Proclamation 5924—To Complete Implementation of the United States-European Community Agreement on Citrus and Pasta, and for Other Purposes

1. On February 24, 1987, the United States and the European Community (EC) signed an agreement resolving the longstanding dispute concerning access to the EC market for U.S. citrus products. The EC agreed to reduce certain duties on specified imported products, in certain cases subject to a tariff rate quota. The United States agreed to reduce duties on particular products and further agreed to eliminate the increased rates of duty on EC pasta established by Proclamation 5354 of June 21, 1985 (50 FR 26143).

2. Section 1122(b)(1) of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the 1988 Act) (Pub. L. 100-418, 102 Stat. 1144) authorizes the President to proclaim an effective date after September 30, 1988, for the duty reductions set out in section 1122(c) of the 1988 Act that is appropriate to carry out the Agreement. Further, section 1122(b)(2) of the 1988 Act authorizes the President at any time to modify or terminate by proclamation any provision of law enacted by the amendments made by section 1122(c) of the 1988 Act.

3. Sections 9001 and 9004 of the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988 (the TMRA) (Pub. L. 100-647, 102 Stat. 3342) make various amendments, including the extension of certain existing suspensions of duty and duty reductions, to the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202). Certain amendments to the TSUS made by the TMRA, which became effective on November 10, 1988, extend through December 31, 1992, and must therefore be incorporated into the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) in order to continue such duty treatment after January 1, 1989. Further, certain technical corrections to particular HTS provisions are necessary to correctly state the tariff treatment of the covered articles.

4. Pursuant to section 4(a) of the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985 (the 1985 Act) (19 U.S.C. 2112 note; Pub. L. 99-47, 99 Stat. 82), the President is authorized to proclaim such modifications or continuance of any existing duty, such continuance of existing duty-free or excise treatment, or such additional duties as he determined to be required or appropriate to carry out the schedule of duty reductions with respect to Israel set forth in Annex I of the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Israel, entered into on April 22, 1985, and approved on June 11, 1985. Section 4(b) of the 1985 Act authorizes the President, whenever he determines it necessary to maintain the general level of reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions provided with respect to Israel provided for by the Agreement, to proclaim such additional tariff modifications, including the withdrawal, suspension, modification, or continuance of any duty, as he determines to be required or appropriate to carry out the Agreement.

5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the substance of the provisions of that Act, of other acts affecting import treatment, and of actions taken thereunder. Section 1204(b) of the 1988 Act (19 U.S.C. 3004(b)) directs the President to proclaim such modifications to the HTS as are necessary or appropriate to implement the applicable provisions of statutes enacted and Executive actions taken after January 1, 1988, and before the effective date of the HTS, and such technical rectifications as he considers necessary.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, including but not limited to sections 1122 and 1204 of the 1988 Act, sections 9001 and 9004 of the TMRA, section 4 of the 1985 Act, section 604 of the Trade Act, and sections 301 and 302 of title 3 of the United States Code, do proclaim that:

(1) In order to complete implementation of the United States-EC Agreement on Citrus and Pasta, the HTS is modified as provided in Annex I to this Proclamation.

(2) In order to incorporate in the HTS the changes in tariff treatment enacted in the TMRA and to make certain technical rectifications, the HTS is further modified as set forth in Annex II to this Proclamation.

(3) The duty provided for in section 466 of the Tariff Act of 1930 shall not be imposed on equipments, or any part thereof, including boats, the foregoing which are the product of Israel, or on the expenses of repairs made in Israel upon U.S.-documented vessels (other than U.S. civil aircraft, as defined in general note 3(c)(iv) to the HTS).

(4) Subject to paragraph (5), the modifications to the HTS made by this Proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 1989.

(5) The United States Trade Representative (USTR) may delay the effective date of any modification to the HTS set out in Annex I to this Proclamation, or may suspend any such modification that may have taken effect, if the USTR determines that the EC has not implemented provisions of the Agreement.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

RONALD REAGAN