Proclamation 2954—Terminating in Part Proclamation No. 2761A of December 16, 1947 and Proclamations Supplemental Thereto, and for Other Purposes

1. Whereas (pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by section 1 of the act of June 12, 1934, by the joint resolution approved June 7, 1943, and by sections 2 and 3 of the act of July 5, 1945 (ch. 474, 48 Stat. 943; ch. 118, 57 Stat. 125; ch. 269, 59 Stat. 410), the period for the exercise of the authority under the said section 350 having been extended by section 1 of the said act of July 5, 1945, until expiration of three years from June 12, 1945), on October 30, 1947, I entered into a trade agreement with the Governments of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Kingdom of Belgium, the United States of Brazil, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Czechoslovak Republic, the French Republic, India, Lebanon, the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Norway, Pakistan, Southern Rhodesia, Syria, the Union of South Africa, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which trade agreement consists of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the related Protocol of Provisional Application thereof, together with the Final Act at the Conclusion of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment which authenticated the texts of the said General Agreement and the said Protocol (61 Stat. (pt. 5) A7 and A11; ibid. (pt. 6) A1367 and A2051);

2. Whereas, by Proclamation No. 2761A of December 16, 1947 (61 Stat. 1103), I proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States of America as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation on and after January 1, 1948, which proclamation has been supplemented by Proclamation No. 2769 of January 30, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 supp., p. 21), by Proclamation No. 2867 of December 22, 1949 (3 CFR, 1949 supp., p. 55), and the other proclamations specified in the second recital thereof, by Proclamation No. 2908 of October 12, 1950 (3 CFR, 1950 supp., p. 63), by Proclamation No. 2929 of June 2, 1951 (16 F.R. 5381)(2) and the other proclamations specified in the second recital thereof, and by notifications of the President to the Secretary of the Treasury of June 2, 1951 (16 F.R. 5386), June 29, 1951 (16 F.R. 6607), July 23, 1951 (16 F.R. 7379), September 10, 1951, as amended (16 F.R. 9215; 16 F.R. 9715), September 18, 1951 (16 F.R. 9551), October 2, 1951 (16 F.R. 10047) and October 31, 1951 (16 F.R. 11205);

3. Whereas the Secretary General of the United Nations has informed the Secretary of State that on March 6, 1950, he was notified that it was the decision of the Government of the Republic of China, which was then a contracting party to the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation, to withdraw from the said General Agreement, in accordance with paragraph 5 of the Protocol of Provisional Application thereof specified in the first recital of this proclamation, and the Government of China is therefore no longer such a contracting party;

4. Whereas Article XXVII of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation provides as follows:

"Any contracting party shall at any time be free to withhold or to withdraw in whole or in part any concession, provided for in the appropriate Schedule annexed to this Agreement, in respect of which such contracting party determines that it was initially negotiated with a government which has not become, or has ceased to be, a contracting party. The contracting party taking such action shall give notice to all other contracting parties and, upon request, consult with the contracting parties which have a substantial interest in the product concerned.";

5. Whereas the concessions provided for in Part I of Schedule XX (original) of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation which are identified in the following list were initially negotiated with the Government of the Republic of China within the terms of the said Article XXVII:

6. Whereas, in the sixth recital of the said proclamation of October 12, 1950, specified in the second recital of this proclamation, the concession on "whole chicken packed in air-tight containers" was excepted from the identification as to the second item 712 in Part I of Schedule XX (original) of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation, through a misunderstanding as to the product in which another contracting party to the General Agreement had expressed a substantial interest in the course of consultation pursuant to the said Article XXVII set forth in the fourth recital of this proclamation, and I determine that it will be required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement that the concession with respect to the following products provided for in the said second item 712, in which such other contracting party has expressed an interest, be applied after the close of business January 25, 1952:

"Chickens, prepared by removal of the feathers, heads, and all or part of the viscera, with or without removal of the feet, but not cooked or divided into portions";

7. Whereas, I determine that the rate of duty specified at the right of the description of products in the following item is the maximum rate which may be applied to such products in conformity with paragraph 3 of Article I of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation, that said maximum rate limitations required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation, and that the following item should be inserted in the appropriate numerical order in the list set forth in the seventh recital of the said proclamation of January 30, 1948, specified in the second recital of this proclamation:

1558 Articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not specially provided for:

Frog legs, prepared or preserved-----------------------------12% ad val.;

8. Whereas the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation was supplemented on April 21, 1951, by the Declaration on the Continued Application of the Schedules to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, a copy of which, in the English and French languages, is annexed to this proclamation;

9. Whereas (pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the acts specified in the first recital of this proclamation and by sections 4 and 6 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 698), the period for the exercise of the said authority having been extended by section 3 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1949 until the expiration of three years from June 12, 1948) on October 10, 1949, I entered into a trade agreement providing for the accession to the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation of the Governments of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Greece, the Republic of Haiti, the Republic of Italy, the Republic of Liberia, the Republic of Nicaragua, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, which trade agreement consists of the Annecy Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated October 10, 1949, including the Annexes thereto (Department of State Publication No. 3664);

