[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6537 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6537

To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to make improvements to the Generalized 
             System of Preferences, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 2012

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Trade Act of 1974 to make improvements to the Generalized 
             System of Preferences, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Generalized System of Preferences 
Improvement Act''.

SEC. 2. DESIGNATION OF BENEFICIARY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

    Section 502 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2462) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(2)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (C)--
                            (i) by striking ``(C)'' and inserting 
                        ``(C)(i)''; and
                            (ii) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(ii) Such country enters into an agreement to 
                afford preferential treatment to the products of a 
                developed country, other than the United States, unless 
                the President determines and certifies to Congress that 
                it is in the national interests of the United States to 
                designate such country as a beneficiary developing 
                country under this title.'';
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (H) the 
                following:
                    ``(I) Such country improperly uses sanitary and 
                phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, or 
                other non-tariff trade barriers through a sustained or 
                recurring course of action or inaction, in a manner 
                negatively affecting trade between the country and the 
                United States.''; and
                    (C) in the matter following subparagraph (I) (as 
                added by subparagraph (B) of this paragraph), by 
                striking ``and (H)'' and inserting ``(H), and (I)''; 
                and
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (6), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(8) whether or not and the extent to which such country, 
        in accordance with its capacity, adopts and follows 
        international sanitary or phytosanitary standards and provides 
        scientific justifications for deviations from such 
        standards.''.

SEC. 3. REVIEW AND REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    Section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2464) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``report'' and 
        inserting ``reports'';
            (2) by striking ``The President'' and inserting ``(a) 
        report on Worker Rights and Child Labor.--The President''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Report on Market Access.--
            ``(1) In general.--The President shall submit an annual 
        report to the Congress on the status of market access within 
        each covered beneficiary developing country, including findings 
        with respect to whether or not the beneficiary country, in 
        accordance with its capacity, has adopted and followed 
        international sanitary and phytosanitary standards and provides 
        scientific justifications for deviations from such standards. 
        The report shall also include findings as to whether or not 
        each covered beneficiary developing country has improperly used 
        sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to 
        trade, and other non-tariff trade barriers.
            ``(2) Covered beneficiary developing country.--In paragraph 
        (1), the term `covered beneficiary developing country ' means a 
        beneficiary developing country that is one of the top 20 
        beneficiary developing countries in terms of dollar value of 
        duty-free imports of articles under this title as identified on 
        an annual basis by the United States International Trade 
        Commission.''.
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