Agricultural Export Facilitation Act of 2005 Designated as S. 328
As previously reported (see February 9, 2005 posting below), "The Agricultural Export Facilitation Act of 2005" was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The bill has been designated as S. 328. The bill is to intended to facilitate the sale of U.S. agricultural products to Cuba as authorized by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (commonly known as TSRA).
Section 2 of the bill notes that TSRA requires "payment of cash in advance" for U.S. agricultural exports to Cuba but "some Federal agencies responsible for the implementation of [TSRA] have expressed the view that 'cash in advance' requires that payment be received by a United States exporter in advance of shipment of goods to Cuba." The bill indicates that "there is nothing in either the [TSRA] itself or its legislative history to support the view that Congress intended payment to be made in advance of the shipment of goods from this country to Cuba. It was and is the intent of Congress that a seller of a product authorized under the [TSRA] receive payment only before a Cuban purchaser takes physical possession of that product."
Section 5 of the bill would amend section 908(b)(1) of TSRA (22 U.S.C. 7207(b)(1)) by inserting the following language after subparagraph (B):
(C) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the term "payment of cash in advance" means the payment by the purchaser of an agricultural commodity or product and the receipt of such payment by the seller prior to--
(i) the transfer of title of such commodity or product to the purchaser; and
(ii) the release of control of such commodity or product to the purchaser.
S. 328 has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The complete text of the bill can be found at the following link: thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c109:./temp/~c109FETHKN.
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