[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5237 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5237
To seek the inclusion of certain requirements of the International
Health Regulations of the World Health Organization as obligations
under the World Trade Organization.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 27, 2006
Mr. Markey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on
International Relations and Energy and Commerce, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To seek the inclusion of certain requirements of the International
Health Regulations of the World Health Organization as obligations
under the World Trade Organization.
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 ``Global Trade Requires Unmitigated
Truth in Health (TRUTH) Act'' .
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) The rise of global trade has created both new
commercial opportunities and new health risks.
(2) Governments have the right and responsibility to
protect their countries from the threat of disease.
(3) Trade is responsible for contributing to the rapid
spread of disease around the globe and increases the risk of a
pandemic outbreak.
(4) Those who participate in world trade, therefore, have a
responsibility to promptly report and appropriately respond to
infectious diseases on a timely basis to minimize the potential
for global pandemics.
(5) The World Health Organization has created the World
Health Organization International Health Regulations to
prevent, protect against, and control disease and provide a
public health response to the international spread of disease
in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public
health risks, and that avoid unnecessary interference with
international traffic and trade.
(6) The failure of countries to be transparent and
responsive to the existence or spread of disease in a country
that is a member of the World Trade Organization threatens the
free flow of goods and services that is a primary objective of
the GATT 1994 and other agreements of the World Trade
Organization.
(7) The experience with the SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003
should be a clear warning that the system of public health
readiness can be easily compromised by delays in reporting the
earliest cases of an outbreak by a country reluctant to
publicize a problem with an economic downside, no matter the
public health consequences.
(8) If a country fails to abide by regulations which are
designed to prevent, protect against, and control disease and
provide a public health response to the international spread of
disease without unnecessary interference with international
traffic and trade, it may be necessary to take actions against
that country which restrict or otherwise interfere with
international traffic or trade in the best interest of public
health.
SEC. 3. WTO PROPOSAL.
(a) Action by United States Trade Representative.--The United
States Trade Representative shall--
(1) propose to the World Trade Organization that the rights
and obligations of the World Trade Organization should take
into account whether countries are undermining the trade system
by failing to abide by the rules of other international
organizations with regard to public health, specifically the
International Health Regulations of the World Health
Organization; and
(2) include in the proposal options for its implementation,
such as--
(A) provisions that would give members of the World
Trade Organization the right to impose sanctions or
other punitive measures on members that have been found
to violate the International Health Regulations of the
World Health Organization; and
(B) membership criteria for current and potential
members of the World trade Organization that would
include the requirement to uphold the trade system by
abiding by rules of other international organizations
with regard to public health.
(b) Report to Congress.--The United States Trade Representative
shall report to the Congress, not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, and not later than the end of each 90-day
period thereafter, on steps the Trade Representative has taken to carry
out subsection (a), and the results of those steps.
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT ON COUNTRY COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL HEALTH
REGULATIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall
transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate,
not later than December 1, 2006, and not later than December 1 of each
year thereafter, a full and complete report regarding the status of the
compliance with and observance of the International Health Regulations
of the World Health Organization in each country that is a member of
that Organization.
(b) Contents.--Each report under subsection (a) shall include the
following information:
(1) The extent to which each country complies with and
enforces the requirements contained in the International Health
Regulations.
(2) The extent to which each country uses effective
epidemiological principles to detect, reduce, or eliminate the
sources from which infection spreads, to improve sanitation in
and around ports and airports, to prevent the dissemination of
vectors, and, in general, to encourage epidemiological
activities on the national level so that there is little risk
of outside infection establishing itself in that country.
(3) The steps that the Secretary has taken to alter United
States programs or policies with respect to any country because
of unsatisfactory compliance with the International Health
Regulations.
(4) For each country in which the report indicates that the
country's health administration has failed to notify the World
Health Organization within 24 hours of its being informed that
the first case of a disease subject to the International Health
Regulations, that is neither an imported case nor a transferred
case, has occurred in its territory, or, within the subsequent
24 hours, has failed to notify the infected area, the extent to
which the United States has taken or will take action to
encourage such notifications.
(5) The extent to which each country communicates frequent
and detailed information to the World Health Organization about
the presence of plague, cholera, yellow fever, avian influenza,
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and any other disease
determined by the Secretary that is present in its country. The
report shall describe whether each country communicates to the
World Health Organization the number of cases and deaths at
least once each week, and the precautions taken to prevent the
spread of the disease, in particular the measures which are
being applied to prevent the spread of the disease to other
territories by vessels, aircraft, trains, road vehicles, other
means of transport, and containers leaving the infected area.
(6) What steps the government of each country has taken to
ensure that ports and airports in its territory have at their
disposal an organization and equipment adequate for the
application of the measures provided for in the International
Health Regulations.
(7) What steps the government of each country has taken to
make available, at as many of the ports and airports in a
territory as practicable, an organized medical and health
service with adequate staff, equipment, and premises, in
particular facilities for the prompt isolation and care of
infected persons, for disinfection, disinsecting, and
deratting, for bacteriological investigation, for the
collection and examination of rodents for plague infection, for
collection of water and food samples and their dispatch to a
laboratory for examination, and for other appropriate measures
provided for by the International Health Regulations.
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