§ 4728. — Environmental trade promotion.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC4728]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 73--EXPORT ENHANCEMENT
SUBCHAPTER III--EXPORT PROMOTION
Sec. 4728. Environmental trade promotion
(a) Statement of policy
It is the policy of the United States to foster the export of United
States environmental technologies, goods, and services. In exercising
their powers and functions, all appropriate departments and agencies of
the United States Government shall encourage and support sales of such
technologies, goods, and services.
(b) Environmental Trade Working Group of Trade Promotion Coordination
Committee
(1) Establishment and purpose
The President shall establish the Environmental Trade Promotion
Working Group (hereafter in this section referred to as the
``Working Group'') as a subcommittee of the Trade Promotion
Coordination Committee (hereafter in this section referred to as the
``TPCC''), established under section 4727 of this title. The purpose
of the Working Group shall be--
(A) to address all issues with respect to the export
promotion and export financing of United States environmental
technologies, goods, and services; and
(B) to develop a strategy for expanding United States
exports of environmental technologies, goods, and services.
(2) Membership
The members of the Working Group shall be--
(A) representatives of the departments and agencies that are
represented on the TPCC, who are designated by the head of their
respective departments or agencies to advise the head of such
department or agency on ways of promoting the export of United
States environmental technologies, goods, and services; and
(B) a representative of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(3) Chairperson
The Secretary of Commerce (hereafter in this section referred to
as the ``Secretary'') shall designate the chairperson of the Working
Group from among senior employees of the Department of Commerce. The
chairperson shall--
(A) assess the effectiveness of United States Government
programs for the promotion of exports of environmental
technologies, goods, and services;
(B) recommend improvements to such programs, including
regulatory changes or additional authority that may be necessary
to improve the promotion of exports of environmental
technologies, goods, and services;
(C) ensure that the members of the Working Group coordinate
their environmental trade promotion programs, including
feasibility studies, technical assistance, training programs,
business information services, and export financing; and
(D) assess, jointly with the Working Group representative of
the Environmental Protection Agency, the extent to which the
environmental trade promotion programs of the Working Group
advance the environmental goals established in ``Agenda 21'' by
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
held at Rio de Janeiro, and in other international environmental
agreements.
(4) Report to Congress
The chairperson of the TPCC shall include a report on the
activities of the Working Group as a part of the annual report
submitted to the Congress by the TPCC.
(c) Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee
(1) Establishment and purpose
The Secretary, in carrying out the duties of the chairperson of
the TPCC, shall establish the Environmental Technologies Trade
Advisory Committee (hereafter in this section referred to as the
``Committee''). The purpose of the Committee shall be to provide
advice and guidance to the Working Group in the development and
administration of programs to expand United States exports of
environmental technologies, goods, and services and products that
comply with United States environmental, safety, and related
requirements.
(2) Membership
The members of the Committee shall be drawn from representatives
of--
(A) environmental businesses, including small businesses;
(B) trade associations in the environmental sector;
(C) private sector organizations involved in the promotion
of environmental exports, including products that comply with
United States environmental, safety, and related requirements;
(D) States (as defined in section 4721(i)(5) \1\ of this
title) and associations representing the States; and
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ See References in Text note below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(E) other appropriate interested members of the public,
including labor representatives.
The Secretary shall appoint as members of the Committee at least 1
individual under each of subparagraphs (A) through (E).
(d) Export plans for priority countries
(1) Priority country identification
The Working Group, in consultation with the Committee, shall
annually assess which foreign countries have markets with the
greatest potential for the export of United States environmental
technologies, goods, and services. Of these countries the Working
Group shall select as priority countries 5 with the greatest
potential for the application of United States Government export
promotion resources related to environmental exports.
(2) Export plans
The Working Group, in consultation with the Committee, shall
annually create a plan for each priority country selected under
paragraph (1), setting forth in detail ways to increase United
States environmental exports to such country. Each such plan shall--
(A) identify the primary public and private sector
opportunities for United States exporters of environmental
technologies, goods, and services in the priority country;
(B) analyze the financing and other requirements for major
projects in the priority country which will use environmental
technologies, goods, and services, and analyze whether such
projects are dependent upon financial assistance from foreign
countries or multilateral institutions; and
(C) list specific actions to be taken by the member agencies
of the Working Group to increase United States exports to the
priority country.
(e) Trade information
In support of the work of the Working Group, the Secretary shall, as
part of the regular market survey and information services activities of
the Department of Commerce, make available--
(1) information on existing and emerging markets and market
trends for environmental technologies, goods, and services; and
(2) a description of the export promotion programs for
environmental technologies, goods, and services of the agencies that
are represented on the Working Group.
(f) Environmental technologies specialists in United States and Foreign
Commercial Service
(1) Assignment of environmental technologies specialists
The Secretary shall assign a specialist in environmental
technologies to the office of the United States and Foreign
Commercial Service in each of the 5 priority countries selected
under subsection (d)(1) of this section, and the Secretary is
authorized to assign such a specialist to the office of the United
States and Foreign Commercial Service in any country that is a
promising market for United States exports of environmental
technologies, goods, and services. Such specialist may be an
employee of the Department, an employee of any relevant United
States Government department or agency assigned on a temporary or
limited term basis to the Commerce Department, or a representative
of the private sector assigned to the Department of Commerce.
