Ill STAT. 2798 PROCLAMATION 6948—OCT. 29, 1996 Proclamation 6948 of October 29, 1996 To Modify Provisions on Upland Cotton and for Other Purposes By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation 1. (a) Presidential Proclamation 6301 of June 7, 1991, implemented import quotas for upland cotton by adding U.S. note 6 and subheadings 9903.52.01 through 9903.52.20 to subchapter III of chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("the HTS"). (b) U.S. note 6(a) to subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS provides that whenever the Secretary of Agriculture ("the Secretary") determines and announces that specified conditions relating to the price of upland cotton exist, there shall be in effect, as of the effective date of such announcement, a special import quota applicable to upland cotton purchased not later than 90 days after the effective date of the Secretary's announcement and entered into the United States not later than 180 days after such date. U.S. note 6(a) further provides that a new 180-day quota period may be established that overlaps any existing quota period announced under paragraph (a) of the note, unless a quota period has been established under paragraph (b) of the note. (c) Subheadings 9903.52.01 through 9903.52.20 cover entries of upland cotton under 20 consecutively numbered announcements by the Secretary pursuant to U.S. note 6(a). Thus, the 180-day effective period of a special upland cotton import quota established under a particular announcement may still be in effect when the same announcement number may be assigned with respect to a different but overlapping quota period. (d) To avoid such overlap, and to permit the effective administration of these quotas by the U.S. Customs Service, I have decided that it is necessary and appropriate to provide six additional HTS subheadings corresponding to six additional announcements by the Secretary. 2. (a) Presidential Proclamation 6641 of December 15, 1993, implemented the North American Free Trade Agreement ("the NAFTA") with respect to the United States and incorporated in the HTS the tariff modifications and rules of origin necessary or appropriate to carry out the NAFTA. (b) Article 303 of the NAFTA provides for the amount of customs duties that may be claimed as drawback on goods originating outside the NAFTA region that are traded between the NAFTA Parties. Article 307.2 of the NAFTA provides that each Party shall grant temporary duty-free admission to specified goods when imported from the territory of another Party, regardless of the origin of such goods, for repair or alteration. Among the modifications to the HTS set forth in Annex II to Proclamation 6641 was a new paragraph (c) of U.S. note 1 to subchapter XIII of chapter 98 of the HTS, which was intended to give ef- fect to the provisions of Articles 303 and 307.2 of the NAFTA insofar as they are applicable to articles to be repaired, altered, or processed that are admitted temporarily free of duty under bond. Such new paragraph (c) does not reflect clearly that the provisions of Article 307.2 of the NAFTA apply to goods imported from a NAFTA Party, regardless of their origin, for repair or alteration.
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