§ 649. — Office of International Trade.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC649]
TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
CHAPTER 14A--AID TO SMALL BUSINESS
Sec. 649. Office of International Trade
(a) Establishment
There is established within the Administration an Office of
International Trade which shall implement the programs pursuant to this
section.
(b) Development of distribution network; marketing of programs and
dissemination of information; bilingual job applicants
The Office, working in close cooperation with the Department of
Commerce and other relevant Federal agencies, Small Business Development
Centers engaged in export promotion efforts, regional and local
Administration offices, the small business community, and relevant State
and local export promotion programs, shall--
(1) assist in developing a distribution network for existing
trade promotion, trade finance, trade adjustment, trade remedy
assistance and trade data collection programs through use of the
Administration's regional and local offices and the Small Business
Development Center network;
(2) assist in the aggressive marketing of these programs and the
dissemination of marketing information, including computerized
marketing data, to the small business community; and
(3) give preference in hiring or approving the transfer of any
employee into the Office or to a position described in paragraph (8)
below to otherwise qualified applicants who are fluent in a language
in addition to English. Such employees shall accompany foreign trade
missions if designated by the director of the Office and shall be
available as needed to translate documents, interpret conversations
and facilitate multilingual transactions including providing
referral lists for translation services if required.
(c) Promotion of sales opportunities for goods and services abroad
The Office shall promote sales opportunities for small business
goods and services abroad. To accomplish this objective the office
shall--
(1) in cooperation with the Department of Commerce, other
relevant agencies, regional and local Administration offices, the
Small Business Development Center network, and State programs,
develop a mechanism for (A) identifying sub-sectors of the small
business community with strong export potential; (B) identifying
areas of demand in foreign markets; (C) prescreening foreign buyers
for commercial and credit purposes; and (D) assisting in increasing
international marketing by disseminating relevant information
regarding market leads, linking potential sellers and buyers, and
catalyzing the formation of joint ventures, where appropriate;
(2) in cooperation with the Department of Commerce, actively
assist small businesses in the formation and utilization of export
trading companies, export management companies and research and
development pools authorized under section 638 of this title;
(3) work in conjunction with other Federal agencies, regional
and local offices of the Administration, the Small Business
Development Center network, and the private sector to identify and
publicize existing translation services, including those available
through colleges and universities participating in the Small
Business Development Center Program;
(4) work closely with the Department of Commerce and other
relevant Federal agencies to--
(A) collect, analyze and periodically update relevant data
regarding the small business share of United States exports and
the nature of State exports (including the production of Gross
State Produce figures) and disseminate that data to the public
and to Congress;
(B) make recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce and to
Congress regarding revision of the SIC codes to encompass
industries currently overlooked and to create SIC codes for
export trading companies and export management companies;
(C) improve the utility and accessibility of existing export
promotion programs for small businesses; and
(D) increase the accessibility of the Export Trading Company
contact facilitation service;
(5) make available to the small business community information
regarding conferences on exporting and international trade sponsored
by the public and private sector.\1\
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\1\ So in original. The period probably should be a semicolon.
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(6) provide small businesses with access to current and complete
export information by--
(A) making available, at the Administration's regional
offices through cooperation with the Department of Commerce,
export information, including, but not limited to, the worldwide
information and trade system and world trade data reports;
(B) maintaining a current list of financial institutions
that finance export operations;
(C) maintaining a current directory of all Federal,
regional, State and private sector programs that provide export
information and assistance to small businesses; and
(D) preparing and publishing such reports as it determines
to be necessary concerning market conditions, sources of
financing, export promotion programs, and other information
pertaining to the needs of small business exporting firms so as
to insure that the maximum information is made available to
small businesses in a readily usable form;
(7) encourage through cooperation with the Department of
Commerce, greater small business participation in trade fairs,
shows, missions, and other domestic and overseas export development
activities of the Department of Commerce; and
(8) facilitate decentralized delivery of export information and
assistance to small businesses by assigning full-time export
development specialists to each Administration regional office and
assigning primary responsibility for export development to one
person in each district office. Such specialists shall--
(A) assist small businesses in obtaining export information
and assistance from other Federal departments and agencies;
(B) maintain a current directory of all programs which
provide export information and assistance to small businesses
within the region;
(C) encourage financial institutions to develop and expand
programs for export financing;
(D) provide advice to Administration personnel involved in
granting loans, loan guarantees, and extensions and revolving
lines of credit, and providing other forms of assistance to
small businesses engaged in exports; and
(E) within one hundred and eighty days of their appointment,
participate in training programs designed by the Administrator,
in conjunction with the Department of Commerce and other Federal
departments and agencies, to study export programs and to
examine small businesses' needs for export information and
assistance.
