[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 44 (Monday, November 4, 1996)]
[Pages 2231-2233]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6948--To Modify Provisions on Upland Cotton and for Other 
Purposes

October 29, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. (a) Presidential Proclamation 6301 of June 7, 1991, implemented 
import quotas for upland cotton by adding U.S. note 6 and subheadings 
9903.52.01 through 9903.52.20 to subchapter III of chapter 99 of the 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (``the HTS'').
    (b) U.S. note 6(a) to subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS 
provides that whenever the Secretary of Agriculture (``the Secretary'') 
determines and announces that specified conditions relating to the price 
of upland cotton exist, there shall be in effect, as of the effective 
date of such announcement, a special import quota applicable to upland 
cotton purchased not later than 90 days after the effective date of the 
Secretary's announcement and entered into the United States not later 
than 180 days after such date. U.S. note 6(a) further provides that a 
new 180-day quota period may be established that overlaps any existing 
quota period announced under paragraph (a) of the note, unless a quota 
period has been established under paragraph (b) of the note.
    (c) Subheadings 9903.52.01 through 9903.52.20 cover entries of 
upland cotton under 20 consecutively numbered announcements by the 
Secretary pursuant to U.S. note 6(a). Thus, the 180-day effective period 
of a special upland cotton import quota established under a particular 
announcement may still be in effect when the same announcement number 
may be assigned with respect to a different but overlapping quota 
period.
    (d) To avoid such overlap, and to permit the effective 
administration of these quotas by the U.S. Customs Service, I have 
decided that it is necessary and appropriate to provide six additional 
HTS subheadings corresponding to six additional announcements by the 
Secretary.
    2. (a) Presidential Proclamation 6641 of December 15, 1993, 
implemented the North American Free Trade Agreement (``the NAFTA'') with 
respect to the United States and incorporated in the HTS the tariff 
modifications and rules of origin necessary or appropriate to carry out 
the NAFTA.
    (b) Article 303 of the NAFTA provides for the amount of customs 
duties that may be claimed as drawback on goods originating outside the 
NAFTA region that are traded between the NAFTA Parties. Article 307.2 of 
the NAFTA provides that each Party shall grant temporary duty-free 
admission to specified goods when imported from the territory of another 
Party, regardless of the origin of such goods, for repair or alteration. 
Among the modifications to the HTS set forth in Annex II to Proclamation 
6641 was a new paragraph (c) of U.S. note 1 to subchapter XIII of 
chapter 98 of the HTS, which was intended to give effect to the 
provisions of Articles 303 and 307.2 of the NAFTA insofar as they are 
applicable to articles to be repaired, altered, or processed that are 
admitted temporarily free of duty under bond. Such new paragraph (c) 
does not reflect clearly that the provisions of Article 307.2 of the 
NAFTA apply to goods imported from a NAFTA Party, regardless of their 
origin, for repair or alteration.
    (c) Accordingly, I have decided that it is appropriate to modify 
paragraph (c) of U.S. note 1 to subchapter XIII of chapter 98 of the HTS 
to clarify implementation of the provisions of Article 307.2 of the 
NAFTA.
    (d) Certain provisions set forth in Annexes to Proclamation 6641 
contain technical errors in the instructions for implementing particular 
modifications. To clarify the intent of the modifications previously 
proclaimed, I have decided to correct such technical errors.
    3. (a) Sections 1102(a) and (e) of the Omnibus Trade and 
Competitiveness Act of 1988 (``the 1988 Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2902(a) and 
(e)) authorize the President to enter into trade agreements and to 
proclaim such modification or continuance of any existing duty, such 
continuance of existing duty-free or excise treatment or such additional 
duties, as he determines to be required or appropriate to carry out any 
such trade agreement. In addition, section 111(a) of the Uruguay Round 
Agreements Act (``the URAA'') (19 U.S.C. 3521(a)) authorizes the 
President to

