Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 124.djvu/1220

 124 STAT. 1194 PUBLIC LAW 111–171—MAY 24, 2010 Public Law 111–171 111th Congress An Act To extend the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, to provide customs support services to Haiti, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of 2010’’. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress finds the following: (1) On January 12, 2010, Haiti was hit by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the worst earthquake to affect Haiti in recorded history. Aftershocks from the earthquake, measuring up to 6.0 on the Richter scale, continued for days afterwards. (2) The earthquake has devastated Haiti’s infrastructure, including homes, offices, factories, roads, ports, communica- tions, and other facilities. The loss of life attributable to the earthquake was massive. (3) Even before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, ranking 149 out of 182 countries according to the United Nation’s Human Development Index. (4) In recent years, however, the Government and people of Haiti had taken important steps forward to promote economic growth and development, including making strides towards establishing a competitive apparel sector. (5) United States trade preference programs, including the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (as amended by the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, the Hai- tian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encourage- ment Act of 2006, and the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008), which extend duty-free tariff treatment to certain apparel produced in Haiti, have made an important contribution to Haiti’s economic development efforts. (6) However, the Haitian apparel sector has been hard hit by the January 12, 2010, earthquake. A number of apparel factories based in and around Port-au-Prince have been heavily damaged, including the collapse of one major apparel factory that had employed nearly 4,000 workers. (7) The Port-au-Prince seaport that had served the apparel trade has been badly damaged. And extensive damage to roads 19 USC 2703a note. 19 USC 2701 note. Haiti Economic Lift Program Act of 2010. May 24, 2010 [H.R. 5160]