Proclamation 4940—Import Fees on Certain Sugars, Sirups and Molasses

1. The Secretary of Agriculture has advised me that he has reason to believe that certain sugars, sirups and molasses derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, classified under items 155.20 and 155.30, of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202), are being, or are practically certain to be, imported into the United States under such conditions and in such quantities as to render or tend to render ineffective, or to materially interfere with, the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar cane and sugar beets. The Secretary of Agriculture has also advised me that he has reason to believe that the import fees imposed by Proclamation 4887 of December 23, 1981, should be modified in order to prevent the importation of the items described above from rendering or tending to render ineffective, or materially interfering with the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar beets and sugar cane.

2. I agree that there is reason for such beliefs by the Secretary of Agriculture. By Proclamation 4887 I requested the United States International Trade Commission to make an immediate investigation with respect to such matters pursuant to section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, as amended (7 U.S.C. 624), and to report its findings and recommendations to me as soon as possible. The United States International Trade Commission is presently conducting such an investigation, and has not yet submitted its report to me. I am therefore requesting that the United States International Trade Commission continue its investigation with respect to such matters and to report its findings and recommendations to me as soon as possible.

3. The Secretary of Agriculture has also determined and reported to me with regard to such sugars, sirups and molasses that a condition exists which requires emergency treatment and that the import fees hereinafter proclaimed should be imposed without awaiting the report and recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission.

4. I find and declare that the imposition of the import fees hereinafter proclaimed, without awaiting the recommendations of the United States International Trade Commission with respect to such action, is necessary in order that the entry, or withdrawal from warehouse for consumption, of certain sugars, sirups and molasses described below by value, use and physical description and classified under TSUS items 155.20 and 155.30 will not render or tend to render ineffective, or materially interfere with, the price support operations being conducted by the Department of Agriculture for sugar cane and sugar beets.

Now Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 22 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933, as amended, and the Statutes of the United States, including Section 301 of Title 3 of the United States Code, do hereby proclaim until otherwise superseded by law:

A. Headnote 4 of part 3 of the Appendix to the TSUS is continued in effect and amended, effective 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) of the day following the: date of the signing of this Proclamation, by changing paragraph (c) to read as follows:

(c)(i) The quarterly adjusted fee provided for in items 956.05 and 957.15 shall be the amount of the fee for item 956.15 plus one cent per pound.

(ii) The quarterly adjusted fee provided for in item 956.15 shall be the amount by which the average of the adjusted daily spot (domestic) price quotations for raw sugar for the 20 consecutive market days immediately preceding the 20th day of the month preceding the calendar quarter during which the fee shall be applicable (as reported by the New York Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange) expressed in United States cents per pound, in bulk, is less than the applicable market stabilization price: Provided, That whenever the average of the daily spot (domestic) price quotations for 10 consecutive market days within any calendar quarter (1) exceeds the market stabilization price by more than one cent, the fee then in effect shall be decreased by one cent per pound, or (2) is less than the market stabilization price by more than one cent, the fee then in effect shall be increased by one cent per pound. The adjusted daily spot (domestic) price quotation for any market day shall be the daily spot (domestic) price quotation for such market day less the amount of the fee for item 956.15 that is in effect on that day.

(iii) The market stabilization price for the remainder of the second, and the third calendar quarters of 1982 shall be 19.8800 cents per pound. The market stabilization price that shall be applicable to each subsequent fiscal year shall be determined and announced by the Secretary of Agriculture (hereafter the "Secretary") in accordance with this headnote no later than 30 days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year for which such market stabilization price shall be applicable. The market stabilization price shall be equal to the sum of: (1) the price support level for the applicable fiscal year, expressed in cents per pound of raw cane sugar; (2) adjusted average transportation costs; (3) interest costs, if applicable; and (4) 0.2 cent. The adjusted average transportation costs shall be the weighted average cost of handling and transporting domestically produced raw cane sugar from Hawaii to Gulf and Atlantic Coast ports, as determined by the Secretary. Interest cost shall be the amount of interest, as determined or estimated by the Secretary, that would be required to be paid by a recipient of a price support loan for raw cane sugar upon repayment of the loan at full maturity. Interest costs shall only be applicable if a price support loan recipient is not required to pay interest upon forfeiture of the loan collateral.

