) examination and detention of imported merchandise; (4) certain recordkeeping requirements; (5) examination of books and witnesses; (6) review of protests by the Customs Service; (7) a repeal of a provision relating to the reliquidation on account of fraud; (8) penalties relating to manifests, false drawback or refund claims, and for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence; (9) unlawful unloading or transshipment; (10) public access to Customs Service interpretive rulings and decisions; and (11) seizure of imported merchandise.
Subtitle B: National Customs Automation Program
- Directs the Secretary to establish the National Customs Automation Program which shall be an automated and electronic system for the processing of commercial imports.
(Sec. 631) Provides for electronic data transmission relating to: (1) remote location filing; (2) effective date of rates of duty on imported merchandise; (3) merchandise manifests; (4) imported merchandise invoices; (5) entry and release of imported merchandise; (6) admissibility in administrative and judicial proceedings of electronically transmitted information; (7) appraisement and liquidations of imported merchandise; (8) the payment of duties; (9) abandonment and damage to imported merchandise; (10) protests of Customs Service decisions; (11) refunds and errors; (12) bonds and other security; and (13) customhouse brokers.
(Sec. 632) Requires a refund (drawback) of duties (less one per cent of such duties) on articles produced in the United States with imported merchandise that have been destroyed under Customs Service supervision, provided such articles have not been used prior to such destruction.
(Sec. 644) Sets forth provisions with respect to customs officers' immunity in regard to the appraisement of or collection of duties on imported merchandise.
Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Amendments to the Tariff Act of 1930
- Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to authorize the Secretary to disregard the difference, but not less than $20 (currently ten dollars), between the total estimated duties deposited with respect to imported merchandise and the total amount actually due on such merchandise. Increases specified ceiling amounts of duty-free gifts and articles.
(Sec. 652) Requires masters of vessels that have visited a hovering vessel or received merchandise while outside the U.S. territorial sea to report their arrival to the nearest customs facility.
Provides for the electronic transmission of vessel documentation to the Customs Service.
(Sec. 653) Requires specified kinds of vessels to report to the nearest Customs Service facility within 24 hours (or other period of time as provided) after arrival at a U.S. port.
(Sec. 655) Exempts from entry and clearance requirements certain passenger vessels on excursion from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the British Virgin Islands and returning, U.S. documented vessels with recreational endorsement, or (as under current law) undocumented U.S. pleasure vessels not engaged in trade, except such vessels must comply upon arrival with specified customs reporting requirements and navigation laws and must not have visited any hovering vessel.
(Sec. 656) Prohibits merchandise, passengers, or baggage from being unladen from any vessel required to make entry or vehicle required to report its arrival until such entry or report of arrival is made and a permit for unlading has been issued by the Customs Service. Authorizes the issuance of such permits through electronic data transmission.
(Sec. 659) Reduces from one year to six months the length of time merchandise may remain in customs custody with fees unpaid before it may be treated as unclaimed.
(Sec. 662) Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe regulations for the declaration and entry of merchandise whose value does not exceed a designated amount, but not more than $2,500 (currently not greater than $1,250), or when different commercial facilitation and risk considerations that may vary for different classes or kinds of merchandise or different classes of transactions may dictate.
(Sec. 663) Reduces from one year to 90 days the minimum length of time after forfeiture the Secretary must wait before selling at public auction any seized imported merchandise with a counterfeit mark.
(Sec. 664) Sets forth certain recordkeeping requirements for merchandise transported by pipeline.
(Sec. 665) Authorizes the withdrawal from warehouse of turbine fuel without the payment of duties provided certain requirements are met.
(Sec. 667) Authorizes the Customs Service to order the destruction or other appropriate disposition of vessels, vehicles, aircraft, merchandise, or baggage that has been seized under the customs laws if it determines that the expense of keeping such items is disproportionate to their value (currently applies only to items of less than $1,000 in value).
(Sec. 668) Requires actions for fraud, gross negligence, and negligence, false drawback, or refund claims with respect to imported merchandise to be instituted within five years after the alleged violation or discovery of such fraud.
(Sec. 669) Requires the Customs Service to be reimbursed for costs incurred in collecting fees on behalf of Government agencies.
(Sec. 670) Authorizes the Secretary to settle, for no more than $50,000 in each case, claims for damage to, or loss of, privately owned property caused by an investigative or law enforcement officer of the Customs Service.
(Sec. 671) Provides for the use of private collection agencies to recover money owed the United States under customs laws.
Subtitle D: Miscellaneous Provisions and Consequential and Conforming Amendments to Other Laws
- Amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to exempt from such Schedule articles which are returned within 45 days after being exported from the United States as undeliverable and which have not left the custody of the carrier or foreign customs service.
(Sec. 681) Declares that certain railway locomotives and railway freight cars on which no duty is owed are not subject to the entry or release requirements for imported merchandise under the Tariff Act of 1930.
States that instruments of international trade, such as containers, lift vans, rail cars and locomotives, truck cabs and trailers, etc., are exempt from formal entry procedures, but must be accounted for when imported to and exported from the United States through the manifesting procedures required for international carriers.
(Sec. 683) Amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the payment from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund of administrative expenses incurred by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Commerce, not to exceed $5 million for any fiscal year.
(Sec. 684) Amends Federal law to grant the Court of International Trade exclusive jurisdiction of any civil action for review of decisions of the Customs Service that deny, suspend, or revoke accreditation of private customs laboratories. Bars the commencement of such actions unless brought within 60 days of such decisions.
(Sec. 685) Authorizes the payment of certain claims against Customs Service employees out of the Department of the Treasury Forfeiture Fund. Authorizes (currently mandates) unobligated amounts in such Fund to be kept on deposit or invested in U.S. bonds.
(Sec. 686) Requires U.S. and foreign vessels to obtain clearance from the Customs Service before proceeding from a U.S. port for: (1) a foreign port; (2) another U.S. port (for foreign vessels only), or (for U.S. vessels only) another U.S. port if the vessel has bonded or foreign merchandise for which entry has not been made; or (3) outside the U.S. territorial sea to visit a hovering vessel or to receive merchandise.
(Sec. 687) Repeals specified provisions of Federal law.
(Sec. 691) Requires the Commissioner of Customs to report to the Congress each fiscal year after FY 1994 on the collection of duties imposed under the antidumping and countervailing duty laws.
Amends the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 to authorize the Commissioner of Customs to obtain from the operators of centralized cargo examination stations information regarding fees paid to them for the provision of services at such stations.
Amends the Customs and Trade Act of 1990 to require the Commissioner of Customs to: (1) devise a methodology for estimating the level of compliance with the U.S. customs laws; and (2) evaluate the extent to which such compliance was obtained during the 12-month period preceding the 60th day before each fiscal year 1994 through 1996.
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Bill titles: To implement the North American Free Trade Agreement.; NAFTA Worker Security Act
Links for more info on the vote: congress.gov
