The Senate Finance Committee should resolve the questions...

Thursday’s letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, emphasized the importance of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2013. The S-662 bill has stalled over disagreement on how to handle and update some duty enforcement. The letter writers would like the committee to mark up “and move this bipartisan legislation to the Senate floor this year,” wrote Comcast’s NBCUniversal, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Viacom, Walmart and others (http://uscham.com/17o2zmx). The legislation would make important updates to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s abilities to deal with imports that violate intellectual property laws, they said. Industries that rely on IP protections make up a significant amount of U.S. jobs and exports, but “American creativity, innovation, and respected brands are under attack by those who seek to profit by illegally copying and distributing goods into the U.S. marketplace or into other markets around the world,” the letter said. “To combat this massive threat, this bill would provide appropriate legal authority and resources to CBP and ICE. This bill would also promote collaboration by these agencies with rights holders and provide authorization for the National IPR [Intellectual Property Rights] Coordination Center.” The customs bill would also set an important “benchmark” as negotiations continue on various trade agreements, said the letter. With the World Trade Organization working on “completing a global Trade Facilitation Agreement and both the Transpacific Partnership” and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations “focused on raising the global standards for supply chains, customs, and trade facilitation, the timing of this legislation is critical,” it said.