ADVISORYFROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANSSUBCOMMITTEE ON TRADEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 25, 2008 TR-7 | CONTACT: (202) 225-6649 |
Levin and Herger Announce Request for Written Comments on Miscellaneous Tariff and Duty Suspension Bills and Deadlines for Limited Tariff Benefit Disclosures
Chairman Sander
M. Levin (D-MI) and Ranking Member Wally Herger (R-CA) of the Subcommittee on
Trade today jointly announced that the Subcommittee is requesting written
comments for the record from all parties interested in miscellaneous duty
suspension proposals and corrections to the trade laws.
BACKGROUND:
The Committee on
Ways and Means has jurisdiction over legislation to amend the U.S. tariff schedule and to make corrections to trade legislation. The primary purpose of
the bill is to help U.S. manufacturers compete at home and abroad by
temporarily suspending or reducing duties on intermediate products or materials
that are not made domestically, or where there is no domestic opposition. Such
reductions or suspensions reduce the costs for U.S. businesses and ultimately
increase the competitiveness of their products. The process will look
carefully for domestic production and opposition to proposed modifications to
the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
On November 1,
2007, Chairman Levin and Ranking Member Herger requested that all Members who
planned to introduce tariff legislation or miscellaneous corrections to the
trade laws do so by December 14, 2007. Chairman Levin and Ranking Member
Herger are now requesting public comment on those bills listed below and are
requesting budget scoring estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The
deadline for the public to submit written comments to the Committee is Thursday,
April 10, 2008. After the comment period, the Subcommittee will review all
comments and determine which bills should be included in a miscellaneous tariff
bill (MTB) package. The Subcommittee will consider the extent to which the
bills create a revenue loss, operate retroactively, attract controversy, or are
not administrable.
DISCLOSURE
REQUIREMENT REMINDER AND NOTICE OF DEADLINES:
The Rules of the
House of Representatives of the 110th Congress require that Members provide a
written disclosure statement to the Ways and Means Committee Chairman and
Ranking Member for any bill that contains a limited
tariff benefit, which is defined as a provision modifying the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States in a manner that benefits 10 or
fewer entities. See Rules XXI and XXIII. The Committee is
required to maintain these written disclosures and make them open for public
inspection for limited tariff benefits that are included in any measure
reported by the Committee, a measure voted on without Committee consideration
but referred to the Committee, or any conference report filed by the Committee
or any subcommittee thereof.
Deadline for Submitting
Disclosures in General.
The deadline for submitting the Standard Disclosure Letter and Limited Tariff
Benefit Disclosure Form (where applicable) is Thursday, April 10, 2008. By no later than this date, Members are
required to provide the Subcommittee with at least one of the following: (1) a
statement certifying that the Member is not required to submit a disclosure
statement because the bill does not contain a limited tariff benefit; (2) a
statement certifying that the Member’s bill does contain a limited tariff
benefit and a completed disclosure form; or (3) a statement certifying that the
Member does not know whether the bill contains a limited tariff benefit, and as
such is deferring submission of the disclosure form until additional
information is available.
The Subcommittee
notes that if a Member certifies either (1) that a bill does not contain a
limited tariff benefit, or (2) that a Member does not know whether a bill
contains a limited tariff benefit, then that Member must provide the U.S. International
Trade Commission (ITC) with a list of beneficiaries for factual verification.
To
avoid delays in the MTB process and enable the ITC to complete the verification
in a timely manner, Members must provide such a list to the ITC by no later
than Thursday, April 10, 2008.
Deadline for Amending
Deferred Disclosures.
For Members who have deferred filing a submission until additional information
is available (option three above), the deadline to submit an updated disclosure
is one week after the end of the public comment period (April 17, 2008), or
one week after the ITC reports to the Member office the names and numbers of
verified beneficiaries, whichever is later. The amended disclosure must either (1) confirm that the bill
contains a limited tariff benefit and provide the required disclosure
information; or (2) affirmatively state that the bill does not contain a
limited tariff benefit.
Failure to
provide the Subcommittee with a standard letter and disclosure form (where
applicable), or failure to amend a deferred disclosure will disqualify an
otherwise eligible bill from inclusion in the MTB.
For specific
instructions and guidance regarding compliance with the limited tariff benefit
disclosure requirement, please see the process sheet entitled Miscellaneous
Tariff Bill (MTB) Process
located here.
Click here to
view and print the
Standard Disclosure Cover Letter
and
Limited Tariff Benefit Disclosure Form
DETAILS
FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s)
wishing to submit written comments for the record must follow the appropriate
link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the
informational forms. From the Committee homepage, (http://waysandmeans.house.gov),
select “110th Congress” from the menu entitled “Committee Hearings.”
Select the request for written comments for which you would like to submit, and
click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a submission for the
record.” Follow the online instructions carefully and note deadlines for
submissions located in this advisory. Finally, please note that due to the
change in House mail policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package
deliveries to all House Office Buildings.
FORMATTING
REQUIREMENTS:
The Committee
relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record. As
always, submissions will be included in the record according to the discretion
of the Committee. The Committee will not alter the content of your submission,
but we reserve the right to format it according to our guidelines. Any
submission provided to the Committee by a witness, any supplementary materials
submitted for the printed record, and any written comments in response to a
request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any
submission or supplementary item not in compliance with these guidelines will
not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and
use by the Committee.
1. All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in
PDF format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments.
Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic
submissions for printing the official hearing record.
The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with
disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call
202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business
days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation
needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in
alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.
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