
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: 15USC4721]

 
                      TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND TRADE
 
                     CHAPTER 73--EXPORT ENHANCEMENT
 
                    SUBCHAPTER III--EXPORT PROMOTION
 
Sec. 4721. United States and Foreign Commercial Service


(a) Establishment

                           (1) In general

        The Secretary of Commerce shall establish, within the 
    International Trade Administration, the United States and Foreign 
    Commercial Service. The Secretary shall, to the greatest extent 
    practicable, transfer to the Commercial Service the functions and 
    personnel of the United States and Foreign Commercial Services.

     (2) Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General; 
                               other personnel

        The head of the Commercial Service shall be the Assistant 
    Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the Commercial 
    Service, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the 
    advice and consent of the Senate. The Assistant Secretary of 
    Commerce and Director General of the Commercial Service may appoint 
    Commercial Service Officers and such other personnel as may be 
    necessary to carry out the activities of the Commercial Service.

           (3) Coordination with foreign policy objectives

        The Secretary shall take the necessary steps to ensure that the 
    activities of the Commercial Service are carried out in a manner 
    consistent with United States foreign policy objectives, and the 
    Secretary shall consult regularly with the Secretary of State in 
    order to comply with this paragraph.

                  (4) Authority of chief of mission

        All activities of the Commercial Service shall be subject to 
    section 207 of the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (22 U.S.C. 3927).

(b) Statement of purpose

    The Commercial Service shall place primary emphasis on the promotion 
of exports of goods and services from the United States, particularly by 
small businesses and medium-sized businesses, and on the protection of 
United States business interests abroad by carrying out activities such 
as--
        (1) identifying United States businesses with the potential to 
    export goods and services and providing such businesses with advice 
    and information on establishing export businesses;
        (2) providing United States exporters with information on 
    economic conditions, market opportunities, the status of the 
    intellectual property system in such country, and the legal and 
    regulatory environment within foreign countries;
        (3) providing United States exporters with information and 
    advice on the necessary adaptation of product design and marketing 
    strategy to meet the differing cultural and technical requirements 
    of foreign countries;
        (4) providing United States exporters with actual leads and an 
    introduction to contacts within foreign countries;
        (5) assisting United States exporters in locating reliable 
    sources of business services in foreign countries;
        (6) assisting United States exporters in their dealings with 
    foreign governments and enterprises owned by foreign governments;
        (7) assisting the coordination of the efforts of State and local 
    agencies and private organizations which seek to promote United 
    States business interests abroad so as to maximize their 
    effectiveness and minimize the duplication of efforts;
        (8) utilizing district and foreign offices as one-stop shops for 
    United States exporters by providing exporters with information on 
    all export promotion and export finance activities of the Federal 
    Government, assisting exporters in identifying which Federal 
    programs may be of greatest assistance, and assisting exporters in 
    making contact with the Federal programs identified; and
        (9) providing United States exporters and export finance 
    institutions with information on all financing and insurance 
    programs of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the 
    Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the Trade and Development 
    Program, and the Small Business Administration, including providing 
    assistance in completing applications for such programs and working 
    with exporters and export finance institutions to address any 
    deficiencies in such applications that have been submitted.

(c) Offices

                           (1) In general

        The Commercial Service shall conduct its activities at a 
    headquarters office, district offices located in major United States 
    cities, and foreign offices located in major foreign cities.

                          (2) Headquarters

        The headquarters of the Commercial Service shall provide such 
    managerial, administrative, research, and other services as the 
    Secretary considers necessary to carry out the purposes of the 
    Commercial Service.

                        (3) District offices

        The Secretary shall establish district offices of the Commercial 
    Service in any United States city in a region in which the Secretary 
    determines that there is a need for Federal Government export 
    assistance.

                         (4) Foreign offices

        (A) The Secretary may, after consultation with the Secretary of 
    State, establish foreign offices of the Commercial Service. These 
    offices shall be located in foreign cities in regions in which the 
    Secretary determines there are significant business opportunities 
    for United States exporters.
        (B) The Secretary may, in consultation with the Secretary of 
    State, assign to the foreign offices Commercial Service Officers and 
    such other personnel as the Secretary considers necessary. In 
    employing Commercial Service Officers and such other personnel, the 
    Secretary shall use the Foreign Service personnel system in 
    accordance with the Foreign Service Act of 1980 [22 U.S.C. 3901 et 
    seq.]. The Secretary shall designate a Commercial Officer \1\ as 
    head of each foreign office.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ So in original. Probably should be ``Commercial Service 
Officer''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        (C) Upon the request of the Secretary, the Secretary of State 
    shall attach the Commercial Service Officers and other employees of 
    each foreign office to the diplomatic mission of the United States 
    in the country in which that foreign office is located, and shall 
    obtain for them diplomatic privileges and immunities equivalent to 
    those enjoyed by Foreign Service personnel of comparable rank and 
    salary.
        (D) For purposes of official representation, the senior 
    Commercial Service Officer in each country shall be considered to be 
    the senior commercial representative of the United States in that 
    country, and the United States chief of mission in that country 
    shall accord that officer all privileges and responsibilities 
    appropriate to the position of senior commercial representative of 
    other countries.
        (E) The Secretary of State is authorized, upon the request of 
    the Secretary, to provide office space, equipment, facilities, and 
    such other administrative and clerical services as may be required 
    for the operation of the foreign offices. The Secretary is 
    authorized to reimburse or advance funds to the Secretary of State 
    for such services.
        (F) The authority of the Secretary under this paragraph shall be 
    subject to section 4802 of title 22.

