19 U.S.C. § 4205 — Implementation of trade agreements

(a) In general.
(1) Notification and submission. An agreement made under section 4202(b) takes effect for the United States only if all of these conditions are met:
(A) At least 90 calendar days before entering the agreement, the President tells the House of Representatives and the Senate that the President intends to enter it, and promptly publishes that notice in the Federal Register.
(B) At least 60 days before entering it, the President publishes the agreement's text on a publicly available website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
(C) Within 60 days after entering it, the President gives Congress a description of the changes to existing laws that the President believes would be needed to make the United States comply with the agreement.
(D) At least 30 days before sending Congress the materials under subparagraph (E), the President sends Congress (i) a draft statement of proposed administrative action to carry out the agreement and (ii) a copy of the agreement's final legal text.
(E) After entering the agreement, on a day when both Houses are in session, the President sends Congress the final legal text, together with (i) a draft implementing bill described in section 4202(b)(3), (ii) a statement of proposed administrative action to carry out the agreement, and (iii) the supporting information described in paragraph (2)(A).
(F) The implementing bill becomes law.
(G) No later than 30 days before the agreement takes effect for a party, the President gives Congress written notice that the President has determined that the party has taken the measures needed to comply with the agreement's provisions that take effect on that date.
(2) Supporting information.
(A) In general. The required supporting information consists of (i) an explanation of how the implementing bill and proposed administrative action will change or affect existing law; and (ii) a statement that (I) asserts that the agreement makes progress toward the applicable purposes, policies, priorities, and objectives of this chapter, and (II) gives the President's reasons about (aa) how and how much the agreement makes that progress, (bb) whether and how it changes a previously negotiated agreement, (cc) how it serves United States commerce, and (dd) how the implementing bill meets the standards in section 4202(b)(3).
(B) Public availability. The President must make that supporting information public.
(3) Reciprocal benefits. To ensure that a foreign country outside the agreement does not receive its benefits without also being subject to its obligations, the implementing bill must provide that the agreement's benefits and obligations apply only to the parties, if that is consistent with the agreement. The bill may also provide that benefits and obligations do not apply uniformly to all parties, if that is consistent with the agreement.
(4) Disclosure of commitments. An oral or written agreement or understanding with a foreign government that relates to a trade agreement for which Congress enacts an implementing bill under the trade authorities procedures, but was not disclosed to Congress before the bill was introduced in either House, is not part of the agreement approved by Congress. It has no effect under United States law or in any dispute settlement body.
(b) Limitations on trade authorities procedures.
(1) For lack of notice or consultations.
(A) In general. The trade authorities procedures cannot apply to an implementing bill for an agreement under section 4202(b) if, during the 60 days beginning when one House agrees to a procedural disapproval resolution for lack of notice or consultations, the other House separately agrees to such a resolution.
(B) Procedural disapproval resolution.
(i) The term “procedural disapproval resolution” means a resolution of either House whose only matter after the resolving clause is: “That the President has failed or refused to notify or consult in accordance with the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 on negotiations with respect to ________ and, therefore, the trade authorities procedures under that Act shall not apply to any implementing bill submitted with respect to such trade agreement or agreements.” The blank is filled with a description of the agreement or agreements.
(ii) For this clause and paragraphs (3)(C) and (4)(C), the President has “failed or refused to notify or consult in accordance with the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015” if (I) the President failed or refused to consult as required by sections 4203 and 4204 and this section; (II) section 4203 guidelines were not developed or met; (III) the President did not meet with the House or Senate Advisory Group on Negotiations after a request under section 4203(c)(4); or (IV) the agreement fails to make progress toward this chapter's purposes, policies, priorities, and objectives.
(2) Procedures for considering resolutions.
(A) In the House, any Member may introduce a procedural disapproval resolution. It must go to the Committee on Ways and Means and also the Committee on Rules, and neither committee may amend it. In the Senate, any Member may introduce one; it must go to the Committee on Finance and may not be amended.
(B) The floor-consideration rules in section 2192(d) and (e) apply to such a resolution if no other such resolution has already been reported in that House by the applicable committee and no resolution described in section 4204(b)(3)(B)(ii) has been reported there under that section's procedures.
(C) The House may not consider such a resolution unless both the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on Rules reported it.
