
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 15USC4001]

 
                      TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
 
                  CHAPTER 66--PROMOTION OF EXPORT TRADE
 
      SUBCHAPTER I--EXPORT TRADING COMPANIES AND TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
 
Sec. 4001. Congressional findings and declaration of purpose

    (a) The Congress finds that--
        (1) United States exports are responsible for creating and 
    maintaining one out of every nine manufacturing jobs in the United 
    States and for generating one out of every seven dollars of total 
    United States goods produced;
        (2) the rapidly growing service-related industries are vital to 
    the well-being of the United States economy inasmuch as they create 
    jobs for seven out of every ten Americans, provide 65 per centum of 
    the Nation's gross national product, and offer the greatest 
    potential for significantly increased industrial trade involving 
    finished products;
        (3) trade deficits contribute to the decline of the dollar on 
    international currency markets and have an inflationary impact on 
    the United States economy;
        (4) tens of thousands of small- and medium-sized United States 
    businesses produce exportable goods or services but do not engage in 
    exporting;
        (5) although the United States is the world's leading 
    agricultural exporting nation, many farm products are not marketed 
    as widely and effectively abroad as they could be through export 
    trading companies;
        (6) export trade services in the United States are fragmented 
    into a multitude of separate functions, and companies attempting to 
    offer export trade services lack financial leverage to reach a 
    significant number of potential United States exporters;
        (7) the United States needs well-developed export trade 
    intermediaries which can achieve economies of scale and acquire 
    expertise enabling them to export goods and services profitably, at 
    low per unit cost to producers;
        (8) the development of export trading companies in the United 
    States has been hampered by business attitudes and by Government 
    regulations;
        (9) those activities of State and local governmental authorities 
    which initiate, facilitate, or expand exports of goods and services 
    can be an important source for expansion of total United States 
    exports, as well as for experimentation in the development of 
    innovative export programs keyed to local, State, and regional 
    economic needs;
        (10) if United States trading companies are to be successful in 
    promoting United States exports and in competing with foreign 
    trading companies, they should be able to draw on the resources, 
    expertise, and knowledge of the United States banking system, both 
    in the United States and abroad; and
        (11) the Department of Commerce is responsible for the 
    development and promotion of United States exports, and especially 
    for facilitating the export of finished products by United States 
    manufacturers.

    (b) It is the purpose of this chapter to increase United States 
exports of products and services by encouraging more efficient provision 
of export trade services to United States producers and suppliers, in 
particular by establishing an office within the Department of Commerce 
to promote the formation of export trade associations and export trading 
companies, by permitting bank holding companies, bankers' banks, and 
Edge Act corporations and agreement corporations that are subsidiaries 
of bank holding companies to invest in export trading companies, by 
reducing restrictions on trade financing provided by financial 
institutions, and by modifying the application of the antitrust laws to 
certain export trade.

(Pub. L. 97-290, title I, Sec. 102, Oct. 8, 1982, 96 Stat. 1233.)

                       References in Text

    This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b), was in original ``this 
Act'', meaning Pub. L. 97-290, Oct. 8, 1982, 96 Stat. 1233, which 
enacted this chapter and section 6a of this title and section 635a-4 of 
Title 12, Banks and Banking, amended section 45 of this title and 
sections 372 and 1843 of Title 12, and enacted provisions set out as 
notes under sections 1, 4001, and 4011 of this title and sections 1841 
and 1843 of Title 12. For complete classification of this Act to the 
Code, see Tables.
    Edge Act corporation, referred to in subsec. (b), is a corporation 
organized under section 25A of the Federal Reserve Act, as added by act 
Dec. 24, 1919, ch. 18, 41 Stat. 378, and amended, popularly known as the 
Edge Act, which is classified to subchapter II (Sec. 611 et seq.) of 
chapter 6 of Title 12. For complete classification of this Act to the 
Code, see Short Title note set out under section 611 of Title 12 and 
Tables.


                               Short Title

    Section 101 of title I of Pub. L. 97-290 provided that: ``This title 
[enacting this subchapter] may be cited as the `Export Trading Company 
Act of 1982'.''