(d) Rank of Commercial Service Officers in foreign missions

                       (1) Minister-Counselor

        Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary is 
    authorized to designate up to 16 United States missions abroad at 
    which the senior Commercial Service Officer will be able to use the 
    diplomatic title of Minister-Counselor. The Secretary of State shall 
    accord the diplomatic title of Minister-Counselor to the senior 
    Commercial Service Officer assigned to a United States mission so 
    designated.

                         (2) Consul General

        In any United States consulate in which a vacancy occurs in the 
    position of Consul General, the Secretary of State, in consultation 
    with the Secretary, shall consider filling that vacancy with a 
    Commercial Service Officer if the primary functions of the consulate 
    are of a commercial nature and if there are significant business 
    opportunities for United States exporters in the region in which the 
    consulate is located.

(e) Information dissemination

    In order to carry out subsection (b)(7) of this section, to lessen 
the cost of distribution of information produced by the Commercial 
Service, and to make that information more readily available, the 
Secretary should establish a system for distributing that information in 
those areas where no district offices of the Commercial Service are 
located. Distributors of the information should be State export 
promotion agencies or private export and trade promotion associations. 
The distribution system should be consistent with cost recovery 
objectives of the Department of Commerce.

(f) Cooperation in Federal financing and insurance programs

    To assist the Commercial Service in carrying out subsection (b)(9) 
of this section, and consistent with the provisions of section 635i-7 of 
title 12, the Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas 
Private Investment Corporation, the Trade and Development Program, and 
the Small Business Administration shall each--
        (1) provide to the Commercial Service complete and current 
    information on all of its programs and financing practices; and
        (2) undertake a training program regarding such programs and 
    practices for Commercial Service Officers who are designated by the 
    Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the 
    Commercial Service.

(g) Audits

    The Inspector General of the Department of Commerce shall perform 
periodic audits of the operations of the Commercial Service, but at 
least once every 3 years. The Inspector General shall report to the 
Congress the results of each such audit. In addition to an overview of 
the activities and effectiveness of Commercial Service operations, the 
audit shall include--
        (1) an evaluation of the current placement of domestic personnel 
    and recommendations for transferring personnel among district 
    offices;
        (2) an evaluation of the current placement of foreign-based 
    personnel and recommendations for transferring such personnel in 
    response to newly emerging business opportunities for United States 
    exporters; and
        (3) an evaluation of the personnel system and its management, 
    including the recruitment, assignment, promotion, and performance 
    appraisal of personnel, the use of limited appointees, and the 
    ``time-in-class'' system.

(h) Report by Secretary

    Not later than 1 year after August 23, 1988, the Secretary shall 
submit a report to the Congress on the feasibility and desirability, the 
progress to date, the present status, and the 5-year outlook, of the 
comprehensive integration of the functions and personnel of the foreign 
and domestic export promotion operations within the International Trade 
Administration of the Department of Commerce.

(i) Omitted

(j) Definitions

    For purposes of this section--
        (1) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of Commerce;
        (2) the term ``Commercial Service'' means the United States and 
    Foreign Commercial Service;
        (3) the term ``United States exporter'' means--
            (A) a United States citizen;
            (B) a corporation, partnership, or other association created 
        under the laws of the United States or of any State; or
            (C) a foreign corporation, partnership, or other 
        association, more than 95 percent of which is owned by persons 
        described in subparagraphs (A) and (B),

    that exports, or seeks to export, goods or services produced in the 
    United States;
        (4) the term ``small business'' means any small business concern 
    as defined under section 632 of this title;
        (5) the term ``State'' means any of the several States, the 
    District of Columbia, or any commonwealth, territory, or possession 
    of the United States; and
        (6) the term ``United States'' means the several States, the 
    District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession 
    of the United States.

(Pub. L. 100-418, title II, Sec. 2301, Aug. 23, 1988, 102 Stat. 1338; 
Pub. L. 102-429, title II, Secs. 202, 203, 205, Oct. 21, 1992, 106 Stat. 
2201, 2204.)

                       References in Text

    The Foreign Service Act of 1980, referred to in subsec. (c)(4)(B), 
is Pub. L. 96-465, Oct. 17, 1980, 94 Stat. 2071, as amended, which is 
classified principally to chapter 52 (Sec. 3901 et seq.) of Title 22, 
Foreign Relations and Intercourse. For complete classification of this 
Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 3901 of 
Title 22 and Tables.

                          Codification

    Section is comprised of section 2301 of Pub. L. 100-418. Subsec. (i) 
of section 2301 of Pub. L. 100-418 amended section 5315 of Title 5, 
Government Organization and Employees.


                               Amendments

    1992--Subsec. (b)(8), (9). Pub. L. 102-429, Secs. 202, 203(a), added 
pars. (8) and (9).
    Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 102-429, Sec. 205, substituted ``16'' for 
``8''.
    Subsecs. (f) to (j). Pub. L. 102-429, Sec. 203(b), added subsec. (f) 
and redesignated former subsecs. (f) to (i) as (g) to (j), respectively.


                  Termination of Reporting Requirements

    For termination, effective May 15, 2000, of provisions in subsec. 
(g) of this section relating to reporting results of audits to Congress, 
see section 3003 of Pub. L. 104-66, as amended, set out as a note under 
section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance, and page 53 of House 
Document No. 103-7.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 4727, 4728 of this title; 
title 12 section 635i-7.
