§ 3101. — Findings and purposes.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 19USC3101]
TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES
CHAPTER 19--TELECOMMUNICATIONS TRADE
Sec. 3101. Findings and purposes
(a) Findings
The Congress finds that--
(1) rapid growth in the world market for telecommunications
products and services is likely to continue for several decades;
(2) the United States can improve prospects for--
(A) the growth of--
(i) United States exports of telecommunications products
and services, and
(ii) export-related employment and consumer services in
the United States, and
(B) the continuance of the technological leadership of the
United States,
by undertaking a program to achieve an open world market for trade
in telecommunications products, services, and investment;
(3) most foreign markets for telecommunications products,
services, and investment are characterized by extensive government
intervention (including restrictive import practices and
discriminatory procurement practices) which adversely affect United
States exports of telecommunications products and services and
United States investment in telecommunications;
(4) the open nature of the United States telecommunications
market, accruing from the liberalization and restructuring of such
market, has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to an
increase in imports of telecommunications products and a growing
imbalance in competitive opportunities for trade in
telecommunications;
(5) unless this imbalance is corrected through the achievement
of mutually advantageous market opportunities for trade in
telecommunications products and services between the United States
and foreign countries, the United States should avoid granting
continued open access to the telecommunications products and
services of such foreign countries in the United States market; and
(6) the unique business conditions in the worldwide market for
telecommunications products and services caused by the combination
of deregulation and divestiture in the United States, which
represents a unilateral liberalization of United States trade with
the rest of the world, and continuing government intervention in the
domestic industries of many other countries create a need to make an
exception in the case of telecommunications products and services
that should not necessarily be a precedent for legislating specific
sectoral priorities in combating the closed markets or unfair
foreign trade practices of other countries.
(b) Purposes
The purposes of this chapter are--
(1) to foster the economic and technological growth of, and
employment in, the United States telecommunications industry;
(2) to secure a high quality telecommunications network for the
benefit of the people of the United States;
(3) to develop an international consensus in favor of open trade
and competition in telecommunications products and services;
(4) to ensure that countries which have made commitments to open
telecommunications trade fully abide by those commitments; and
(5) to achieve a more open world trading system for
telecommunications products and services through negotiation and
provision of mutually advantageous market opportunities for United
States telecommunications exporters and their subsidiaries in those
markets in which barriers exist to free international trade.
(Pub. L. 100-418, title I, Sec. 1372, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1216.)
Short Title
Section 1371 of Pub. L. 100-418 provided that: ``This part [part 4
(Secs. 1371-1382) of subtitle C of title I of Pub. L. 100-418, enacting
this chapter] may be cited as the `Telecommunications Trade Act of
1988'.''