(iv) The Secretary shall determine the amount of the quarterly fees in accordance with this headnote and shall announce such fees not later than the 25th day of the month preceding the calendar quarter during which the fees shall be applicable. The Secretary shall certify the amount of such fees to the Secretary of the Treasury and file notice thereof with the Federal Register prior to the beginning of the calendar quarter during which the fees shall be applicable. The Secretary shall determine and announce any adjustment in the fees made within a calendar quarter in accordance with the proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof, shall certify such adjusted fees to the Secretary of the Treasury, and shall file notice thereof with the Federal Register within 3 market days of the fulfillment of that proviso.

(v) If an adjustment is made in the fee in accordance with the proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof, any subsequent adjustment made within that quarter shall only be made on the basis of the average spot price for any 10 consecutive market day period following the effective date of the immediately preceding fee adjustment. No adjustment shall be made in any fee in accordance with the proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof during the last fifteen market days of a calendar quarter.

(vi) Any adjustment made in a fee during a quarter in accordance with the proviso of paragraph (ii) hereof shall be effective only with respect to sugar entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption after 12:01 a.m. (local time at point of entry) on the day following the filing of notice thereof with the Federal Register: Provided, That such adjustment in the fee shall not apply to sugar exported (as defined in section 152.1 of the Customs Regulations) on a through bill of lading to the United States from the country of origin before such time. The exemption contained in the preceding proviso shall apply regardless of whether the adjustment in the fee is upward or downward.

B. Items 956.05, 956.15 and 957.15 of part 3 of the Appendix to the TSUS are continued in effect and amended to read as follows:

Item Articles Rates of Duty (Section 22 Fees)

Sugars, sirups and molasses derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, except those entered pursuant to a license issued by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with headnote 4(a):

Principally of crystalline structure or in dry amorphous form, provided for in item 155.20 part 10A, schedule 1:.

956.05 Not to be further refined 5.0703 cents per lb. adjusted or improved in quality quarterly in accordance with headnote 4(c) but not in excess of 50% ad val.

956.15 To be further refined or improved 4.0703 cents per lb. adjusted in quality quarterly in accordance with headnote 4(c), but not in excess of 50% ad val.

957.15 Not principally of crystallined 5.0703 cents per lb. of total structure and not in dry amorphous sugars, adjusted quarterly form, containing soluble, nonsugar in accordance with headnote solids (excluding any foreign that may 4(c), but not in excess of 50% have been added or developed in the ad val. product) equal to 6% or less by weight or the total soluble solids, provided for in item 155.30, part 10a, schedule 1.

C. The provisions of this proclamation shall terminate upon the filing of a notice in the Federal Register by the Secretary of Agriculture that the Department of Agriculture is no longer conducting a price support program for sugar beets and sugar cane.

D. The fees established in paragraph B of this proclamation shall be adjusted on a quarterly basis beginning July 1, 1982. Such fees shall be adjusted on an intra-quarterly basis as provided by the proviso of paragraph (c)(ii) of Headnote 4 of part 3 of the Appendix to the TSUS, as added herein, beginning with any 10 consecutive market day period following the day this proclamation is signed.

E. The provisions of Proclamation 4887 of December 23, 1981 are hereby terminated, except with respect to those articles which are exempted from the provisions of this proclamation under paragraph F below.

F. This proclamation shall be effective as of 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) on the day following its signing. However, the provisions of this proclamation shall not apply to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, prior to July 1, 1982, and which had been exported (as defined in section 152.1 of the Customs Regulation) on a through bill of lading to the United States from the country of origin prior to April 23, 1982.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and sixth.

RONALD REAGAN