Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 111 Part 3.djvu/757

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

PROCLAMATION 6969—JAN. 27, 1997 111 STAT. 2845 2. Presidential Proclamation 6961 of November 28, 1996, provided import relief with respect to certain broom corn brooms. For certain subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) established to carry out this relief, provisions were omitted that would have continued staged reductions of special rates of duty for the goods concerned, previously proclaimed pursuant to section 201(a) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3331'a)). Further, other HTS provisions established by that proclamation contain conflicting dates that complicate their administration. To rectify these omissions and to permit proper administration of the import relief, I have decided that it is necessary and appropriate to continue previously proclaimed duty treatment for the affected goods and to make technical corrections in certain HTS provisions. 3. Section 213 of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, as amended (CBERA) (19 U.S.C. 2703), and section 204 of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) (19 U.S.C. 3203) authorize the President to provide duty-free entry for all eligible articles, and duty reductions for certain other articles, that are the product of any country that has been designated as a beneficiary country under those Acts. To clarify the preferential tariff treatment provided to particular dutiable goods that are the product of beneficiary countries under the CBERA or the ATPA and that are eligible to enter under HTS heading 9802.00.80, which provides for certain goods assembled abroad using components of U.S. origin, I have decided it is appropriate to provide special rates of duty for purposes of the CBERA and of the ATPA in heading 9802.00.80 to apply to such goods. 4. Presidential Proclamation 6948 of October 29, 1996, modified tariff provisions concerning special import quotas for upland cotton. That proclamation also modified certain provisions of the HTS and of prior Presidential proclamations to correct technical errors and to clarify the intent of previously proclaimed modifications. In proclaiming the modifications to the provisions on upland cotton, a conforming change to U.S. note 6 to subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS was omitted. Further, the instructions in section A(5)(c) of Annex II to such proclamation concerning modifications to subchapter IV of chapter 99 to the HTS contained an error. To rectify the omission and to correct the error in instructions, I have decided it is necessary and appropriate to modify U.S. note 6 to subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS and to amend the instructions in section A(5)(c) of Annex II to Proclamation 6948. 5. Presidential Proclamation 6763 of December 23, 1994, implemented with respect to the United States the trade agreements resulting from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations, including Schedule XX—United States of America, annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994. A conforming change in a subheading in subchapter V of chapter 99 of the HTS was omitted from Proclamation 6763. Further, particular HTS additional U.S. notes implementing tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for specified agricultural products do not clearly reflect the intended quota periods and the quantities permitted entry during such quota periods and have caused administrative difficulties. In order to make the necessary conforming change and to correct the legal notes controlling such TRQs, I have decided it is necessary and appropriate to modify a subheading in subchapter V of chapter 99 and the legal notes pertaining to such TRQs.