(2) Duties of environmental technologies specialists
Each specialist assigned under paragraph (1) shall provide
export promotion assistance to United States environmental
businesses, including, but not limited to--
(A) identifying factors in the country to which the
specialist is assigned that affect the United States share of
the domestic market for environmental technologies, goods, and
services, including market barriers, standards-setting
activities, and financing issues;
(B) providing assessments of assistance by foreign
governments that is provided to producers of environmental
technologies, goods, and services in such countries in order to
enhance exports to the country to which the specialist is
assigned, the effectiveness of such assistance on the
competitiveness of United States products, and whether
comparable United States assistance exists;
(C) training Foreign Commercial Service Officers in the
country to which the specialist is assigned, other countries in
the region, and United States and Foreign Commercial Service
offices in the United States, in environmental technologies and
the international environmental market;
(D) providing assistance in identifying potential customers
and market opportunities in the country to which the specialist
is assigned;
(E) providing assistance in obtaining necessary business
services in the country to which the specialist is assigned;
(F) providing information on environmental standards and
regulations in the country to which the specialist is assigned;
(G) providing information on all United States Government
programs that could assist the promotion, financing, and sale of
United States environmental technologies, goods, and services in
the country to which the specialist is assigned; and
(H) promoting the equal treatment of United States
environmental, safety, and related requirements, with those of
other exporting countries, in order to promote exports of United
States-made products.
(g) Environmental training in one-stop shops
In addition to the training provided under subsection (f)(2)(C) of
this section, the Secretary shall establish a mechanism to train--
(1) Commercial Service Officers assigned to the one-stop shops
provided for in section 4721(b)(8) of this title, and
(2) Commercial Service Officers assigned to district offices in
districts having large numbers of environmental businesses,
in environmental technologies and in the international environmental
marketplace, and ensure that such officers receive appropriate training
under such mechanism. Such training may be provided by officers or
employees of the Department of Commerce, and other United States
Government departments and agencies, with appropriate expertise in
environmental technologies and the international environmental
workplace, and by appropriate representatives of the private sector.
(h) International regional environmental initiatives
(1) Establishment of initiatives
The TPCC may establish one or more international regional
environmental initiatives the purpose of which shall be to
coordinate the activities of Federal departments and agencies in
order to build environmental partnerships between the United States
and the geographic region outside the United States for which such
initiative is established. Such partnerships shall enhance
environmental protection and promote sustainable development by
using in the region technical expertise and financial resources of
United States departments and agencies that provide foreign
assistance and by expanding United States exports of environmental
technologies, goods, and services to that region.
(2) Activities
In carrying out each international regional environmental
initiative, the TPCC shall--
(A) support, through the provision of foreign assistance,
the development of sound environmental policies and practices in
countries in the geographic region for which the initiative is
established, including the development of environmentally sound
regulatory regimes and enforcement mechanisms;
(B) identify and disseminate to United States environmental
businesses information regarding specific environmental business
opportunities in that geographic region;
(C) coordinate existing Federal efforts to promote
environmental exports to that geographic region, and ensure that
such efforts are fully coordinated with environmental export
promotion efforts undertaken by the States and the private
sector;
(D) increase assistance provided by the Federal Government
to promote exports from the United States of environmental
technologies, goods, and services to that geographic region,
such as trade missions, reverse trade missions, trade fairs, and
programs in the United States to train foreign nationals in
United States environmental technologies; and
(E) increase high-level advocacy by United States Government
officials (including the United States ambassadors to the
countries in that geographic region) for United States
environmental businesses seeking market opportunities in that
geographic region.
(i) Environmental technologies project advocacy calendar and information
dissemination program
The Working Group shall--
(1) maintain a calendar, updated at the end of each calendar
quarter, of significant opportunities for United States
environmental businesses in foreign markets and trade promotion
events, which shall--
(A) be made available to the public;
(B) identify the 50 to 100 environmental infrastructure and
procurement projects in foreign markets that have the greatest
potential in the calendar quarter for United States exports of
environmental technologies, goods, and services; and
(C) include trade promotion events, such as trade missions
and trade fairs, in the environmental sector; and
(2) provide, through the National Trade Data Bank and other
information dissemination channels, information on opportunities for
environmental businesses in foreign markets and information on
Federal export promotion programs.
(j) Environmental technology export alliances
Subject to the availability of appropriations for such purpose, the
Secretary is authorized to use the Market Development Cooperator Program
to support the creation on a regional basis of alliances of private
sector entities, nonprofit organizations, and universities, that support
the export of environmental technologies, goods, and services and
promote the export of products complying with United States
environmental, safety, and related requirements.
(k) ``Environmental business'' defined
For purposes of this section, the term ``environmental business''
means a business that produces environmental technologies, goods, or
services.
(Pub. L. 100-418, title II, Sec. 2313, as added Pub. L. 102-429, title
II, Sec. 204(a), Oct. 21, 1992, 106 Stat. 2202; amended Pub. L. 103-392,
title IV, Sec. 402, Oct. 22, 1994, 108 Stat. 4099.)
References in Text
Section 4721 of this title, referred to in subsec. (c)(2)(D), was
amended, and section 4721(i)(5) does not define ``States''. However,
such term is defined elsewhere in that section.
Amendments
1994--Subsecs. (c) to (e). Pub. L. 103-392, Sec. 402(a), added
subsecs. (c) and (d), redesignated former subsec. (c) as (e), and struck
out former subsec. (d) which related to overseas services for exporters.
Subsecs. (f) to (k). Pub. L. 103-392, Sec. 402(b), added subsecs.
(f) to (k).
Report on Insurance Feasibility
Section 204(b) of Pub. L. 102-429 directed that, not later than 1
year after Oct. 21, 1992, chairperson of Trade Promotion Coordinating
Committee, after consultation with appropriate departments and agencies
of the United States Government, submit a report to Congress that
analyzes (1) the extent to which Federal investment insurance and export
financing programs sufficiently protect against business failures or
default on obligations arising from changes by a foreign government in
its environmental laws or regulations, and (2) the advisability and
feasibility of expanding coverage of such programs, or creating new
programs, to address such risks.
