Proclamation 4538—Import Fees on Sugar, Sirups, and Molasses

1. The Secretary of Agriculture has advised me that he has reason to believe that certain sugars, sirups, and molasses, derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, classified under items 155.20 and 155.30, of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202), are being, or are practically certain to be, imported into the United States under such conditions and in such quantities as to render or tend to render ineffective, or to materially interfere with, the price support operations now being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar cane and sugar beets, or to reduce substantially the amount of any product being processed in the United States from domestic sugar beets and sugar cane.

2. I agree that there is reason for such belief by the Secretary of Agriculture. Therefore, I am requesting the United States International Trade Commission to make an immediate investigation with respect to this matter pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended (7 U.S.C. 624), and to report its findings and recommendations to me as soon as possible.

3. The Secretary of Agriculture has also determined and reported to me, with regard to such sugars, sirups, and molasses, that a condition exists which requires emergency treatment, and that the import fees hereinafter proclaimed should be imposed without awaiting the report and recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission.

4. I find and declare that the imposition of import fees hereinafter proclaimed, without awaiting the recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission with respect to such action, is necessary in order that the entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption of certain sugars, sirups, and molasses, described below by value, use and physical description, and classified under TSUS items 155.20 and 155.30, will not render or tend to render ineffective, or materially interfere with, the price support operations now being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar cane or sugar beets, or reduce substantially the amount of any product processed in the United States from domestic sugar beets or sugar cane.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the United States of America, including section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, as amended, do hereby proclaim that Part 3 of the Appendix to the TSUS is amended as follows:

(a) A new headnote is added which reads as follows: 4. Sugar, sirups, and molasses

Licenses may be issued by the Secretary of Agriculture or his designee authorizing the entry of articles exempt from the fees provided for in items 956.10, 956.20, 957.10 and 957.20 of this part on the condition that such articles will be used only for the production (other than by distillation) of polyhydric alcohols, for use as a substitute for sugar in human food consumption. Such licenses shall be issued under regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture which he determines are necessary to insure the use of such articles only for such purposes.

(b) The following new items, in numerical sequence, are added following items 955.06:

Item Articles Import Fees

"Sugars, sirups, and molasses, derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, except those entered pursuant to a license issued by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with headnote 4: Principally of crystalline structure or in dry amorphous form, provided for in item 155.20, part 10A, schedule 1:

956.10 Valued at not more than 6.67 cents per pound 50% ad. val. 956.20 Valued at more than 6.67 cents per pound but not more than 10.0 cents per pound 3.32 cents per lb. less the amount per lb. by which the value exceeds 6.67 cents per lb. Not principally of crystalline struc- ture and not in dry amorphous form, containing soluble non- sugar solids (excluding any for- eign substance that may have been added or developed in the product)- equal to 6% or less by weight of the total soluble solids, pro- vided for in item 155.30, part 10A, schedule 1:

957.10 Valued at not more than 6.67 cents per pound of total sugars 50% ad. val. 957.20 Valued at more than 6.67 cents per pound of total sugars but not more than 10.0 cents per pound of total sugars 3.32 cents per lb. of total sugars less the amount per lb. of total sugars by which the value exceeds 6.67 cents per lb. of total sugars."

The fees established by items 956.10, 956.20, 957.10 and 957.20 shall apply to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of this Proclamation, and shall continue to apply to such articles pending the report and recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission and action that I may take on them. However, such fees shall not apply to articles (a) exported to the United States before 12:01 A.M. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time) on the date of this Proclamation or (b) imported to fulfill forward contracts entered into before 12:01 A.M. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time) on the date of this Proclamation, Provided, That articles referred to in (a) and (b) are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or before January 1, 1978.

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

JIMMY CARTER