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TO IMPLEMENT THE UNITED STATES-ISRAEL AGREEMENT ON
TRADE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
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 ("the FTA Agreement"), approved by the Congress in
the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of
1985 ("the FTA Act") (19 U.S.C. 2112 note).
The United States and Israel acknowledge that they have
differing interpretations as to the meaning of certain rights
and obligations in the FTA Agreement, in particular with respect
to market access for certain United States agricultural
products. In order to maintain the general level of reciprocal
and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to
agricultural trade with Israel, on November 4, 1996, the
Government of the United States entered into an agreement with
the Government of Israel concerning certain aspects of trade in
agricultural products, effective December 4, 1996, through
December 31, 2001 ("the 1996 Agreement").
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 Agreement, 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 Agreement.
Pursuant to 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, to provide 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.
Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2483)("the 1974 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 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 4 of the FTA Act and
section 604 of the 1974 Act, do hereby proclaim:
(1) In order to implement aspects of the 1996 Agreement
with the Government of Israel concerning certain aspects of
trade in agricultural products, 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) The modifications to the HTS made by the Annex to this
proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the
dates set forth in such Annex, and the tariff treatment set
forth therein shall be effective as provided in such Annex
through December 31, 2001.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
second day of December, 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.