PUBLIC LAW 106-476—NOV. 9, 2000 114 STAT. 2161 CHAPTER 2—SPECIAL CLASSIFICATION RELATING TO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING SEC. 1431. SHORT TITLE. This chapter may be cited as the "Product Development and Testing Act of 2000". SEC. 1432. FINDINGS; PURPOSE. (a) FINDINGS.— The Congress finds the following: (1)(A) A substantial amount of development and testing occurs in the United States incident to the introduction and manufacture of new products for both domestic consumption and export overseas. (B) Testing also occurs with respect to merchandise that has already been introduced into commerce to insure that it continues to meet specifications and performs as designed. (2) The development and testing that occurs in the United States incident to the introduction and manufacture of new products, and with respect to products which have already been introduced into commerce, represents a significant industrial activity employing highly-skilled workers in the United States. (3)(A) Under the current laws affecting the importation of merchandise, such as the provisions of part I of title IV of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.), goods commonly referred to as "prototypes", used for product development testing and product evaluation purposes, are subject to customs duty upon their importation into the United States unless the prototypes qualify for duty-free treatment under special trade programs or unless the prototypes are entered under a temporary importation bond. (B) In addition, the United States Customs Service has determined that the value of prototypes is to be included in the value of production articles if the prototypes are the result of the same design and development effort as the articles. (4)(A) Assessing duty on prototypes twice, once when the prototypes are imported and a second time thereafter as part of the cost of imported production merchandise, discourages development and testing in the United States, and thus encourages development and testing to occur overseas, since, in that case, duty will only be assessed once, upon the importation of production merchandise. (B) Assessing duty on these prototypes twice unnecessarily inflates the cost to businesses, thus reducing their competitiveness. (5) Current methods for avoiding the excessive assessment of customs duties on the importation of protot5^es, including the use of temporary importation entries and obtaining drawback, are unwieldy, ineffective, and difficult for both importers and the United States Customs Service to administer. (b) PURPOSE. — The purpose of this chapter is to promote product development and testing in the United States by permitting the importation of prototypes on a duty-free basis. Product Development and Testing Act of 2000.
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