No Free TRIPS Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3858 To prohibit the President from negotiating or concluding any withdrawal, suspension, waiver, or modification to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights without explicit authorization from Congress. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 6, 2023 Mr. ISSA (for himself, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. TIFFANY, Mr. CLINE, Mr. FITZ- GERALD, and Mr. KILEY) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To prohibit the President from negotiating or concluding any withdrawal, suspension, waiver, or modification to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights without explicit authorization from Con- gress. 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 ‘‘No Free TRIPS Act’’. 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3858.IH H3858 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3858 IH SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON MODIFICATION OF AGREEMENT ON 1 TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF INTELLEC- 2 TUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The President, and any official, 4 employee, or agent of the United States, may not negotiate 5 or conclude any withdrawal, suspension, waiver, or modi- 6 fication to the TRIPS Agreement without obtaining ex- 7 plicit authorization from Congress before beginning nego- 8 tiations with respect to that withdrawal, suspension, waiv- 9 er, or modification. 10 (b) TRIPS AGREEMENT DEFINED.—In this section, 11 the term ‘‘TRIPS Agreement’’ means the Agreement on 12 Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights re- 13 ferred to in section 101(d)(15) of the Uruguay Round 14 Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3511(d)(15)). 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Jun 27, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3858.IH H3858 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS