| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 1869 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To strengthen the Department of Justice’s enforcement against trade-related |
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| 6 | 6 | | crimes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | MARCH5, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Mrs. H |
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| 10 | 10 | | INSON(for herself, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. |
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| 11 | 11 | | W |
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| 12 | 12 | | ITTMAN, Mr. IVEY, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. LIEU, Mr. KILEYof California, |
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| 13 | 13 | | Ms. D |
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| 14 | 14 | | ELAURO, Mr. HIGGINSof Louisiana, Ms. ROSS, Mr. FINSTAD, Ms. |
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| 15 | 15 | | S |
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| 16 | 16 | | TEVENS, Mr. CISCOMANI, Mr. CORREA, Mr. KELLYof Pennsylvania, Mr. |
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| 17 | 17 | | C |
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| 18 | 18 | | ARSON, Mr. CLINE, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr. RULLI, Mr. |
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| 19 | 19 | | M |
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| 20 | 20 | | OULTON, Mr. NUNNof Iowa, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. GIMENEZ, Ms. CASTOR |
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| 21 | 21 | | of Florida, Mr. M |
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| 22 | 22 | | ORAN, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Ms. LEEof |
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| 23 | 23 | | Nevada, Mrs. D |
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| 24 | 24 | | INGELL, Mr. NORCROSS, Mr. DELUZIO, Mr. TORRESof |
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| 25 | 25 | | New York, and Ms. T |
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| 26 | 26 | | OKUDA) introduced the following bill; which was re- |
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| 27 | 27 | | ferred to the Committee on the Judiciary |
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| 28 | 28 | | A BILL |
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| 29 | 29 | | To strengthen the Department of Justice’s enforcement |
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| 30 | 30 | | against trade-related crimes. |
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| 31 | 31 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 32 | 32 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 33 | 33 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 34 | 34 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 4 |
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| 35 | 35 | | Industry and Labor from International Trade Crimes Act 5 |
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| 36 | 36 | | of 2025’’. 6 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS 2 |
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| 39 | 39 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 40 | 40 | | SEC. 2. TRADE-RELATED CRIMES DEFINED. 1 |
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| 41 | 41 | | In this Act, the term ‘‘trade-related crimes’’ shall be 2 |
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| 42 | 42 | | defined as violations of law that are implicated by criminal 3 |
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| 43 | 43 | | activities in furtherance of the evasion of duties, tariffs, 4 |
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| 44 | 44 | | and other import- and export-related fees, import and ex-5 |
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| 45 | 45 | | port restrictions, or requirements imposed by the Tariff 6 |
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| 46 | 46 | | Act of 1930, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Trade 7 |
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| 47 | 47 | | Act of 1974, or the Countering America’s Adversaries 8 |
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| 48 | 48 | | Through Sanctions Act, as well as all other laws and regu-9 |
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| 49 | 49 | | lations involving criminal activities relating to United 10 |
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| 50 | 50 | | States imports and exports, trade-based money laun-11 |
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| 51 | 51 | | dering, and smuggling. 12 |
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| 52 | 52 | | SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW STRUCTURE TO PROS-13 |
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| 53 | 53 | | ECUTE INTERNATIONAL TRADE CRIMES. 14 |
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| 54 | 54 | | (a) I |
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| 55 | 55 | | NGENERAL.—A task force, named program, or 15 |
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| 56 | 56 | | other similar structure to investigate and prosecute trade- 16 |
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| 57 | 57 | | related crimes, with particular emphasis on violations of 17 |
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| 58 | 58 | | the statutes enumerated in section 4(a)(2), shall be estab-18 |
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| 59 | 59 | | lished within the Criminal Division of the Department of 19 |
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| 60 | 60 | | Justice not later than 120 days after the date on which 20 |
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| 61 | 61 | | appropriations are made available to carry out this Act, 21 |
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| 62 | 62 | | and coordinated by a supervisory criminal trial attorney 22 |
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| 63 | 63 | | selected by the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal 23 |
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| 64 | 64 | | Division or other official designated by the Attorney Gen-24 |
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| 65 | 65 | | eral. 25 |
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| 68 | 68 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 69 | 69 | | (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—To support this effort, the 1 |
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| 70 | 70 | | Attorney General shall— 2 |
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| 71 | 71 | | (1) create within the Criminal Division of the 3 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Department of Justice new positions for criminal 4 |
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| 73 | 73 | | trial attorneys and associated support personnel re-5 |
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| 74 | 74 | | sponsible for leading and coordinating trade-related 6 |
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| 75 | 75 | | crime investigations and cases, including those that 7 |
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| 76 | 76 | | may significantly impact more than one district; 8 |
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| 77 | 77 | | (2) ensure that experienced and technically 9 |
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| 78 | 78 | | qualified criminal prosecutors support the effort; and 10 |
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| 79 | 79 | | (3) promote and ensure effective interaction 11 |
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| 80 | 80 | | with law enforcement, industry representatives, and 12 |
