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Proclamation 2867—Carrying Out the Annecy Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Dated October 10, 1949, and Supplementing the Proclamations of December 16, 1947, and January 1, 1948

December 22, 1949


By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

1. Whereas, pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by section 1 of the act of June 12, 1934, by the joint resolution approved June 7, 1943, and by sections 2 and 3 of the act of July 5, 1945 (ch. 474, 48 Stat. 943, ch. 118, 57 Stat. 125, ch. 269, 59 Stat. 410 and 411), the period for the exercise of the said authority under section 350 having been extended by section 1 of the said act of July 5, 1945 (ch. 269, 59 Stat. 410), until the expiration of three years from June 12, 1945, on October 30, 1947, the President entered into a trade agreement with the Governments of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Kingdom of Belgium, the United States of Brazil, Burma, Canada, Ceylon, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of China, the republic of Cuba, the Czechoslovak Republic, the French Republic, India, Lebanon, the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Norway, Pakistan, Southern Rhodesia, Syria, the Union of South Africa, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which trade agreement consists of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the related Protocol of Provisional Application thereof, together with the Final Act Adopted at the Conclusion of the Second Session of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment, which authenticated the texts of the said general agreement and the said protocol (Treaties and other International Acts Series 1700);

2. Whereas by Proclamation No. 2761A of December 16, 1947 (3 CFR, 1947 Supp., p. 71), the President proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and the other import restrictions of the United States of America and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States of America as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement on and after January 1, 1948, which proclamation has been supplemented by Proclamation No. 2769 of January 30, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 21), Proclamation No. 2782 of April 22, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 34), Proclamation No. 2784 of May 4, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 38), Proclamation No. 2790 of June 11, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 46), (supplemented by Proclamation No. 2809 of September 7, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 75), Proclamation No. 2791 of June 12, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 49), Proclamation No. 2792 of June 25, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 50), Proclamation No. 2798 of July 15, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 55), Proclamation No. 2829 of March 8, 1949 (14 F.R. 49), and Proclamation No. 2865 of November 30, 1949 (14 F.R. 235);

3. Whereas pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350, the period for the exercise of the said authority under such section having been so extended, on October 30, 1947, the President entered into an exclusive trade agreement with the Government of the Republic of Cuba (Treaties and International Acts Series 1703), which exclusive trade agreement includes certain portions of other documents made a part thereof and provides for the customs treatment in respect of ordinary customs duties of products of the Republic of Cuba imported into the United States of America;

4. Whereas by Proclamation No. 2764 of January 1, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 11), the President proclaimed such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America in respect of products of the Republic of Cuba and such continuance of existing customs and excise treatment of products of the Republic of Cuba imported into the United States of America as were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out the said exclusive trade agreement on and after January 1, 1948, which proclamation has been supplemented by the said Proclamations of January 30, 1948, April 22, 1948, May 4, 1948, June 11, 1948, June 25, 1948, July 15, 1948, March 8, 1949, and November 30, 1949.

5. Whereas, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the Untied States of America have found as a fact that certain existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Greece, the Republic of Haiti, the Republic of Italy, the Republic of Liberia, the Republic of Nicaragua, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay are unduly burdening and restricting the foreign trade of the United States of America and that the purpose declared in the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the acts specified in the first recital of this proclamation and by sections 4 and 6 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1949 (Public Law 307, 81st Congress), will be promoted by a trade agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Governments of some or all of the other countries named in this recital;

6. Whereas reasonable public notice of the intention to conduct trade agreement negotiations with the Governments of the countries named in the fifth recital of this proclamation was given, the views presented by persons interested in such negotiations were received and considered, and information and advice with respect to such negotiations was sought and obtained from the United States Tariff Commission, the Departments of State, Defense, Agriculture, and Commerce, and from other sources;

7. Whereas, the period for the exercise of the said authority to enter into foreign trade agreement under section 350 having been extended by section 3 of the Trade Agreements Extension Act of 1949 until the expiration of three years from June 12, 1948, and the trade agreement negotiations referred to in the sixth recital of this proclamation having been successfully carried out, on October 10, 1949, I entered, through my duly empowered plenipotentiary, into a trade agreement providing for the accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade of the Governments of the countries named in the fifth recital of this proclamation, which trade agreement consists of the Annecy Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated October 10, 1949, including the annexes thereto, authentic in the English and French languages as indicated, and a copy of which is annexed to this proclamation;

8. Whereas said protocol of accession has been signed by the Government of the Republic of Haiti under such circumstances that it will enter into force for such Government, and such Government will become a contracting party to the said general agreement, on January 1, 1950;

9. Whereas I determine, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 4 of the said protocol of accession, that the concessions provided for in part I of schedule XX in annex A to the said protocol of accession which are not identified in the following list shall not be applied until they shall have been identified in such list by proclamation:

Item

(paragraph) Rates of duty

58 6 ½% ad val.

412 [second] 16 2/3;% ad val. [first such rate]

739 [first] 1 per lb.

746 3 ½per lb.

747 17 ½% ad. val.

751 10% ad val.

752 [first] 8 ½% ad val.

752 [second] 14% ad val.

802 $1.75 per proof gal.

1923 20% ad val.

