Sec. 7. Trade facilitation pilot program
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The Secretary of State shall establish a pilot program— to coordinate a whole-of-government effort to expand United States efforts in trade facilitation assistance for developing countries, consistent with the policies set forth in section 4; and to direct the expenditure of funding authorized to be appropriated under this section to trade facilitation assistance programs in countries designated under this section. In determining which recipient countries should receive trade facilitation funding, the Secretary shall take into account the recommendations of the United States Trade Representative with respect to recipient country progress in, and commitment to, implementing the commitments under the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement, including the establishment and maintenance of a national committee on trade facilitation and other relevant trade obligations and commitments.
United States embassies in trade facilitation pilot countries, as designated by the Secretary of State pursuant to subsection (c), shall, on a biennial basis, develop a specific trade facilitation assistance component for their mission plan and shall provide such component to the chair of the interagency coordinating committee as established under section 5(c). The trade facilitation component of mission plans required by this subsection shall include recommendations for priority areas for trade capacity assistance to be provided based on, among other things, an assessment of the relative costs of addressing barriers to trade and the anticipated benefits of assistance to remove such barriers.
The Secretary of State is authorized to designate trade facilitation pilot developing countries to participate in the trade facilitation assistance pilot program established under this section. In designating countries pursuant to paragraph (1), the Secretary shall prioritize countries recommended by chiefs of mission and determined by the Secretary, taking into account comments from the Trade Capacity Advisory Committee and recommendations from the interagency coordinating committee, to be able to substantially benefit from expanded United States trade capacity assistance and to have demonstrated the political will to effectively and sustainably implement such assistance.
The Secretary shall designate not fewer than five eligible developing countries to participate in the trade facilitation pilot program established under this section within the first year after the date of the enactment of this Act and not fewer than 15 pilot countries within the five-year term of the program. The Secretary shall consult with the interagency coordinating committee and the trade capacity advisory committee to inform the designation of trade facilitation pilot developing countries to participate in the priority trade capacity building pilot program established under this section.
Funds authorized to be appropriated under this section may be used to expand and improve trade facilitation measures related to import, export, or transit formalities and procedures, including increasing the throughput rate of imports and exports and reforming and modernizing customs operations and procedures, as well as implementing commitments made under the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement in pilot countries, as determined by the the Secretary of State.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 2021 to carry out activities under this section. Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations in paragraph
(2)are authorized to remain available until expended. Not later than halfway through the five-year term of the pilot program established under this section, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report to summarize how funding has been prioritized, summarize the trade facilitation projects in each of the designated countries, provide metrics of the progress made to date, and highlight additional trade facilitation assistance programs that will be funded in additional countries through the remainder of the pilot program. The Secretary shall prepare a similar report six months before the expiration of the pilot program and provide Congress with recommendations as to whether the pilot program should be continued and how it could be improved. The pilot program under subsection
(a)shall terminate on the date that is five years after the date of the enactment of this Act.