[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 97 (Friday, May 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 24953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-12408]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION
[Investigation Nos. 332-350 and 332-351]


Monitoring of U.S. Imports of Tomatoes and Peppers

AGENCY: International Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice that Commission will not publish monitoring reports in 
1996.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

EFFECTIVE DATE: May 9, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Timothy McCarty (202-205-3324) or 
Lowell Grant (202-205-3312), Agriculture and Forest Products Division, 
Office of Industries, or William Gearhart (202-205-3091), Office of the 
General Counsel, U.S. International Trade Commission. Hearing impaired 
persons can obtain information on these studies by contacting the 
Commission's TDD terminal on (202-205-1810).

Background

    Section 316 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 
Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3381) directs the Commission to monitor 
imports of fresh or chilled tomatoes (HTS heading 0702.00) and fresh or 
chilled peppers, other than chili peppers (HTS subheading 0709.60.00), 
until January 1, 2009, as if a request for such monitoring had been 
made under section 202(d) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2252(d)), 
for purposes of expediting an investigation concerning provisional 
relief under section 202 of the Trade Act of 1974. In response, the 
Commission instituted Investigation No. 332-350, Monitoring of U.S. 
Imports of Tomatoes (59 F.R. 1763, January 12, 1994) and Investigation 
No. 332-351, Monitoring of U.S. Imports of Peppers (59 F.R. 1762, 
January 12, 1994). Although section 316 of the NAFTA Implementation Act 
does not require the Commission to publish reports on the results of 
its monitoring activities, the Commission's notices announcing the 
investigations stated that the Commission planned to publish annual 
statistical reports of certain trade data through the year 2008.
    The Commission has recently instituted two investigations 
concerning imports of tomatoes and/or peppers, Investigation No. TA-
201-66, Fresh Tomatoes and Bell Peppers (61 F.R. 13875, March 28, 
1996), under section 202(b) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 
2252(b)); and preliminary antidumping Investigation No. 731-TA-747 
(Preliminary), Fresh Tomatoes from Mexico (61 F.R. 15968, April 10, 
1996), under section 733(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 
1673b(a)). To avoid possible public confusion due to the release of 
multiple reports containing different data series, the Commission will 
not publish reports on the results of monitoring in 1996. The 
Commission will continue to monitor as required by section 316 of the 
NAFTA Implementation Act and will consider at a later date whether to 
resume publication of monitoring reports in 1997 and later years.

    Issued: May 13, 1996.

    By order of the Commission.
Donna R. Koehnke,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-12408 Filed 5-16-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-P