Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39 Issue 35 (Monday, September 1, 2003)

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 35 (Monday, September 1, 2003)]
[Pages 1119-1121]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7696--To Extend Duty-Free Treatment for Certain
Agricultural Products of Israel

August 27, 2003

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

1. On April 22, 1985, the United States entered into the Agreement
on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area between the Government of the
United States of America and the Government of Israel (FTA), which the
Congress approved in the United States-Israel Free Trade Area
Implementation Act of 1985 (the ``FTA Act'')(19 U.S.C. 2112 Note).
2. On November 4, 1996, the United States entered into an agreement
with Israel concerning certain aspects of trade in agricultural
products, effective from December 4, 1996, through December 31, 2001
(the ``1996 Agreement''), in order to maintain the general level of
reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to
agricultural trade while acknowledging differing interpretations as to
the meaning of certain

[[Page 1120]]

rights and obligations in the FTA as to such trade.
3. Section 4(b) of the FTA Act provides that, whenever the President
determines that it is necessary to maintain the general level of
reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel
provided for by the FTA, the President may proclaim such withdrawal,
suspension, modification, or continuance of any duty, or such
continuance of existing duty-free or excise treatment, or such
additional duties as the President determines to be required or
appropriate to carry out the FTA.
4. Consistent with section 4(b) of the FTA Act, President Clinton
issued Proclamation 6962 of December 2, 1996, to provide to Israel
through the close of December 31, 2001, access into the United States
customs territory for specified quantities of certain agricultural
products of Israel free of duty or certain fees or other import charges,
consistent with the 1996 Agreement.
5. On December 31, 2001, the United States entered into an agreement
with Israel to extend the 1996 Agreement through December 31, 2002, in
order to allow for additional time to negotiate a successor arrangement
to the 1996 Agreement. Consistent with section 4(b) of the FTA Act, I
issued Proclamation 7554, of May 3, 2002, to provide to Israel through
the close of December 31, 2002, access into the United States customs
territory for specified quantities of certain agricultural products of
Israel free of duty or certain fees or other import charges. Several
rounds of negotiations were held in 2002 but did not result in
conclusion of a successor arrangement to the 1996 Agreement.
6. On December 31, 2002, the 1-year extension of the 1996 Agreement
expired. In order to allow additional time to conclude negotiations, the
United States and Israel each have elected to extend through 2003 the
tariff treatment provided for agricultural products in 2002 under the
1996 Agreement. Israel has already extended through 2003 the tariff
benefits for United States agricultural imports provided in 2002 under
the 1996 Agreement.
7. Consistent with section 4(b) of the FTA Act, I have determined
that it is necessary, in order to maintain the general level of
reciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel
provided for by the FTA, to provide through the close of December 31,
2003, duty-free treatment for specified quantities of certain
agricultural products of Israel.
8. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2483) (the
``Trade Act'') 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 removal, modification, continuance, or
imposition of any rate of duty or other import restriction.
Now, Therefore, I, George W. 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 section 4 of the FTA Act
and section 604 of the Trade Act, do hereby proclaim:
(1) In order to maintain the general level of reciprocal and
mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel provided for by
the FTA, and, in particular, to provide duty-free treatment for
specified quantities of certain agricultural products of Israel,
subchapter VIII of chapter 99 of the HTS is modified as provided in the
Annex to this proclamation.
(2) 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.
(3)(a) The modifications to the HTS made by the Annex to this
proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods that are the
product of Israel and are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption, on or after January 1, 2003, including entries for which
the liquidation of duties has not become final under section 514 of the
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1514).
(b) The provisions of subchapter VIII of chapter 99 of the HTS, as
modified by the Annex to this proclamation, shall continue in effect
through the close of December 31, 2003.

[[Page 1121]]

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh
day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
eighth.
George W. Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., August 28,
2003]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on August
29.