Advancing America’s Interests Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8037 To amend section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to requirements for domestic industries, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 14, 2020 Ms. DELBENE (for herself and Mr. SCHWEIKERT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 with respect to requirements for domestic industries, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing America’s 4 Interests Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 The purpose of this Act is to ensure that the re- 7 sources of the United States International Trade Commis- 8 sion are focused on protecting genuine domestic industries 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8037 IH and to safeguard the public health and welfare and the 1 United States economy (including competitive conditions). 2 SEC. 3. UNFAIR PRACTICES IN IMPORT TRADE. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 4 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1337) is amended as follows: 5 (1) Subsection (a) is amended— 6 (A) in paragraph (3)— 7 (i) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of sub- 8 paragraph (B); 9 (ii) in subparagraph (C), by striking 10 ‘‘engineering, research and development, or 11 licensing.’’ and inserting ‘‘engineering and 12 research and development; or’’; and 13 (iii) by adding after subparagraph (C) 14 the following: 15 ‘‘(D) substantial investment in licensing activi- 16 ties that leads to the adoption and development of 17 articles that incorporate the patent, copyright, trade- 18 mark, mask work, or design.’’; 19 (B) by redesignating paragraph (4) as 20 paragraph (5); and 21 (C) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 22 following: 23 ‘‘(4) For purposes of paragraph (3), the complainant 24 may not rely upon activities by its licensees unless the li- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8037 IH cense leads to the adoption and development of articles 1 that incorporate the claimed patent, copyright, trademark, 2 mask work, or design for sale in the United States.’’. 3 (2) Subsection (b) is amended— 4 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting after 5 the first sentence the following: ‘‘For a com- 6 plaint under oath, a person may be relied upon 7 to qualify as an industry under subsection 8 (a)(2) only if the person joins the complaint 9 under oath, except that nothing in this sentence 10 shall be construed to compel such a person to 11 join the complaint.’’; and 12 (B) by adding at the end the following: 13 ‘‘(4)(A) The Commission shall identify, at the begin- 14 ning of an investigation, whether the investigation pre- 15 sents a dispositive issue appropriate for an expedited fact 16 finding and an abbreviated hearing limited to that issue, 17 and shall direct the assigned administrative law judge to 18 issue an initial determination on such issue not later than 19 100 days after the investigation is instituted. 20 ‘‘(B) Any initial determination by the assigned ad- 21 ministrative law judge under subparagraph (A) shall stay 22 the investigation pending Commission action.’’. 23 (3) Subsection (c) is amended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8037 IH (A) by striking the first sentence and in- 1 serting the following: ‘‘(1) The Commission 2 shall determine, with respect to each investiga- 3 tion conducted by it under this section, whether 4 or not there is a violation of this section, except 5 that the Commission— 6 ‘‘(A) may, by issuing a consent order or on the 7 basis of an agreement between the private parties to 8 the investigation, including an agreement to present 9 the matter for arbitration, terminate any such inves- 10 tigation, in whole or in part, without making such 11 a determination; or 12 ‘‘(B) may determine during the course of the 13 investigation that the exclusion of articles under in- 14 vestigation would not be in the interest of the public, 15 after considering the nature of the articles concerned 16 and the effect of such exclusion upon the public 17 health and welfare, the United States economy (in- 18 cluding competitive conditions), the production of 19 like or directly competitive articles by the complain- 20 ant and its licensees, and United States consumers, 21 and terminate any such investigation, in whole or in 22 part, without making any further determination.’’; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8037 IH (B) in the second sentence, by striking 1 ‘‘Each determination’’ and inserting the fol- 2 lowing: 3 ‘‘(2) Each determination’’; 4 (C) by striking ‘‘its findings on the public 5 health and welfare, competitive conditions in 6 the United States economy,’’ and inserting ‘‘its 7 findings on the public health and welfare, the 8 United States economy (including competitive 9 conditions),’’; and 10 (D) by inserting ‘‘by the complainant and 11 its licensees’’ after ‘‘the production of like or di- 12 rectly competitive articles in the United 13 States’’. 14 (4) Subsection (d)(1) is amended by striking 15 the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘(1) 16 If the Commission determines, as a result of an in- 17 vestigation under this section, that there is both (A) 18 a violation of this section and (B) exclusion of the 19 articles concerned is in the interest of the public, 20 after considering the nature of the articles concerned 21 and the effect of such exclusion upon the public 22 health and welfare, the United States economy (in- 23 cluding competitive conditions), the production of 24 like or directly competitive articles in the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8037 IH States by complainant and its licensees, and United 1 States consumers, then the Commission shall direct 2 that the articles concerned that are imported by any 3 person violating the provisions of this section be ex- 4 cluded from entry into the United States.’’. 5 (5) Subsection (e)(1) is amended by striking 6 the first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘If, 7 during the course of an investigation under this sec- 8 tion, the Commission determines that there is reason 9 to believe that there is a violation of this section and 10 that exclusion of the articles concerned would be in 11 the interest of the public, the Commission may di- 12 rect that the articles concerned that are imported by 13 any person with respect to whom there is reason to 14 believe that such person is violating this section be 15 excluded from entry into the United States, after 16 considering the nature of the articles concerned and 17 the effect of such exclusion upon the public health 18 and welfare, the United States economy (including 19 competitive conditions), the production of like or di- 20 rectly competitive articles in the United States by 21 the complainant and its licensees, and United States 22 consumers.’’. 23 (6) Subsection (f)(1) is amended by striking the 24 first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘In addi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8037 IH tion to, or in lieu of, taking action under subsection 1 (d) or (e), the Commission may issue and cause to 2 be served on any person violating this section, or be- 3 lieved to be violating this section, as the case may 4 be, an order directing such person to cease and de- 5 sist from engaging in the unfair methods or acts in- 6 volved, after considering the nature of the articles 7 concerned and the effect of such order upon the pub- 8 lic health and welfare, the United States economy 9 (including competitive conditions), the production of 10 like or directly competitive articles in the United 11 States by complainant and its licensees and United 12 States consumers.’’. 13 (7) Subsection (g)(1) is amended by amending 14 the matter following subparagraph (E) to read as 15 follows: 16 ‘‘the Commission shall presume the facts alleged in the 17 complaint to be true and shall, upon request, issue an ex- 18 clusion from entry or a cease and desist order, or both, 19 limited to that person, after considering the nature of the 20 articles concerned and the effect of such exclusion or order 21 upon the public health and welfare, the United States 22 economy (including competitive conditions), the produc- 23 tion of like or directly competitive articles in the United 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8037 IH States by the complainant and its licensees and United 1 States consumers.’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 subsection (a) shall apply to complaints filed under section 4 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on or after the date of the 5 enactment of this Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:34 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8037.IH H8037 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS