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Title 19 — Customs DutiesRelease 119-73not60

§3539 Fund for Wto Dispute Settlements

Title 19 › Chapter 22— URUGUAY ROUND TRADE AGREEMENTS › Subchapter I— APPROVAL OF, AND GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO, URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENTS › Part C— Uruguay Round Implementation and Dispute Settlement › § 3539

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Creates a Treasury fund to pay settlements from World Trade Organization disputes. Money from the fund can be used only as Congress allows. For settlements of $10,000,000 or less, the U.S. Trade Representative must tell the Secretary of the Treasury that the settlement is in the United States’ interest. For settlements over $10,000,000, the Trade Representative must tell Congress. Congress may appropriate $50,000,000 to the fund and add any amounts the United States recovers from WTO settlements. Two tax-code rules (26 U.S.C. 9601 and 9602(b)) apply to this fund the same way they apply to similar trust funds.

Full Legal Text

Title 19, §3539

Customs Duties — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)There is established in the Treasury a fund for the payment of settlements under this section.
(b)Amounts in the fund established under subsection (a) shall be available, as provided in appropriations Acts, only for the payment by the United States Trade Representative of the amount of the total or partial settlement of any dispute pursuant to proceedings under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, if—
(1)in the case of a total or partial settlement in an amount of not more than $10,000,000, the Trade Representative certifies to the Secretary of the Treasury that the settlement is in the best interests of the United States; and
(2)in the case of a total or partial settlement in an amount of more than $10,000,000, the Trade Representative certifies to the Congress that the settlement is in the best interests of the United States.
(c)There are authorized to be appropriated to the fund established under subsection (a)—
(1)$50,000,000; and
(2)amounts equivalent to amounts recovered by the United States pursuant to the settlement of disputes pursuant to proceedings under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.
(d)section 9601 and 9602(b) of title 26 shall apply to the fund established under subsection (a) to the same extent as such provisions apply to trust funds established under subchapter A of chapter 98 of such title.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Section was enacted as part of the Trade Act of 2002, and not as part of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act which enacted this chapter.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

19 U.S.C. § 3539

Title 19 — Customs Duties

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60