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| 81 | 81 | | the public in matters relating to trade-related 13 |
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| 82 | 82 | | crimes. 14 |
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| 83 | 83 | | SEC. 4. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF NEW TRADE CRIMES 15 |
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| 84 | 84 | | STRUCTURE. 16 |
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| 85 | 85 | | (a) I |
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| 86 | 86 | | NGENERAL.—Through the efforts of the task 17 |
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| 87 | 87 | | force, named program, or other structure identified in sec-18 |
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| 88 | 88 | | tion 3(a), the Attorney General shall accomplish each of 19 |
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| 89 | 89 | | the following: 20 |
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| 90 | 90 | | (1) Increase the capabilities and capacity of the 21 |
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| 91 | 91 | | Criminal Division of the Department of Justice to 22 |
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| 92 | 92 | | prosecute trade-related crimes. 23 |
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| 93 | 93 | | (2) Increase the number of trade-related crimes 24 |
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| 94 | 94 | | being investigated and prosecuted, including pursu-25 |
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| 97 | 97 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 98 | 98 | | ant to health, safety, financial, and economic trade- 1 |
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| 99 | 99 | | related crimes, including— 2 |
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| 100 | 100 | | (A) section 305 of title 13, United States 3 |
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| 101 | 101 | | Code; 4 |
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| 102 | 102 | | (B) section 15 or 16 of the Toxic Sub-5 |
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| 103 | 103 | | stances Control Act (15 U.S.C. 2614 or 2615); 6 |
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| 104 | 104 | | (C) section 371 of title 18, United States 7 |
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| 105 | 105 | | Code; 8 |
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| 106 | 106 | | (D) section 541 of title 18, United States 9 |
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| 107 | 107 | | Code; 10 |
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| 108 | 108 | | (E) section 542 of title 18, United States 11 |
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| 109 | 109 | | Code; 12 |
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| 110 | 110 | | (F) section 543 of title 18, United States 13 |
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| 111 | 111 | | Code; 14 |
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| 112 | 112 | | (G) section 545 of title 18, United States 15 |
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| 113 | 113 | | Code; 16 |
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| 114 | 114 | | (H) section 546 of title 18, United States 17 |
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| 115 | 115 | | Code; 18 |
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| 116 | 116 | | (I) section 554 of title 18, United States 19 |
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| 117 | 117 | | Code; 20 |
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| 118 | 118 | | (J) section 1001 of title 18, United States 21 |
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| 119 | 119 | | Code; 22 |
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| 120 | 120 | | (K) section 1341 of title 18, United States 23 |
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| 121 | 121 | | Code; 24 |
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| 124 | 124 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 125 | 125 | | (L) section 1343 of title 18, United States 1 |
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| 126 | 126 | | Code; 2 |
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| 127 | 127 | | (M) section 1349 of title 18, United States 3 |
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| 128 | 128 | | Code; 4 |
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| 129 | 129 | | (N) section 1589 of title 18, United States 5 |
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| 130 | 130 | | Code; 6 |
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| 131 | 131 | | (O) section 1956 of title 18, United States 7 |
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| 132 | 132 | | Code; 8 |
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| 133 | 133 | | (P) section 1957 of title 18, United States 9 |
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| 134 | 134 | | Code; 10 |
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| 135 | 135 | | (Q) section 2320 of title 18, United States 11 |
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| 136 | 136 | | Code; and 12 |
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| 137 | 137 | | (R) section 301 of the Federal Food, 13 |
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| 138 | 138 | | Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 331). 14 |
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| 139 | 139 | | For the purposes of this Act, this list does not in-15 |
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| 140 | 140 | | clude violations of national security-related laws and 16 |
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| 141 | 141 | | regulations, including the Arms Export Control Act 17 |
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| 142 | 142 | | (22 U.S.C. 2771 et seq.), International Emergency 18 |
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| 143 | 143 | | Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), Ex-19 |
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| 144 | 144 | | port Control and Reform Act (50 U.S.C. 4801 et 20 |
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| 145 | 145 | | seq.), and the Trading with the Enemy Act (50 21 |
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| 146 | 146 | | U.S.C. 4305(b)). 22 |
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| 147 | 147 | | (3) Participate in basic and advanced training 23 |
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| 148 | 148 | | events with Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. 24 |
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| 149 | 149 | | Customs and Border Protection, and other Federal 25 |
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| 152 | 152 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 153 | 153 | | agencies and provide technical assistance, where ap-1 |
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| 154 | 154 | | propriate, to Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. 2 |
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| 155 | 155 | | Customs and Border Protection, and other Federal 3 |
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| 156 | 156 | | agencies with respect to the investigation and pros-4 |
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| 157 | 157 | | ecution of trade-related crimes. 5 |
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| 158 | 158 | | (4) Develop multi-jurisdictional responses and 6 |
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| 159 | 159 | | partnerships with respect to trade-related crimes 7 |
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| 160 | 160 | | through informational, administrative, and techno-8 |
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| 161 | 161 | | logical support to other Federal agencies and agen-9 |
