[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 35 (Monday, September 2, 1996)]
[Pages 1538-1539]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6914--To Modify the Allocation of Tariff-Rate Quotas for 
Certain Cheeses

August 26, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. On January 1, 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden acceded to the 
European Communities (EC), and the EC customs union of 12 member 
countries (``EC-12'') was enlarged to a customs union of 15 member 
countries (``EC-15''). At that time, the EC-12, Austria, Finland, and 
Sweden withdrew their tariff schedules under the World Trade 
Organization and applied the common external tariff of the EC-12 to 
imports into the EC-15. The United States and the EC then entered into 
negotiations under Article XXIV:6 and Article XXVIII of the General 
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 to compensate the United States for 
the resulting increase in some tariffs on U.S. exports to Austria, 
Finland, and Sweden.
    2. On July 22, 1996, the United States and the EC signed an 
agreement concluding the negotiations on compensation. To recognize the 
membership of Austria, Finland, and Sweden in the EC-15, the tariff-rate 
quota (TRQ) allocations for cheeses from these countries will become 
part of the total TRQ allocations for cheeses from the EC-15, but will 
be reserved for use by these countries through 1997.
    3. Section 404(d)(3) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) (19 
U.S.C. 3601(d)(3)) authorizes the President to allocate the in-quota 
quantity of a tariff-rate quota for any agricultural product among 
supplying countries or customs areas and to modify any allocation as the 
President determines appropriate. Pursuant to section 404(d)(3) of the 
URAA, I have determined that it is appropriate to modify the TRQ 
allocations for cheeses by providing that the TRQ allocations for 
cheeses from Austria, Finland, and Sweden will become part of the total 
TRQ allocations for cheeses from the EC-15, but will be reserved for use 
by these countries through 1997.
    4. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (``Trade Act'') 
(19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) the substance of the relevant 
provisions of that Act, and of other Acts affecting import treatment, 
and actions thereunder, including the removal, modification, 
continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other import 
restriction. The modification of the TRQ allocations for cheeses is such 
an action.
    5. In paragraph (3) of Proclamation 6763 of December 23, 1994, I 
delegated my authority under section 404(d)(3) of the Trade Act to the 
United States Trade Representative (USTR). I have determined that it is 
appropriate to authorize the USTR to exercise my authority under section 
604 of the Trade Act to embody in the HTS the substance of any action 
taken by the USTR under section 404(d)(3) of the URAA.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, 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 section 301 of title 3, United States Code, section 404(d)(3) 
of the URAA, and section 604 of the Trade Act do proclaim that:
    (1) Additional U.S. notes to chapter 4 of the HTS are modified as 
specified in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (2) The USTR is authorized to exercise my authority under section 
604 of the Trade Act to embody in the HTS the substance of any actions 
taken by USTR under section 404(d)(3) of the URAA.
    (3) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders 
that are inconsistent with the actions taken in this proclamation are 
superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.

[[Page 1539]]

    (4) This proclamation is effective on the date of signature of this 
proclamation, and the modifications to the HTS made by the Annex to this 
proclamation shall be effective on the dates that are specified in that 
Annex.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth 
day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., August 28, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on August 27, and was published with the attached annexes in 
the Federal Register on August 29.