ADVISORY

FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT

Levin and Lewis Announce a Joint Hearing on Import Safety

Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Sander M. Levin (D-MI) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA) today announced that the Subcommittees will hold a joint hearing on import safety.  The hearing will take place on Thursday, October 4, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be heard from invited witnesses only.  However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Subcommittees or for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing.

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

This hearing will focus on the mechanisms and legal authorities under current law for ensuring the safety of food and consumer products imported into the United States.  The hearing will examine how these mechanisms and authorities are functioning, what problems may exist with respect to each mechanism or authority, and what improvements are needed.  The hearing will look into the role of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and CBP’s coordination with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at the ports of entry.   In addition, the hearing will address the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures in the United States and overseas and the consistency of those measures with the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. 

BACKGROUND:

Recent incidents of contaminated food, unsafe toys, and other products have led to an examination of the United States regulatory framework for ensuring that imports meet U.S. public health, product safety, and consumer protection standards.  The ability of U.S. Government regulators to identify and take action to prohibit the importation of the unsafe imports is a critical part of the inquiry. 

Last year, the United States imported $1.9 trillion of goods.  A growing portion of the American food supply is provided through imports.  For example, in 2005, more than 84% of all fish and seafood was imported.   Each day, 25,000 shipments of food are imported.

Similarly, Americans use and depend on imported products for virtually every aspect of daily life, from toys to appliances.  In 2006, China was the largest supplier of imported toys, producing 86% of toys played with by American children.  

The United States has a complex structure at the ports of entry to process imports and monitor compliance with American safety standards.  The composition of the President’s Interagency Working Group on Import Safety illustrates the multifaceted, multi-agency dimension of the system.  The Working Group is comprised of members from the following departments, agencies, and Executive Office divisions:  Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation, Homeland Security, Management and Budget, United States Trade Representative, Environmental Protection and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The CBP, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, is the primary border agency and the starting point for ensuring the safety of all imports.   In the area of food and product safety, CBP must coordinate with a host of agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and its Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

The Trade and Oversight Subcommittees are focused on providing CBP with proper authority and appropriate enforcement tools for ensuring import safety.

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:

Please Note:  Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hearing 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, “Hearing Archives” (http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Hearings.asp?congress=18).  Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, “Click here to provide a submission for the record.”  Once you have followed the online instructions, completing all informational forms and clicking “submit” on the final page, an email will be sent to the address which you supply confirming your interest in providing a submission for the record.  You MUST REPLY to the email and ATTACH your submission as a Word or WordPerfect document, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by close of business Thursday, October 18, 2007.  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.  Those filing written statements who wish to have their statements distributed to the press and interested public at the hearing can follow the same procedure listed above for those who are testifying and making an oral presentation.  For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-1721.

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 Word or WordPerfect 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.

2.  Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing.  Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased.  All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3.  All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons, and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.  A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers of each witness.

Note:  All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://waysandmeans.house.gov.

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.

###