15 U.S.C. § 649 : US Code - Section 649: Office of International Trade

Search 15 U.S.C. § 649 : US Code - Section 649: Office of International Trade

(a) Establishment
There is established within the Administration an Office of
International Trade which shall implement the programs pursuant to
this section.
(b) Development of distribution network; marketing of programs and
dissemination of information; bilingual job applicants
The Office, working in close cooperation with the Department of
Commerce and other relevant Federal agencies, Small Business
Development Centers engaged in export promotion efforts, regional
and local Administration offices, the small business community, and
relevant State and local export promotion programs, shall -
(1) assist in developing a distribution network for existing
trade promotion, trade finance, trade adjustment, trade remedy
assistance and trade data collection programs through use of the
Administration's regional and local offices and the Small
Business Development Center network;
(2) assist in the aggressive marketing of these programs and
the dissemination of marketing information, including
computerized marketing data, to the small business community; and
(3) give preference in hiring or approving the transfer of any
employee into the Office or to a position described in paragraph
(8) below to otherwise qualified applicants who are fluent in a
language in addition to English. Such employees shall accompany
foreign trade missions if designated by the director of the
Office and shall be available as needed to translate documents,
interpret conversations and facilitate multilingual transactions
including providing referral lists for translation services if
required.
(c) Promotion of sales opportunities for goods and services abroad
The Office shall promote sales opportunities for small business
goods and services abroad. To accomplish this objective the office
shall -
(1) in cooperation with the Department of Commerce, other
relevant agencies, regional and local Administration offices, the
Small Business Development Center network, and State programs,
develop a mechanism for (A) identifying sub-sectors of the small
business community with strong export potential; (B) identifying
areas of demand in foreign markets; (C) prescreening foreign
buyers for commercial and credit purposes; and (D) assisting in
increasing international marketing by disseminating relevant
information regarding market leads, linking potential sellers and
buyers, and catalyzing the formation of joint ventures, where
appropriate;
(2) in cooperation with the Department of Commerce, actively
assist small businesses in the formation and utilization of
export trading companies, export management companies and
research and development pools authorized under section 638 of
this title;
(3) work in conjunction with other Federal agencies, regional
and local offices of the Administration, the Small Business
Development Center network, and the private sector to identify
and publicize existing translation services, including those
available through colleges and universities participating in the
Small Business Development Center Program;
(4) work closely with the Department of Commerce and other
relevant Federal agencies to -
(A) collect, analyze and periodically update relevant data
regarding the small business share of United States exports and
the nature of State exports (including the production of Gross
State Produce figures) and disseminate that data to the public
and to Congress;
(B) make recommendations to the Secretary of Commerce and to
Congress regarding revision of the SIC codes to encompass
industries currently overlooked and to create SIC codes for
export trading companies and export management companies;
(C) improve the utility and accessibility of existing export
promotion programs for small businesses; and
(D) increase the accessibility of the Export Trading Company
contact facilitation service;
(5) make available to the small business community information
regarding conferences on exporting and international trade
sponsored by the public and private sector.(!1)
(6) provide small businesses with access to current and
complete export information by -
(A) making available, at the Administration's regional
offices through cooperation with the Department of Commerce,
export information, including, but not limited to, the
worldwide information and trade system and world trade data
reports;
(B) maintaining a current list of financial institutions that
finance export operations;
(C) maintaining a current directory of all Federal, regional,
State and private sector programs that provide export
information and assistance to small businesses; and
(D) preparing and publishing such reports as it determines to
be necessary concerning market conditions, sources of
financing, export promotion programs, and other information
pertaining to the needs of small business exporting firms so as
to insure that the maximum information is made available to
small businesses in a readily usable form;
(7) encourage through cooperation with the Department of
Commerce, greater small business participation in trade fairs,
shows, missions, and other domestic and overseas export
development activities of the Department of Commerce; and
(8) facilitate decentralized delivery of export information and
assistance to small businesses by assigning full-time export
development specialists to each Administration regional office
and assigning primary responsibility for export development to
one person in each district office. Such specialists shall -
(A) assist small businesses in obtaining export information
and assistance from other Federal departments and agencies;
(B) maintain a current directory of all programs which
provide export information and assistance to small businesses
within the region;
(C) encourage financial institutions to develop and expand
programs for export financing;
(D) provide advice to Administration personnel involved in
granting loans, loan guarantees, and extensions and revolving
lines of credit, and providing other forms of assistance to
small businesses engaged in exports; and
(E) within one hundred and eighty days of their appointment,
participate in training programs designed by the Administrator,
in conjunction with the Department of Commerce and other
Federal departments and agencies, to study export programs and
to examine small businesses' needs for export information and
assistance.
(d) Access to export and pre-export financing programs
The Office shall work in cooperation with the Export-Import Bank
of the United States, the Department of Commerce, other relevant
Federal agencies, and the States to develop a program through which
export specialists in the regional offices of the Administration,
regional and local loan officers, and Small Business Development
Center personnel can facilitate the access of small businesses to
relevant export financing programs of the Export-Import Bank of the
United States and to export and pre-export financing programs
available from the Administration and the private sector. To
accomplish this goal, the Office shall work in cooperation with the
Export-Import Bank and the small business community, including
small business trade associations, to -
(1) aggressively market existing Administration export
financing and pre-export financing programs;
(2) identify financing available under various Export-Import
Bank programs, and aggressively market those programs to small
businesses;
(3) assist in the development of financial intermediaries and
facilitate the access of those intermediaries to existing
financing programs;
(4) promote greater participation by private financial
institutions, particularly those institutions already
participating in loan programs under this chapter, in export
finance; and
(5) provide for the participation of appropriate Administration
personnel in training programs conducted by the Export-Import
Bank.
(e) Counseling small businesses; proceedings related to trade laws;
access to trade remedy proceedings
The Office shall -
(1) work in cooperation with other Federal agencies and the
private sector to counsel small businesses with respect to
initiating and participating in any proceedings relating to the
administration of the United States trade laws; and
(2) work with the Department of Commerce, the Office of the
United States Trade Representative, and the International Trade
Commission to increase access to trade remedy proceedings for
small businesses.
(f) Annual reports to Congress
The Office shall report to the Committees on Small Business of
the House of Representatives and the Senate on an annual basis as
to its progress in implementing the requirements under this
section.
(g) Cooperative studies and reports to Congressional committees on
selected issues; recommendations
The Office, in cooperation, where appropriate, with the Division
of Economic Research of the Office of Advocacy, and with other
Federal agencies, shall undertake studies regarding the following
issues and shall report to the Committees on Small Business of the
House of Representatives and the Senate, and to other relevant
Committees of the House and Senate within 6 months after August 23,
1988, with specific recommendations on -
(1) the viability and cost of establishing an annual,
competitive small business export incentive program similar to
the Small Business Innovation Research program and alternative
methods of structuring such a program;
(2) methods of streamlining trade remedy proceedings to
increase access for, and reduce expenses incurred by, smaller
firms;
(3) methods of improving the current small business foreign
sales corporation tax incentives and providing small businesses
with greater benefits from this initiative;
(4) methods of identifying potential export markets for United
States small businesses; maintaining and disseminating current
foreign market data; and devising a comprehensive export
marketing strategy for United States small business goods and
services, and shall include data on the volume and dollar amount
of goods and services, identified by type, imported by United
States trading partners over the past 10 years; and
(5) the results of a survey of major United States trading
partners to identify the domestic policies, programs and
incentives, and the private sector initiatives, which exist to
encourage the formation and growth of small business.