Proclamation to Implement the U.S.-Israel Agreement
on Trade in Agriculture
(December 2, 1996)
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. On April 22, 1985, the United States entered into
the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area between the
Government of the United States of America and the Government of Israel
("the FTA Agreement"), approved by the Congress in the United
States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985 ("the
FTA Act") (19 U.S.C. 2112 note).
2. The United States and Israel acknowledge that they
have differing interpretations as to the meaning of certain rights and
obligations in the FTA Agreement, in particular with respect to market
access for certain United States agricultural products. In order to
maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions
with respect to agricultural trade with Israel, on November 4, 1996,
the Government of the United States entered into an agreement with the
Government of Israel concerning certain aspects of trade in agricultural
products, effective December 4, 1996, through December 31, 2001 ("the
1996 Agreement").
3. Section 4(b) of the FTA Act provides that, whenever
the President determines that it is necessary to maintain the general
level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect
to Israel provided for by the FTA Agreement, the President may proclaim
such withdrawal, suspension, modification, or continuance of any duty,
or such continuance of existing duty-free or excise treatment, or such
additional duties as the President determines to be required or appropriate
to carry out the FTA Agreement.
4. Pursuant to section 4(b) of the FTA Act, I have
determined that it is necessary, in order to maintain the general level
of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to
Israel, to provide through the close of December 31, 2001, access into
the United States customs territory for specified quantities of certain
agricultural products of Israel free of duty or certain fees or other
import charges.
5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2483) ("the 1974 Act"), authorizes the President to embody
in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTS")
the substance of the relevant provisions of that Act, and of other acts
affecting import treatment, and actions thereunder, including the removal,
modification, continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other
import restriction.
Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of
the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me
by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including but
not limited to section 4 of the FTA Act and section 604 of the 1974
Act, do hereby proclaim:
(1) In order to implement aspects of the 1996 Agreement
with the Government of Israel concerning certain aspects of trade in
agricultural products, the HTS is modified as provided in the Annex
to this proclamation.
(2) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive
orders that are inconsistent with the actions taken in this proclamation
are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
(3) The modifications to the HTS made by the Annex
to this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the dates set
forth in such Annex, and the tariff treatment set forth therein shall
be effective as provided in such Annex through December 31, 2001.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this
second day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and
ninety-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the two hundred and twenty-first.
William J. Clinton
Sources: Public Papers of the President |