[[Page 2232]]

proclaim such other modifications of any duty, such other staged rate 
reduction, or such additional duties as the President determines to be 
necessary or appropriate to carry out Schedule XX-United States of 
America, annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on 
Tariffs and Trade 1994 (``Schedule XX''). Presidential Proclamation 6763 
of December 23, 1994, implemented with respect to the United States the 
trade agreements resulting from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade 
negotiations, including Schedule XX.
    (b) Certain provisions set forth in Annexes to Proclamation 6763 
contain technical errors in the instructions for implementing particular 
modifications. To clarify the intent of the modifications previously 
proclaimed, I have decided to correct such technical errors.
    4. (a) Presidential Proclamation 6821 of September 12, 1995, 
established a tariff-rate quota on certain tobacco and eliminated 
tariffs on certain other tobacco by adding additional U.S. note 5 and 
various subheadings to chapter 24 of the HTS. Additional U.S. note 5 to 
chapter 24 of the HTS provides that the tariff-rate quota applies to the 
aggregate quantity of tobacco entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for 
consumption, under enumerated HTS subheadings from specified countries 
or areas, except that products of Canada, Israel, or Mexico are not 
permitted or included under such quantitative limitation. I intended 
that tobacco entered with claims of eligibility for the tariff treatment 
under any provision of chapter 98 of the HTS and tobacco entered for 
marketing to the ultimate consumer as hand-rolled cigarettes would not 
be counted toward the in-quota quantity provided for in additional U.S. 
note 5 of the HTS.
    (b) I have decided, in order to clarify the status of such 
importations with respect to the tariff-rate quota, that it is 
appropriate to modify the provisions of additional U.S. note 5 to 
chapter 24 of the HTS to ensure that such goods are properly classified.
    (c) Certain provisions of the HTS were modified in Proclamation 6821 
to correct certain technical errors that were made in Proclamation 6763. 
However, an error was made in the spelling of a chemical in Annex II to 
Proclamation 6821, and I have decided to correct this error.
    5. (a) Presidential Proclamation 6857 of December 11, 1995, 
implemented with respect to the United States modifications in the HTS 
that I determined were in conformity with the obligations of the United 
States under the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity 
Description and Coding System and did not run counter to the national 
economic interest of the United States.
    (b) Such proclamation also modified the rules of origin set out in 
the NAFTA in order to ensure that the tariff and certain other treatment 
accorded under the NAFTA would continue to be given to NAFTA originating 
goods.
    (c) Certain provisions set forth in Annexes to Proclamation 6857 
contain technical errors in the instructions for implementing particular 
modifications. To clarify the intent of the modifications previously 
proclaimed, I have decided to correct such technical errors.
    6. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (``the 1974 
Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes 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 thereunder, including the 
removal, modification, continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or 
other import restriction.
    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 604 of the 1974 Act, sections 1102(a) and (e) and 
1206(a) of the 1988 Act, sections 201 and 202 of the North American Free 
Trade Agreement Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3331 and 3332), sections 
111(a) and 423 of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3521 and 3621), and section 136(b) 
of the Federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 1996 (7 U.S.C. 7236) do 
proclaim that:
    (1) Subheadings 9903.52.21 through 9903.52.26, as set forth in Annex 
I to this proclamation, are hereby inserted in numerical sequence in 
subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS, and shall become effective with 
respect to articles entered, or withdrawn

[[Page 2233]]

from warehouse for consumption, as of the dates and under the terms that 
may be set forth in the Secretary's special quota announcements 
pertaining to such subheadings.
    (2) In order to clarify the intent of modifications previously 
proclaimed in certain Annexes to Proclamations 6641, 6763, 6821, and 
6857, the HTS and the Annexes to such proclamations are modified as 
provided in Annex II to this proclamation.
    (3) The modifications made by the Annexes to this proclamation shall 
be effective on the dates set forth in such Annexes.
    (4) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders 
that are inconsistent with the actions and provisions of this 
proclamation are hereby superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
    (5) This proclamation shall be effective upon publication in the 
Federal Register.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth 
day of October, 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, 11:53 a.m., October 30, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation and the attached annexes were published in the 
Federal Register on October 31.