[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 27 (Monday, July 12, 1999)]
[Pages 1308-1310]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7208--To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition From 
Imports of Lamb Meat

July 7, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. On April 5, 1999, the United States International Trade 
Commission (USITC) transmitted to the President a unanimous affirmative 
determination in its investigation under section 202 of the Trade Act of 
1974, as amended (the ``Trade Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2252), with respect to 
imports of fresh, chilled, or frozen lamb meat, provided for in heading 
0204 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS). Under 
section 202 of the Trade Act, the USITC determined that such lamb meat 
is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as 
to be a substantial cause of the threat of serious injury to the 
domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive article. 
Further, the USITC, pursuant to section 311(a) of the North American 
Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the

[[Page 1309]]

``NAFTA Implementation Act'') (19 U.S.C. 3371(a)), made negative 
findings with respect to imports of lamb meat from Canada and Mexico. 
The USITC also transmitted to the President its recommendation made 
pursuant to section 202(e) of the Trade Act with respect to the action 
that would address the threat of serious injury to the domestic industry 
and be most effective in facilitating the efforts of the domestic 
industry to make a positive adjustment to import competition.
    2. Pursuant to section 203 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253), and 
after taking into account the considerations specified in section 
203(a)(2) of the Trade Act, I have determined to implement action of a 
type described in section 203(a)(3). However, pursuant to section 312(a) 
of the NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3372(a)), I have determined 
that imports from Canada and Mexico, considered individually, do not 
account for a substantial share of total imports and do not contribute 
importantly to the threat of serious injury found by the USITC. 
Accordingly, pursuant to section 312(b) of the NAFTA Implementation Act 
(19 U.S.C. 3372(b)), I have excluded lamb meat the product of Canada or 
Mexico from the action I am taking under section 203 of the Trade Act.
    3. Such action shall take the form of a tariff-rate quota on imports 
of fresh, chilled, or frozen lamb meat, provided for in HTS subheadings 
0204.10.00, 0204.22.20, 0204.23.20, 0204.30.00, 0204.42.20, and 
0204.43.20, imposed for a period of 3 years plus 1 day, with annual 
increases in the within-quota quantities in the second and third years, 
as provided for in the annex to this proclamation.
    4. Except for products of Canada, Mexico, Israel, beneficiary 
countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and 
the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), and other developing countries 
that have accounted for a minor share of lamb meat imports, which shall 
all be excluded from this restriction, such tariff-rate quota shall 
apply to imports of lamb meat from all other countries and the in-quota 
quantity in each year shall be allocated among such countries. Pursuant 
to section 203(a)(1)(A) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253(a)(1)(A)), I 
have further determined that these actions will facilitate efforts by 
the domestic industry to make a positive adjustment to import 
competition and provide greater economic and social benefits than costs.
    5. Section 604 of the Trade Act, as amended (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 of America, including but 
not limited to sections 203 and 604 of the Trade Act, and section 301 of 
title 3, United States Code, do proclaim that:
    (1) In order to establish a tariff-rate quota on imports of fresh, 
chilled, or frozen lamb meat classified in HTS subheadings 0204.10.00, 
0204.22.20, 0204.23.20, 0204.30.00, 0204.42.20, and 0204.43.20, 
subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTS is modified as provided in the 
annex to this proclamation.
    (2) Such imported lamb meat that is the product of Canada, Mexico, 
Israel, and of beneficiary countries under the CBERA and the ATPA, and 
of developing countries listed in general note 4(a) to the HTS, shall be 
excluded from the tariff-rate quota established by this proclamation, 
and such imports shall not be counted toward the tariff-rate quota 
limits that trigger the over-quota rates of duty.
    (3) In the event that a quota quantity established by this 
proclamation and allocated to a country or to ``other countries'' is 
significantly underutilized, the United States Trade Representative is 
authorized to reallocate all or part of the unfilled portion of such 
quota quantity to any other country or countries and, upon publication 
of notice in the Federal Register, to modify the HTS provisions created 
by the annex to this proclamation to reflect any such reallocation.

[[Page 1310]]

    (4) 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.
    (5) The modifications to the HTS made by this proclamation, 
including the annex hereto, shall be effective with respect to goods 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 
a.m. e.d.t. on July 22, 1999, and shall continue in effect as provided 
in the annex to this proclamation, unless such actions are earlier 
expressly modified or terminated.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of 
July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:48 a.m., July 8, 
1999]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on July 9.