1530(e) [second] Both rates

1670 Free, identified only as to logwood

1731 Free, identified only as to lemon-grass oil

1789 Free;

10. Whereas I find that such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles as are hereinafter proclaimed in part I of this proclamation will be required or appropriate, on and after January 1, 1950, to carry out the said trade agreement specified in the seventh recital of this proclamation;

11. Whereas part II of schedule XX of the said general agreement, which was made a part of the said exclusive trade agreement specified in the third recital of this proclamation, is supplemented by part II of the said schedule XX in annex A to the said protocol of accession, and I determine that it is required or appropriate, on and after January 1, 1940, to carry out the said exclusive trade agreement specified in the third recital of this proclamation that part II of the said schedule XX of the general agreement be applied as supplemented by the said part II of schedule XX in annex A to the protocol of accession;

12. Whereas the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation and the said exclusive trade agreement specified in the third recital of this proclamation are to be supplemented by a Third Protocol of Rectifications to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated August 13, 1949, paragraph 3 of which protocol provides that the provisions thereof shall become an integral part of the said general agreement on the day on which the said protocol has been signed by all the governments which are at that time contracting parties, and a copy of which, in the English and French languages, is annexed to this proclamation;

13. Whereas I determine that it is required or appropriate to carry out, on and after the day when the said protocol specified in the twelfth recital of this proclamation has been signed by all the governments then contracting parties, the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation that part I of schedule XX of said general agreement be rectified in the manner provided for in the said protocol;

14. Whereas I determine that it is required or appropriate to carry out, on and after the day when the said protocol specified in the twelfth recital of this proclamation has been signed by all the governments then contracting parties, said exclusive trade agreement specified in the third recital of this proclamation that part II of schedule XX of said general agreement, which was made a part of the said exclusive trade agreement, be rectified in the manner provided for in the said protocol; and

15. Whereas the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation is to be supplemented by a Protocol Modifying Article XXVI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated August 13, 1949, paragraph 5 of which protocol provides that the amendment set forth in paragraph 1 thereof shall, upon the deposit of the instruments of acceptance pursuant to paragraphs 3 and 4 thereof by two-thirds of the governments which are at that time contracting parties, become effective in accordance with the provisions of Article XXX of said general agreement, and a copy of which, in the English and French languages, is annexed to this proclamation;

16. Whereas the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation is also to be supplemented by: (a) a First Protocol of Modifications to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, (b) a Protocol Replacing Schedule I (Australia) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and (c) a Protocol Replacing Schedule I (Australia) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, and (c) a Protocol Replacing Schedule VI (Ceylon) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, each dated August 13, 1949, paragraph 3 of each of which protocols provides that the respective protocol shall enter into force on the day on which it has been signed by all the governments which are at that time contracting parties, and a copy of each of which, in the English and French languages, is annexed to this proclamation;

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, do proclaim as follows:

PART I

To the end that the said trade agreement specified in the seventh recital of this proclamation may be carried out;

(a) Subject to the provisions of subdivision (b) of this part, such modifications of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America and such continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States of America as are specified or provided for in paragraphs 1 to 13 of the said protocol of accession and in part I of, and the general notes in, schedule XX in annex A thereto shall be effective on and after January 1, 1950.

(b) The application of the provisions of subdivision (a) of this part shall be subject to the applicable terms, conditions, and qualifications set forth in paragraphs 1 to 13 of the said protocol of accession, in part I of, and the general notes in, schedule XX in annex A thereto, in parts I, II, and III of the said general agreement, in part I, and the general notes in, schedule XX thereof, and in said protocol of provisional application specified in the first recital of this proclamation, including any applicable amendments and rectifications of the said general agreement which have been proclaimed by the President, and the application of the said provisions of subdivision (a) shall also be subject to the exception that no rate of duty or import tax shall be applied to a particular article by virtue of this proclamation if, when the article is entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption -

(I) the rate represents a concession which is not identified in the list set forth in the ninth recital of this proclamation, or

(II) more favorable customs treatment is prescribed for the article by any of the following then in effect:

(i) a proclamation pursuant to said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, or

(ii) any other proclamation, a statute, or an executive order, which proclamation, statute, or order either provides for an exemption from duty or import tax or became effective subsequent to October 10, 1949.

PART II

To the end that the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation may be carried out:

(a) Effective on and after the day on which the said protocol of rectifications specified in the twelfth recital of this proclamation has been signed by all the governments which are at that time contracting parties, the provisions of annex I, and of part I of schedule XX, of said general agreement shall be applied as rectified by the applicable provisions of the said protocol.

(b) Effective on and after the day on which the amendment set forth in the said protocol modifying Article XXVI has been accepted by the United States of America and by two-thirds of the governments which are at that time contracting parties, the provisions of Article XXVI of said general agreement shall be applied as amended by the said amendment.

PART III

To the end that the said exclusive trade agreement specified in the third recital of this proclamation may be carried out:

(a) Effective on and after January 1, 1950, the provisions of the said part II of schedule XX of the general agreement, which was made a part of the said exclusive trade agreement, shall be applied as supplemented by the said part II of schedule XX in annex A to the said protocol of accession; and

(b) Effective on and after the day on which the said protocol of rectifications specified in the twelfth recital of this proclamation has been signed by all the governments which are at that time contracting parties, the provisions of the said part II of the general agreement, which are made a part of the said exclusive trade agreement, shall be applied as rectified by the applicable provisions of the said protocol.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 22nd day of December, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and forty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-fourth.

Signature of Harry S. Truman

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

DEAN ACHESON,

Secretary of State.

Harry S Truman, Proclamation 2867—Carrying Out the Annecy Protocol of Terms of Accession to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Dated October 10, 1949, and Supplementing the Proclamations of December 16, 1947, and January 1, 1948 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/287334

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