Proclamation 6301—Establishment of Programs for Special Import Quotas on Upland Cotton and Modification of the Tariff-Rate Quota on Imported Sugars, Syrups, and Molasses

1. Section 103B(a)(5)(F) of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (the 1949 Act), as added by section 501 of the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (the 1990 Act) (a)(5)(F)), requires the President to establish an import quota program which shall provide that, during the period beginning August 1, 1991, and ending July 31, 1996, whenever the Secretary of Agriculture determines and announces that for any consecutive 10-week period, the Friday through Thursday average price quotation for the lowest-priced United States growth, as quoted for Middling (M) one and three-thirty-seconds inch cotton, delivered C.I.F. Northern Europe, adjusted for the value of marketing certificates issued to domestic users or exporters for certain documented sales, exceeds the Northern Europe price by more than 1.25 cents per pound, there shall immediately be in effect a special limited global import quota equal to 1 week's consumption of upland cotton by domestic mills at the seasonally adjusted average rate of the most recent 3 months for which data are available. Section 103B(a)(5)(F) further provies that such quota shall apply to upland cotton purchased ot later than 90 days after the date of the Secretary's announcement and entered into the United States not later than 180 days after such date and that a special quota period may be established that overlaps any existing quota period, except that a special quota period may not be established under this program if a special quota period has been established under subsection (n) of section 103B.

2. Section 103B(n) of the 1949 Act, as added by section 501 of the 1990 Act (n)), requires the President to establish an import quota program which shall provide that whenever the Secretary of Agriculture determines an announces that the average price of the base quality of upland cotton, as determined by the Secretary, in designated spots markets for a month exceeded 130 percent of the average price of such quality of cotton in such markets for the preceding 36 months there shall immediately be in effect a special limited global import quota equal to 21 days of domestic mill consumption of upland cotton at the seasonally adjusted average rate of the most recent 3 months for which data are available; provided that if a special quota had been established under this program during the preceding 12 months, the quantity of the quota next established shall be the smaller of the 21 days of domestic mill consumption or the quantity required to increase the supply to 130 percent of the demand. Section 103B(n) further provides that such a special quota shall remain in effect for a 90-day period and that a special quota period may not be established that overlaps an existing quota period or a special quota period established under subsection (a)(5)(F) of section 103B.

3. I find that the Congress intended the special import quotas required by section 103B of the 1949 Act, as amended, to permit the importation of quantities of upland cotton in addition to any quantities permitted to be imported under any quota on imports of upland cotton established pursuant to the provisions of section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, as amended

4. By Proclamation No. 6179 of September 13, 1990 the President modified, effective October 1, 1990, the rates of duty and quota limtation sapplicable to certain imported sugars, syrups, and molasses and, Inter alia, provided for certain licensing programs for the importation of raw cane sugar described in subheading 1701.11.02 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) to be used the production of certain polyhydric alcohols or to be refined and re-exported in refined form or in sugar-containing products.

5. Taking into account the factors cited in Proclamation No. 6179, and in order to alleviate an unintended hardship which may result to participants in the licensing programs authorized thereby with respect to the time limit for filing certain claims for the refund, as drawback, of customs duties, and in order to correct a technical error that was made in incorporating such tariff modifications in the HTS, I find it appropriate to modify further the provisions of the HTS modified by Proclamation No. 6179.

6. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended requires the President to embody in the HTS the substance of the relevant provisions of that Act, and of other acts affecting import treatment, and actions taken thereunder, including the removal, modification, continuance, or imposition of any import restriction.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including but not limited to the provisions of section 103B of the 1949 Act, as added by section 501 of the 1990 Act, additional U.S. note 2 to chapter 17 of the HTS, and section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, do hereby proclaim:

(1) In order to establish special import quota programs pursuant to the provisions of subsections (a)(5)(F) and (n) of section 103B of the 1949 Act, as amended, subchapter II of chapter 99 of the HTS is hereby modified by adding U.S. note 6 as provided for in Annex I to the proclamation.

(2) The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Treasury may promulgate such regulations as are necessary or appropriate to carry out the special import quota programs established by paragraph (1).

(3) Subheadings 9903.52.00 through 9903.52.20 are inserted in subchapter II of chapter 99 of the HTS, as provided in Annex I to this proclamation, and shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, as of the date and under the terms set forth in Annex I.

(4) Additional U.S. note 3 to chapter 17 of the HTS and subheading 1701.91 of the HTS are modified as provided in Annex II to this proclamation.

(5) The provisions of this proclamation shall become effective on the day following the date of signature.

(6) Those provisions of proclamation No. 6179 of September 13, 1990, which are inconsistent with the provisions of Annex II of this proclamation are hereby superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.

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

GEORGE BUSH