Proclamation 4629—Imports of Petroleum and Petroleum Products

The Secretary of Energy has advised me that recent legislation has mandated a change in the treatment accorded residual fuel oil imports under the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act of 1973 (Section 307 of Public Law 95-465). The congressional intent clearly contemplated simultaneous Presidential action to reduce import fees on residual fuel oil. Therefore, the Secretary recommended that I grant additional fee exempt licenses under Proclamation No. 3279, as amended.

The Secretary also recommended changes in the distribution system for the allocation of fee-exempt licenses for imports of residual fuel oil, and changes in the extent to which refunds of license fees may be made for the payment of duties on petroleum and petroleum products.

These changes are consistent with the purposes of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended.

Now, Therefore, I, Jimmy Carter, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862), do hereby proclaim that:

SECTION 1. Section 3(a) (1) (iii) of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, is further amended by adding thereto the following:

"Provided, that where the applicable duty on a barrel of crude oil, unfinished oil, or finished product entered on or after Sunday, December 17, 1978, exceeds the amount of the fee paid with respect to that barrel, the reduction shall not exceed the amount of the fee nor may any excess duty be used to reduce the fee on any other barrel.".

SEC. 2. Section 4(b)(5) of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, is further amended by deleting everything after the second sentence.

SEC. 3. Section 4(b) of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, is further amended by adding thereto a new paragraph (6) as follows:

"(6) With respect to the allocation of imports into District I of residual fuel oil to be used as fuel, the Secretary shall provide until June 30, 1979, for the fair and equitable distribution of such allocation among all persons desiring to import residual fuel oil into District I. For the period beginning July 1, 1979, the Secretary shall provide that the distribution of such allocation shall be based upon a person's actual average calendar day imports in the six calendar months preceding May 1, 1979.".

SEC. 4. Section 8 of Proclamation No. 3279, as amended, is further amended by adding at the end thereof the following unnumbered clause:

"For the period from November 1, 1978 through June 30, 1979, the allocation of residual fuel oil to be used as fuel in District I shall not be subject to the reductions set forth in this Section.".

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

JIMMY CARTER