Proclamation 4547—Import Fees on Sugar, Sirups, and Molasses

IMPORT FEES ON SUGAR, SIRUPS, AND MOLASSES

By Proclamation No. 4538 of November 11, 1977, I imposed import fees on certain sugars, sirups, and molasses. I also requested 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.

The Secretary of Agriculture bas since informed me that the fees established by Proclamation No. 4538 are insufficient. He has again advised me that he has reason to believe that 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), hereinafter referred to as "sugars", 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 such domestic sugar beets and sugar cane. The Secretary of Agriculture has reaffirmed his determination that the condition requires emergency treatment.

I agree there is reason for these beliefs and I find and declare that:

(a) Sugars, described below by use and physical description, are being imported, 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 materially interfere with, the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar cane and sugar beets, or reduce substantially the amount of any product processed in the United States from domestic sugar beets or sugar cane;

(b) A condition exists which requires the immediate imposition of the import fees hereinafter set forth, without awaiting the report and recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission.

(c) The imposition of the import fees hereinafter proclaimed is necessary in order that the entry, or withdrawal from warehouse, for consumption of sugars will not render or tend to render ineffective, or materially interfere with, the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar beets and sugar cane, or reduce substantially the amount of products processed in the United States from such 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:

1. Headnote 4 is amended to read as follows:

4. Sugar, sirups, and molasses

(a) 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 956.05, 956.15, and 957.15 of this part on the condition that such articles will be used only for the production (other than by distillation) of polyhydric alcohols, except 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) "Not to be further refined or improved in quality" as used in item 956.05 means not to be further refined or improved in quality by being subjected substantially to the processes of (1) affination or defecation, (2) clarification, or (3) further purification by absorption or crystallization.

2. Items 956.10, 956.20, 957.10, and 957.20 are deleted.

3. The following new items, in numercial sequence, are added following item 955.06:

Item Articles Rates of Duty

(Section 22 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(a):

Principally of crystalline structure or in dry amorphous form, provided for in item 155.20, part 10A, schedule 1:

956.05 Not to be further refined or improved in quality 3.22?¢ per lb., but not in excess of 50% ad val.

956.15 To be further refined or improved in quality 2.70?¢ per lb., but not in excess of 50% ad val.

957.15 Not principally of crystalline structure and not in dry amorphous form, containing soluble nonsugar solids (excluding any foreign substance that may have been added or developed in the product) equal to 6% or less by weight of the total soluble solids, provided for in item 155.30, part 10A, schedule 1 3.22?¢ per lb. of total sugars, but not in excess of 50% ad val.

With the following exceptions, this proclamation applies to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption after 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on the day following its issuance. One exception shall be for the sugars of Malawian origin which entered the United States before February 15, 1978, pursuant to contracts for delivery to the United States entered into before November 11, 1977. Further, if it is established to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Customs that articles subject to proclamations 4538 and 4539 exported to the United States before November 11, 1977, or imported to fulfill forward contracts for delivery to the United States entered into before November 11, 1977, could have been, but were not, entered for consumption on or before January 1, 1978, as a result of the delay in transportation to a point within the limits of a Customs port of entry of the United States because of windstorm, fog, or similar stress of weather, the provisions of proclamations 4538 and 4539 shall not apply to the articles even though they are entered for consumption after January 1, 1978 nor shall the provisions of this proclamation be applicable to them. The proclamation shall continue to apply until I have acted on the Report of the United States International Trade Commission.

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

JIMMY CARTER