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Office of the Press Secretary
(Ottawa, Canada)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 8, 1999
TO DELEGATE AUTHORITY FOR THE ADMINISTRATION
OF THE TARIFF-RATE QUOTAS ON SUGAR-CONTAINING PRODUCTS
AND OTHER AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS TO THE UNITED STATES
TRADE REPRESENTATIVE AND THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
On April 15, 1994, the President entered into trade agreements
resulting from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations
("Uruguay Round Agreements"). As part of those agreements, the United
States converted quotas on imports of beef, cotton, dairy products,
peanuts, peanut butter and peanut paste, sugar, and sugar-containing
products (as defined in additional U.S. notes 2 and 3 of the Harmonized
Tariff Schedule of the United States) into tariff-rate quotas. In
section 101(a) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (the "URAA") (Public
Law 103-465; 108 Stat. 4809), Congress approved the Uruguay Round
Agreements listed in section 101(d) of that Act, including the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994.
On December 23, 1994, the President issued Presidential
Proclamation 6763, implementing the Uruguay Round Agreements consistent
with the URAA. Presidential Proclamation 6763 included a delegation of
the President's authority under the statutes cited in the proclamation,
including section 404(a) of the URAA, 19 U.S.C. 3601(a), to the
Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the
United States Trade Representative, as necessary to perform functions
assigned to them to implement the proclamation. Section 404(a) directs
the President to take such action as may be necessary in implementing
the tariff-rate quotas set out in Schedule XX - United States of
America, annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade 1994, to ensure that imports of agricultural
products do not disrupt the orderly marketing of commodities in the
United States.
I have determined that it is necessary to delegate my authority
under section 404(a) to administer the tariff-rate quotas relating to
cotton, dairy products, peanuts, peanut butter and peanut paste, sugar,
and sugar-containing products to the United States Trade Representative
and to delegate to the Secretary of Agriculture authority to issue
licenses governing the importation of such products under the applicable
tariff-rate quotas. The Secretary of Agriculture shall exercise such
licensing authority in consultation with the United States Trade
Representative.
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 section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and section 404(a) of the
URAA, do hereby proclaim:
(1) The United States Trade Representative is authorized to exercise
my authority pursuant to section 404(a) of the URAA to take all action
necessary, including the promulgation of regulations, to administer the
tariff-rate quotas relating respectively, to cotton, dairy products,
peanuts, peanut butter and peanut paste, sugar, and sugar-containing
products, as the latter products are defined in additional U.S. notes 2
and 3 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The
Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with the United States Trade
Representative, is authorized to exercise my authority pursuant to
section 404(a) to issue import licenses governing the importation of
such products within the applicable tariff-rate quotas.
(2) All 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.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
seventh day of October, 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.