From: / Will Leahy, Manager, China Policy
Claire O’Rourke, Research Assistant
To: / Asia Task Force, China AmChams
I) Call for Signatures for Coalition Letter Raising Concerns with China Legislation
Attached, please find a letter drafted by members of a business community coalition in support of increased U.S.-China commercial engagement, and opposed to potentially harmful unilateral legislation.
If your company or association is interested in being a listed among the signatories please email Erin Ennis (),Vice President, U.S.-China Business Council by COB Monday September 24.
Please note that this document is marked as confidential and is not for distribution to other parties until it has been finalized with all interested signatories.
II) Request for Import Safety Input
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has asked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its members to provide recommendations on how to promote safety of imported goods. DHS is reaching out to industry associations to ask for their assistance in soliciting input from their members, which is critical to ensure meaningful recommendations on improving import safety without unnecessarily impeding legitimate trade.
At the request of DHS, the Chamber is soliciting comments from its members that will guide the Department’s recommendations to the interagency Import Safety Working Group.
Please provide comments no later than 5 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 3rd. The Chamber will then aggregate these comments and transmit them directly to the DHS Office of Policy on or before October 12. All comments should be transmitted by e-mail to .
General Questions for Industry
DHS is seeking specific responses to the following questions:
o Working in partnership, how best can government and industry streamline existing processes to improve import safety?
o In what ways can import safety be improved without unnecessarily increasing regulation?
o As part of this process, how best can government and industry decrease liability exposure and protect product brands?
o How do we improve the partnership between government and industry to better mitigate health and safety threats to global commerce?
o Where are there opportunities in the product lifecycle to improve import safety:
- By government?
- By industry?
- In partnership?
o How should industry develop a culture of proactively sharing of best practices?
o What other areas/issues need to be considered?
Attached is a memorandum from DHS with additional details on its industry outreach on import safety.
Background
On July 18, 2007 President Bush issued and Executive Order establishing an Interagency Working Group on Import Safety. The Working Group, chaired by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt, is comprised of senior level officials from 12 Federal departments, each with unique and critical import safety responsibilities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is an active participant in the Working Group. DHS has assembled 11 component agencies into a DHS Subgroup for the purpose of submitting import safety recommendations to the full ISWG.
On September 10, 2007, the Working Group submitted its initial report to the President: Protecting American Consumers Every Step of the Way: A strategic framework for continual improvement in import safety.Over the coming weeks, the Working Group to solicit extensive comments and recommendations from the public, including a public meeting, scheduled for October 1.
The Working Group scheduled to submit a second report: an Action Plan, by mid-November. The Action Plan will be based on this Strategic Framework and will lay out a road map with short- and long-term recommendations for improving import safety.
For additional information regarding this issue, please visit
Thank you for you assistance in this important matter. Please let us know if you have any questions.
III) Legislative Tracking Chart
Attached, please find an updated legislative tracking chart reflecting China-related legislation introduced in the 110th Congress.
This message and its contents are intended solely for the use of the Asia Task Force addressee. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately.
/ The U.S. Chamber of Commerce's is the world's largest business federation, representing 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce | 1615 H Street, NW | Washington, DC20062-2000