Amends the Trade Act of 1974 with respect to any dispute settlement panel or Appellate Body report that is adopted in favor of the United States pursuant to the Understanding of Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with regard to the enforcement of U.S. rights under a trade agreement with a foreign country. Directs the United States Trade Representative (USTR), within 90 days of the adoption of the panel report, or if appealed, within 90 days of the adoption of the Appellate Body report, to: (1) make public information contained in such report; and (2) seek advice from the appropriate WTO committee and from specified congressional committees. Requires the USTR, if it is agreed pursuant to the dispute settlement proceedings of the WTO that a foreign country shall have more than 220 days to implement the report's recommendations to: (1) provide notice (90 days before expiration of such time period) and give interested parties a 30-day period to comment on the report; (2) report to Congress regarding progress made by the foreign country in implementing the recommendations, and any action the USTR is considering if such recommendations are not implemented or if the implementation plan is inconsistent with the report; and (3) seek advice from the appropriate WTO committee. Sets forth comment procedures after time period expires.
Directs the USTR in any multilateral review of the dispute settlement procedures of the WTO, to seek adoption of procedures that would require a WTO member against whom a panel or Appellate Body has issued a report to: (1) submit to all interested parties the member's plans for implementing report recommendations not later than six months before the end of the reasonable period allowed for their implementation; and (2) consult with such parties regarding member's plans for implementing such recommendations so that any request for their modification can be considered before implementation and before the end of the reasonable period.
[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1073 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
106th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1073
To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to ensure that United States industry is
consulted with respect to all aspects of the WTO dispute settlement
process.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 18 (legislative day, May 14), 1999
Mr. Ashcroft (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Burns, Mr. Grassley, Mr.
Roberts, Mr. Enzi, and Mr. Hagel) introduced the following bill; which
was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to ensure that United States industry is
consulted with respect to all aspects of the WTO dispute settlement
process.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN IMPLEMENTING WTO DISPUTE
SETTLEMENTS.
(a) In General.--Section 306(b)(2) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19
U.S.C. 2416(b)(2)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``If the'' and inserting ``(A) Failure to
implement recommendation.--If the''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) Comment on panel and appellate body
reports.--In any case in which a panel or Appellate
Body report is adopted in favor of the United States
pursuant to the dispute settlement proceedings of the
World Trade Organization, the Trade Representative
shall within 90 days of the adoption of the panel
report (or, if the panel report is appealed, within 90
days of the adoption of the Appellate Body report)--
``(i) make publicly available information
on--
``(I) the report,
``(II) the plans of the foreign
country against which the report is
issued to implement the recommendations
contained in the report, and
``(III) the time by which the
foreign country has agreed to implement
the recommendations;
``(ii) seek advice from the appropriate
committee pursuant to section 135; and
``(iii) seek advice from the Committee on
Finance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways
and Means of the House of Representatives and,
where appropriate, from the Committee on
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the
Senate and the Committee on Agriculture of the
House of Representatives.
``(C) Comments when reasonable period beyond 220
days.--If, pursuant to paragraph 3 of article 21 of the
Understanding On Rules And Procedures Governing the
Settlement of Disputes of the World Trade Organization,
it is agreed that a foreign country described in
subparagraph (B) shall have a time period of more than
220 days to implement the recommendations of a report
described in subparagraph (B), the Trade Representative
shall 90 days before the expiration of the agreed time
period--
``(i) provide notice and give interested
parties a 30-day period to comment regarding--
``(I) the progress of the foreign
country in implementing the
recommendations;
``(II) any action (including the
implementation of any retaliation list)
that should be taken if the
recommendations are not being
implemented or if the foreign country's
plan for implementing the
recommendations is inconsistent with
the report; and
``(III) any other information that
may be relevant to the Trade
Representative in monitoring the
foreign country's compliance with the
recommendations;
``(ii) submit a report to Congress
regarding the progress made by the foreign
country in implementing the recommendations and
any action the Trade Representative is
considering if the recommendations are not
implemented or if the plan for implementing the
recommendations is inconsistent with the
report; and
``(iii) seek advice from the appropriate
committee pursuant to section 135.
``(D) Comments after agreed time period expires.--
In the case of a panel or Appellate Body report
described in subparagraph (B), the Trade Representative
shall, 60 days after the expiration of the period of
time agreed to for implementation pursuant to article
21 of the Understanding On Rules And Procedures
Governing the Settlement of Disputes of the World Trade
Organization--
``(i) provide notice and give interested
parties a 40-day period to comment regarding
implementation by the foreign country of the
recommendations contained in the report; and
``(ii) 20 days after the close of the
comment period described in clause (i), report
to Congress regarding--
``(I) the foreign country's
implementation of the recommendations;
and
``(II) if the foreign country is
not implementing the recommendations,
the actions the Trade Representative
intends to take under paragraph (1).''.
SEC. 2. UNITED STATES OBJECTIVES WITH RESPECT TO WTO DISPUTE
SETTLEMENTS.
(a) In General.--In any multilateral review of the Understanding of
Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes, the United
States Trade Representative shall seek the adoption of procedures that
would require any WTO member against whom a panel or Appellate Body has
issued a report--
(1) to submit to all interested parties the member's plans
for implementing the recommendations contained in the panel
report (or Appellate Body report, whichever is applicable) not
later than 6 months before the end of the reasonable period
allowed for the implementation; and
(2) to consult with all interested parties regarding the
member's plans for implementing the recommendations so that any
request for modification of the recommendations can be
considered before implementation and before the end of the
reasonable period.
(b) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Reasonable period.--The term ``reasonable period'' has
the meaning the term has when used in the Understanding of
Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes.
(2) Understanding of rules and procedures covering the
settlement of disputes.--The term ``Understanding of Rules and
Procedures Covering the Settlement of Disputes'' means the
Understanding of Rules and Procedures Covering the Settlement
of Disputes adopted as part of the WTO Agreement.
(3) Uruguay round agreements.--The term ``Uruguay Round
Agreements'' has the meaning given such term in section 2(7) of
the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501(7)).
(4) World trade organization.--The term ``World Trade
Organization'' means the organization established pursuant to
the WTO Agreement.
(5) WTO agreement.--The term ``WTO Agreement'' means the
Agreement Establishing The World Trade Organization entered
into on April 15, 1994.
(6) WTO and wto member.--The terms ``WTO'' and ``WTO
member'' have the meanings given those terms in section 2 of
the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3501).
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S5497-5498)
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
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