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| 162 | 162 | | cies of countries that are trading partners of the 10 |
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| 163 | 163 | | United States, as a means for such agencies to ac-11 |
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| 164 | 164 | | quire the necessary knowledge, personnel, and spe-12 |
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| 165 | 165 | | cialized equipment to investigate and prosecute 13 |
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| 166 | 166 | | trade-related crimes. 14 |
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| 167 | 167 | | (5) Participate in nationally coordinated inves-15 |
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| 168 | 168 | | tigations in any case in which the Attorney General 16 |
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| 169 | 169 | | determines such participation to be necessary, as 17 |
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| 170 | 170 | | permitted by the available resources of the Depart-18 |
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| 171 | 171 | | ment of Justice. 19 |
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| 172 | 172 | | (6) Ensure that all components that enforce 20 |
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| 173 | 173 | | laws against trade-related crimes regularly consult 21 |
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| 174 | 174 | | with each other. 22 |
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| 175 | 175 | | (b) A |
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| 176 | 176 | | BSENCE OFEXCLUSION OFPURSUINGOTHER 23 |
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| 177 | 177 | | R |
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| 178 | 178 | | EMEDIES.—Litigation by the Criminal Division of the 24 |
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| 179 | 179 | | Department of Justice shall not preclude additional crimi-25 |
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| 182 | 182 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 183 | 183 | | nal prosecution or civil action against trade-related viola-1 |
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| 184 | 184 | | tions. Nothing in this Act shall prevent the Criminal Divi-2 |
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| 185 | 185 | | sion, Civil Division, and other Department of Justice com-3 |
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| 186 | 186 | | ponents from pursuing enforcement action where appro-4 |
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| 187 | 187 | | priate. 5 |
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| 188 | 188 | | SEC. 5. ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS. 6 |
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| 189 | 189 | | The Attorney General, in consultation with the Sec-7 |
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| 190 | 190 | | retary of Homeland Security, shall submit to the Com-8 |
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| 191 | 191 | | mittee on the Judiciary, Committee on Ways and Means, 9 |
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| 192 | 192 | | and Committee on Financial Services of the House of Rep-10 |
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| 193 | 193 | | resentatives, and the Committee on the Judiciary and 11 |
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| 194 | 194 | | Committee on Finance of the Senate a report on the work 12 |
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| 195 | 195 | | of the Department of Justice with respect to investigation 13 |
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| 196 | 196 | | and enforcement of trade-related crimes. Specifically, the 14 |
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| 197 | 197 | | report shall— 15 |
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| 198 | 198 | | (1) be submitted not later than one year after 16 |
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| 199 | 199 | | the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 17 |
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| 200 | 200 | | thereafter, not later than February 1 of each year 18 |
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| 201 | 201 | | that begins after the submission of the first report; 19 |
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| 202 | 202 | | (2) include annual statistics on the volume of 20 |
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| 203 | 203 | | publicly charged trade-related crimes and indict-21 |
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| 204 | 204 | | ments; 22 |
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| 205 | 205 | | (3) include a summary on how the funds appro-23 |
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| 206 | 206 | | priated for trade-related crimes were utilized in the 24 |
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| 209 | 209 | | •HR 1869 IH |
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| 210 | 210 | | prior reporting period, including staff and operating 1 |
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| 211 | 211 | | expenses; and 2 |
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| 212 | 212 | | (4) provide an estimate of any additional fund-3 |
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| 213 | 213 | | ing needed to combat trade-related crimes. 4 |
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| 214 | 214 | | SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 5 |
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| 215 | 215 | | (a) I |
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| 216 | 216 | | NGENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-6 |
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| 217 | 217 | | priated to the Attorney General $20,000,000 for fiscal 7 |
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| 218 | 218 | | year 2026 to carry out this Act. Of sums appropriated, 8 |
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| 219 | 219 | | at least 80 percent shall be used by the Criminal Division 9 |
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| 220 | 220 | | to support criminal prosecution of trade crimes as defined 10 |
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| 221 | 221 | | in this Act, including salaries and expenses necessary to 11 |
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| 222 | 222 | | hire and train investigatory and prosecutorial personnel, 12 |
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| 223 | 223 | | develop multijurisdictional and multiagency partnerships, 13 |
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| 224 | 224 | | and conduct enforcement actions. 14 |
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| 225 | 225 | | (b) O |
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| 226 | 226 | | THERCRIMINALPROSECUTION AND CIVILEN-15 |
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| 227 | 227 | | FORCEMENT.—Remaining sums may be used by the De-16 |
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| 228 | 228 | | partment of Justice to support criminal prosecution of 17 |
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| 229 | 229 | | trade crimes by other components and civil enforcement. 18 |
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| 230 | 230 | | (c) A |
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| 231 | 231 | | VAILABILITY OFAMOUNTS.—Amounts appro-19 |
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| 232 | 232 | | priated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations 20 |
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| 233 | 233 | | under subsection (a) shall remain available until expended. 21 |
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| 234 | 234 | | Æ |
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