(D) The Senate may not consider such a resolution unless the Committee on Finance reported it.
(3) Senate consultation and compliance resolution.
(A) If the Senate Committee on Finance does not favorably report an implementing bill, it must report a resolution described in (C).
(B) The trade authorities procedures do not apply in the Senate if that committee reports the resolution and the Senate agrees to it.
(C) The resolution must originate in the Committee on Finance and have only this matter after the resolving clause: “That the President has failed or refused to notify or consult in accordance with the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 on negotiations with respect to _____ and, therefore, the trade authorities procedures under that Act shall not apply in the Senate to any implementing bill submitted with respect to such trade agreement or agreements.” The blank describes the agreement or agreements.
(D) If the Senate does not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to that resolution, the resolution goes back to the Committee on Finance.
(4) House consultation and compliance resolution.
(A) If the House Committee on Ways and Means reports an implementing bill with other than a favorable recommendation, and a House Member introduces such a resolution on the next legislative day, the committee must consider it under (B).
(B) (i) By the fourth legislative day after introduction, the committee must meet to consider a qualifying resolution. (ii) After considering one, this rule does not apply to another. (iii) If the committee has not reported it by the sixth legislative day, the committee is discharged from considering it.
(C) The resolution is a House resolution whose only matter after the resolving clause is: “That the President has failed or refused to notify or consult in accordance with the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 on negotiations with respect to _____ and, therefore, the trade authorities procedures under that Act shall not apply in the House of Representatives to any implementing bill submitted with respect to such trade agreement or agreements.” The blank describes the agreement or agreements. The resolution must go to the Committee on Ways and Means.
(D) The trade authorities procedures do not apply in the House to an implementing bill for an agreement that is the subject of such a resolution if the House adopts it.
(5) For failure to meet other requirements. By December 15, 2015, the Secretary of Commerce, consulting with the Secretaries of State and the Treasury, the Attorney General, and the United States Trade Representative, must send Congress a report describing the executive branch's strategy for addressing congressional concerns about whether World Trade Organization^* dispute panels and the Appellate Body^* added to United States obligations or reduced United States rights, as described in section 4201(b)(16)(C). The trade authorities procedures cannot apply to an implementing bill for an agreement negotiated under the WTO^* unless the Secretary issued that report by the deadline.
(6) Agreements with countries not complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
(A) In general. The procedures cannot apply to an implementing bill for an agreement with a country listed as a tier 3 country in the latest annual report on trafficking in persons.
(B) Exception. (i) If the President sends the appropriate congressional committees a letter saying that such a country has taken concrete actions to carry out the report's principal recommendations for it, the prohibition does not apply to an agreement with that country. (ii) The letter must describe those actions, include supporting documents giving credible evidence of each action—including relevant laws or regulations adopted or changed and enforcement actions where appropriate—and be public.
(C) Special rule for changed determinations. If a country was listed as tier 3 in a report from 2014 or later and is listed as tier 2 watch list in the next year's report, the President must send the appropriate committees a detailed description of credible evidence supporting the change, with supporting documents where appropriate. For a change shown in the 2015 report, this is due within 90 days after February 24, 2016. For a change shown in a 2016 or later report, it is due within 90 days after that report is submitted.
(D) Sense of Congress. Congress states that the integrity of the process for the report's determinations—including country rankings and the substance of its assessments—should be respected and not affected by unrelated considerations.
(E) Definitions. (i) “Annual report on trafficking in persons” means the report required by section 110(b)(1) of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)). (ii) “Appropriate congressional committees” means the House Committees on Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs, and the Senate Committees on Finance and Foreign Relations. (iii) “Tier 2 watch list” means the list required by section 110(b)(2)(A)(iii) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(2)(A)(iii)). (iv) “Tier 3 country” means a country on the list required by section 110(b)(1)(C) of that Act (22 U.S.C. 7107(b)(1)(C)).
(c) Rules of the House and Senate. Congress enacted subsection (b), section 4202(c), and section 4204(b)(3) as an exercise of each House's rulemaking power. They are part of each House's rules and supersede other rules only when inconsistent with them. Congress also fully recognizes that either House may change its own procedural rules at any time, in the same way and to the same extent as any other rule.