Proclamation 6228—To Suspend Indefinitely the Import Quota on Cotton Comber Waste

1. Presidential Proclamation No. 2351 of September 20, 1939, issued pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, as amended (the Act), limited the total quantity of cotton waste that may be entered in any 12-month period beginning September 20 in any year and provided country-specific allocations of such quantity. This action was taken in order that the entry of cotton waste would not render or tend to render ineffective, or materially interfere with, the programs with respect to cotton undertaken by the Department of Agriculture.

2. In accordance with section 22 of the Act, the Secretary of Agriculture has advised me that he has reason to believe that the quantitative restrictions on imports of cotton comber waste, wherever classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), shoulc be terminated or modified because the circumstances requiring the imposition of the restrictions have changed and the quota is being underutilized.

3. Based upon this advice, I directed the United States International Trade Commission (the Commission) to initiate an investigation under section 22(d) of the Act (d)) to determine whether the quota on cotton comber waste should be terminated or modified, including globalizing country quota allocations, eliminating the staple length restrictions on cotton used to make cotton comber waste, or distinguishing between bleached and unbleached cotton comber waste, or whether the quota should otherwise be adjusted to take account of circumstances that have changed since the quota was proclaimed.

4. After reviewing the facts and taking into account the report of the Commission based upon the investigation that it conducted, I have determined that the circumstances requiring the current import quotas on cotton comber waste do not exist at this time. Accordingly, I find that the quantitative restrictions imposed under section 22 of the Act on all imported cotton comber waste should be suspended indefinitely, and that the staple length restrictons on cotton comber waste should be eliminated.

5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the substance of the provisions of that Act, of other acts affecting import treatment, and actions taken thereunder.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, acting under authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including but not limited to section 22 of the Act and section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 do hereby proclaim that:

(1) In subheading 9904.30.50 of the HTS, the title of quota quantity column (A), "Minimum Quota for certain comber wastes", is modified to read "Quota for cotton comber waste".

(2) In subheading 9904.30.50 of the HTS, the title of quota quantity column (B), "Unreserved Quota", is modified to read "Quota for other cotton wastes".

(3) In subheading 9904.30.50 of the HTS, the quota quantity column (C), with its title "Total Quota", is stricken.

(4) U.S. Note 3(b) to subchapter IV of chapter 99 of the HTS is deleted, and the words "See U.S. note 3(b) of this subchapter" in subheading 9904.30.50 of the HTS are deleted.

(5) The quantitative restrictions on imports of cotton comber waste, as provided under subheading 9904.30.50 of the HTS, as revised, are hereby suspended indefinitely.

(6) Proclamation No. 2351 is superseded to the extent inconsistent with this proclamation.

(7) This proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on and after the date of publication of this proclamation in the Federal Register.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifteenth.

GEORGE BUSH