10. Whereas the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation and the said Annecy Protocol specified in the ninth recital of this proclamation are to be supplemented by the Fifth Protocol of Rectifications to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated December 16, 1950, paragraph 3 of which Protocol of Rectifications provides that the rectifications contained therein shall become an integral part of the said General Agreement on the day on which the said Protocol of Rectifications has been signed by all the governments which are at that time contracting parties to the said General Agreement, which Protocol of Rectifications is authentic in the English and French languages as indicated therein, and a copy of which is annexed to this proclamation;

11. Whereas (pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by section 1 of the act of June 12, 1934, specified in the first recital of this proclamation, the period for the exercise of the said authority having been specified in section 2 of the said act of June 12, 1934, as three years from June 12, 1934) on January 9, 1936, the President entered into a trade agreement with the Swiss Federal Council, including two Schedules and a declaration annexed thereto (49 Stat. (pt. 2) 3918);

12. Whereas, by Proclamation of January 9, 1936 (49 Stat. (pt. 2) 3917), the President proclaimed the said trade agreement specified in the eleventh recital of this proclamation, which proclamation has been supplemented by Proclamation of May 7, 1936 (49 Stat. (pt. 2) 3959), and Proclamation of November 28, 1940 (54 Stat. (pt. 2) 2461);

13. Whereas on October 13, 1950, the said trade agreement specified in the eleventh recital of this proclamation was supplemented by the following provisions:

"1. If, as a result of unforeseen developments and of the effect of the obligations incurred by the Government of the United States of America or of Switzerland under the Trade Agreement signed in Washington January 9, 1936, including tariff concessions, any product is being imported into the territory of either country in such relatively increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause or threaten serious injury to the domestic industry in that territory producing like or directly competitive products, the Government of the United States of America or of Switzerland shall be free, in respect of such product, and to the extent and for such time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy such injury, to suspend the obligation in whole or in part or to withdraw or modify the concession.

"2. Before the Government of the United States or of Switzerland shall take action pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph one above, it shall give notice in writing to the other Government as far in advance as may be practicable and shall afford such other Government an opportunity to consult with it in respect of the proposed action and with respect to such compensatory modifications of the Trade Agreement as may be deemed appropriate, to the extent practicable maintaining the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions in the Agreement. If agreement between the two Governments is not reached as a result of such consultation, the Government which proposes to take the action under Paragraph one shall, nevertheless, be free to do so and, if such action is taken, the other Government shall be free, not later than ninety days after the action has been taken and on thirty days' written notice, to suspend the application to the trade of the Government taking action under Paragraph one of substantially e1uivalent obligations or concessions under said Trade Agreement. The Government taking action under Paragraph one shall then be free, within thirty days after such suspension takes effect, to terminate said Trade Agreement on thirty days' written notice. In critical circumstances, where delay would cause damage which it would be difficult to repair, action under Paragraph one may be taken provisionally without prior consultation, under the condition that consultation shall be effected immediately after taking such action. Where an action taken without prior consultation causes or threatens to cause serious injury in the territory of the other Government to the domestic producers of products affected by the action, that Government shall, where delay would cause damage difficult to repair, be free to suspend, upon the taking of the action and throughout the period of consultation, such obligations or concessions as may be necessary to prevent or remedy the injury."

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the acts specified in the first and ninth recitals of this proclamation, do proclaim as follows:

PART 1

The said proclamation of December 16, 1947, and the said proclamations supplemental thereto specified or referred to in the second recital of this proclamation, are hereby terminated in part to the extent that they shall be applied, effective after the close of business January 25, 1952 as though the items and parts of items identified in the fifth recital of this proclamation, and that part of the said second item 712 identified in the sixth recital of this proclamation relating to "whole chickens packed in airtight containers", were deleted from Part I of Schedule XX (original) of the said General Agreement.

PART II

To the end that the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation may be carried out:

(a) Effective after the close of business January 25, 1952 the rate provided for in the second item 712 in Part I of Schedule XX (original) of the said General Agreement shall be applied to the products in that part of the said item 712 described at the end of the sixth recital of this proclamation.

(b) Effective after the close of business December 26, 1951 the rate of duty specified at the right of the description of products in the item at the end of the seventh recital of this proclamation shall be applied as if the said item were inserted in the appropriate numerical order in the list set forth in the seventh recital of the said proclamation of January 30, 1948, specified in the second recital of this proclamation, subject to the applicable terms, conditions, and qualifications set forth in the said list.

(c) Effective on and after April 21, 1951, the relevant provisions of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation (Article XXVIII thereof) shall be applied as supplemented by the said Declaration specified in the eighth recital of this proclamation.

PART III

To the end that the said trade agreement specified in the eleventh recital of this proclamation may be carried out, effective on and after October 13, 1950, the provisions of the said trade agreement shall be applied as supplemented by the provisions set forth in the thirteenth recital of this proclamation.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-sixth day of November in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-one, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-sixth.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

JAMES E. WEBB,

Acting Secretary of State.