(d) Access to export and pre-export financing programs
The Office shall work in cooperation with the Export-Import Bank of
the United States, the Department of Commerce, other relevant Federal
agencies, and the States to develop a program through which export
specialists in the regional offices of the Administration, regional and
local loan officers, and Small Business Development Center personnel can
facilitate the access of small businesses to relevant export financing
programs of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and to export
and pre-export financing programs available from the Administration and
the private sector. To accomplish this goal, the Office shall work in
cooperation with the Export-Import Bank and the small business
community, including small business trade associations, to--
(1) aggressively market existing Administration export financing
and pre-export financing programs;
(2) identify financing available under various Export-Import
Bank programs, and aggressively market those programs to small
businesses;
(3) assist in the development of financial intermediaries and
facilitate the access of those intermediaries to existing financing
programs;
(4) promote greater participation by private financial
institutions, particularly those institutions already participating
in loan programs under this chapter, in export finance; and
(5) provide for the participation of appropriate Administration
personnel in training programs conducted by the Export-Import Bank.
(e) Counseling small businesses; proceedings related to trade laws;
access to trade remedy proceedings
The Office shall--
(1) work in cooperation with other Federal agencies and the
private sector to counsel small businesses with respect to
initiating and participating in any proceedings relating to the
administration of the United States trade laws; and
(2) work with the Department of Commerce, the Office of the
United States Trade Representative, and the International Trade
Commission to increase access to trade remedy proceedings for small
businesses.
(f) Annual reports to Congress
The Office shall report to the Committees on Small Business of the
House of Representatives and the Senate on an annual basis as to its
progress in implementing the requirements under this section.
(g) Cooperative studies and reports to Congressional committees on
selected issues; recommendations
The Office, in cooperation, where appropriate, with the Division of
Economic Research of the Office of Advocacy, and with other Federal
agencies, shall undertake studies regarding the following issues and
shall report to the Committees on Small Business of the House of
Representatives and the Senate, and to other relevant Committees of the
House and Senate within 6 months after August 23, 1988, with specific
recommendations on--
(1) the viability and cost of establishing an annual,
competitive small business export incentive program similar to the
Small Business Innovation Research program and alternative methods
of structuring such a program;
(2) methods of streamlining trade remedy proceedings to increase
access for, and reduce expenses incurred by, smaller firms;
(3) methods of improving the current small business foreign
sales corporation tax incentives and providing small businesses with
greater benefits from this initiative;
(4) methods of identifying potential export markets for United
States small businesses; maintaining and disseminating current
foreign market data; and devising a comprehensive export marketing
strategy for United States small business goods and services, and
shall include data on the volume and dollar amount of goods and
services, identified by type, imported by United States trading
partners over the past 10 years; and
(5) the results of a survey of major United States trading
partners to identify the domestic policies, programs and incentives,
and the private sector initiatives, which exist to encourage the
formation and growth of small business.
(Pub. L. 85-536, Sec. 2[22], as added Pub. L. 96-481, title I,
Sec. 113(a), Oct. 21, 1980, 94 Stat. 2323; amended Pub. L. 100-418,
title VIII, Sec. 8003, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1554.)
Prior Provisions
A prior section 649, act July 30, 1953, ch. 282, title II, Sec. 220,
67 Stat. 240, which required a fair charge for use of Government-owned
property, was omitted as superseded by section 643 of this title. See
Codification note set out under section 631 of this title.
Amendments
1988--Subsecs. (b) to (g). Pub. L. 100-418 added subsec. (b),
redesignated former subsec. (b) as (c) and added pars. (1) to (5) and
redesignated former pars. (1) to (3) as (6) to (8), respectively, and
added subsecs. (d) to (g).
Effective Date
Section 113(b) of Pub. L. 96-481 provided that: ``The amendment made
by subsection (a) [enacting this section] shall take effect on October
1, 1980, or the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 21, 1980], whichever
occurs later.''
Short Title
For short title of part B of title I of Pub. L. 96-481 as the Small
Business Export Expansion Act of 1980, see Short Title of 1980 Amendment
note set out under section 631 of this title.
Congressional Declaration of Policy
Section 111 of title I of Pub. L. 96-481 provided that:
``(a) The Congress finds and declares that--
``(1) a strong export policy is essential to the health and
well-being of the United States economy;
``(2) exports of goods and services account for one out of every
six jobs in the manufacturing sector and 10 per centum of the gross
national product.
``(3) every billion dollars in new exports is estimated to
provide forty thousand jobs;
``(4) there is increased and fierce competition in international
markets to United States goods and services;
``(5) small businesses account for no more than 10 per centum of
all United States export sales;
``(6) Federal Government programs are not sufficiently
responsive to the needs of small business for export education and
development of overseas marketing opportunities necessary to insure
that small businesses realize their potential; and
``(7) it is in the national interest to systematically and
consistently promote and encourage small business participation in
international markets.
``(b) It is therefore the purpose of this part [enacting this
section, amending section 636 of this title, and enacting provisions set
out as notes under sections 631 and 649 of this title] to encourage and
promote small business exporting by--
``(1) providing educational and marketing assistance to small
businesses;
``(2) insuring better access to export information and
assistance for small businesses by upgrading and expanding the
export development programs and services of the Department of
Commerce and the Small Business Administration; and
``(3) promoting the competitive viability of such firms in
export trade and encouraging increased tourism in the United States
by creating a program to provide limited financial, technical, and
management assistance as may be necessary.''
