Proclamation Modifying U.S.-Israel Free Trade Act To Enable Monitoring
Of Textiles
(May 4, 1987)
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 |