Ronald Reagan Administration: Proclamation Modifying U.S.-Israel Free Trade Act To Enable Monitoring Of Textiles

To Modify Duty-free Treatment Under the Generalized System of Preferences, the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, and the United States-Israel Free Trade Implementation Act, to Enable the Monitoring of Textile Agreements and for Other Purposes

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

1. On July 31, 1986, under the authority of section 204 of the Agricultural Act of 1956 (7 U.S.C. 1854), the United States accepted the Protocol Extending the Arrangement Regarding International Trade in Textiles. The Protocol expands the product coverage of the Arrangement to include certain vegetable fiber and silk-blend textiles and textile products that previously had not been under the Arrangement. The United States also concluded a bilateral agreement, the Agreement Relating to Trade in Cotton, Wool, Man-made Fibers, Silk-blend and Other Vegetable Fiber Textile and Textile Products, with Hong Kong. Effective August 1, 1986, the Agreement extended the coverage of an earlier bilateral agreement with Hong Kong to include certain vegetable fiber and silk-blend textiles and textile products.

2. Section 503(c)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 2463(c)(1)), provides that textile and apparel articles ``subject to textile agreements'' are not eligible for tariff preferences under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). Therefore, I have determined that certain vegetable fiber and silk-blend textiles and textile products now subject to textile agreements should be removed from the list of articles eligible for GSP benefits. Annex I to this Proclamation modifies the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) to implement this change in tariff treatment for articles covered by the listed TSUS item numbers. Furthermore, TSUS items 372.60 and 372.65 now contain certain articles that are subject, and other articles that are not subject, to textile agreements. Accordingly, as indicated in Annex II to this Proclamation, I am acting to modify the TSUS to remove from eligibility under the GSP those articles that have become subject to textile agreements, and to make certain conforming changes in the TSUS.

3. I have determined that the TSUS incorrectly indicates duty-free treatment for articles eligible for entry under certain items in schedule 8 of the TSUS that are otherwise subject to duty under 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 Israel Agreement) and under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) (19 U.S.C. 2701). Therefore, I am acting as indicated in Annex III to this Proclamation to delete the Israel and CBERA duty-free designations in the Rates of Duty Special column corresponding to these items.

4. I have determined that general headnote 3(e)(vii) of the TSUS should be modified as indicated in Annex IV to this Proclamation in order to reflect section 235 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, amending section 213(a) of the CBERA. In addition, I have determined that general headnote 3(e)(vii) should be further modified to correct certain clerical errors in that headnote and to include language that conforms more closely with the underlying text of section 213(b) of the CBERA.

5. I have determined, on the basis of Customs classification practice and after taking into account new statistical information, that certain modifications are necessary in the TSUS to reflect properly the eligibility for GSP benefits of certain articles from certain beneficiary developing countries. Accordingly, I am acting to modify the TSUS as indicated in Annex V to this Proclamation.

6. In Proclamation 5452 of March 31, 1986, I removed from the list of articles eligible for benefits of the GSP certain mixtures containing ethanol. Through technical error, certain conforming changes and the staged reductions in duty for certain chemicals the product of Israel were omitted. Accordingly, I have determined it is appropriate to modify two chemical items in the Appendix to the TSUS to ensure that appropriate duty treatment for such chemicals is continued. I have further determined that it is necessary to provide for the continuation of scheduled staged reductions in duty for the chemicals that are the product of Israel under the Israel Agreement. Accordingly, I am modifying the TSUS as indicated in Annex VI to this Proclamation.

7. Section 4(b) of the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985 (19 U.S.C. 2112 note) authorizes the President to proclaim the modification of any duty that I determine is required or appropriate to carry out the Israel Agreement in order to ``maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel.'' I have determined that, due to an inadvertence of both parties to the Israel Agreement, the contemplated duty reduction has not been properly implemented with respect to ornamented, knit, swimming suits and other swimwear of man-made fibers, for women, girls, or infants, provided for in TSUS item 384.19. Accordingly, I have determined that the TSUS should be modified to correct this inadvertence and to make certain conforming changes in the TSUS as indicated in Annex VII to this Proclamation.

8. In order to provide for the continuation of duty-free treatment for certain Canadian automotive products that are currently eligible for such treatment under the Automotive Products Trade Act of 1965 (19 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.), consistent with the changes to the TSUS that resulted from the enactment of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, I have determined it is necessary to modify the article description of TSUS item 685.55, as indicated in Annex VIII to this Proclamation.

9. I have determined it is necessary to modify the TSUS as indicated in Annex IX to this Proclamation in order to correct clerical errors in the designation of a beneficiary country for purposes of the GSP and the CBERA.

10. I have determined it is necessary to modify two items in the Appendix to the TSUS as indicated in Annex X to this Proclamation to ensure that appropriate duty treatment is accorded these items in the Rates of Duty Special column.

11. I have determined it is necessary to modify the TSUS as indicated in Annex XI to this Proclamation in order to correct an error in Proclamation 5291 of December 28, 1984.

12. Section 604 of the Trade Act confers authority upon the President to embody in the TSUS the substance of the relevant provisions of that Act, of other acts affecting import treatment, and of actions taken thereunder.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, including but not limited to section 204 of the Agricultural Act of 1956, the Automotive Products Trade Act of 1965, Title V and section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, sections 211, 213, and 218 of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, and sections 4 and 8(b)(2) of the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985, do proclaim that:

(1) The TSUS are modified as set forth in the Annexes to this Proclamation.

(2) The modifications to the TSUS made by the Annexes to this Proclamation are effective on the dates set forth in the Annexes, except that the modifications made by section A of Annex II to this Proclamation with respect to articles eligible for benefits of the GSP is effective with respect to articles both: (i) imported on or after January 1, 1976, and (ii) entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after August 1, 1986.

(3) Prior proclamations and Executive orders are superseded to the extent inconsistent with this Proclamation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 4th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

Ronald Reagan

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:22 p.m., May 4, 1987]

Note: The annexes were printed in the ``Federal Register'' of May 6.

Sources: Public Papers of the Presidents, Ronald Reagan, 1982