Proclamation 2912—Terminating in Part the Proclamation of December 16, 1947, So as to Give Effect to the Withdrawal of Tariff Concessions with Respect to Certain Fur Felt Hats and Hat Bodies

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, 411), the period for the exercise of the authority under the said section 350 having been extended by section 1 of the said act of July 5, 1945 until the expiration of three years from June 12, 1945), on October 30, 1947, I 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 (61 Stat. (Parts 5 and 6) A7, A11, and A2051);

2. Whereas, by Proclamation No. 2761A of December 16, 1947 (61 Stat. 1103), I proclaimed 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 were then found to be required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation on and after January 1, 1948;

3. Whereas item 1526(a) in Part I of Schedule XX annexed to the said General Agreement reads as follows:

4. Whereas Article XIX of the said General Agreement provides as follows:

1. (a) If, as a result of unforeseen developments and of the effect of the obligations incurred by a contracting part under this Agreement, including tariff concessions, any product is being imported into the territory of that contracting party in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause or threaten serious injury to domestic producers in that territory of like or directly competitive products, the contracting party shall be free, in respect of such product, and to the extent and for such time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy such injury, to suspend the obligation in whole or in part or to withdraw or modify the concession.

(b) If any product , which is the subject of a concession with respect to a preference, is being imported into the territory of a contracting party in the circumstances set forth in sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph so as to cause or threaten serious injury to domestic producers of like or directly competitive products in the territory of a contracting party which receives or received such preference, the importing contracting party shall be free, if that other contracting party so requests, to suspend the relevant obligation in whole or in part or to withdraw or modify the concession in respect of the product, to the extent and for such time as may be necessary to prevent or remedy such injury.

2. Before any contracting party shall take action pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, it shall give notice in writing to the CONTRACTING PARTIES as far in advance as may be practicable and shall afford the CONTRACTING PARTIES and those contracting parties having a substantial interest as exporters of the product concerned an opportunity to consult with it in respect of the proposed action. When such notice is given in relation to a concession with respect to a preference, the notice shall name the contracting party which has requested the action. In critical circumstances, where delay would cause damage which it would be difficult to repair, action under paragraph 1 of this Article may be taken provisionally without prior consultation, on the condition that consultation shall be effected immediately after taking such action.

3. (a) If agreement among the interested contracting parties with respect to the action is not reached, the contracting party which proposes to take or continue the action shall, nevertheless, be free to do so, and if such action is taken or continued, the affected contracting parties shall then be free, not later than ninety days after such action is taken, to suspend, upon the expiration of thirty days from the day on which written notice of such suspension is received by the CONTRACTING PARTIES, the application to the trade of the contracting party taking such action, or, in the case envisaged in paragraph 1(b) of this Article, to the trade of the contracting party requesting such action, of such substantially equivalent obligations or concessions under this Agreement the suspension of which the CONTRACTING PARTIES do not disapprove.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-paragraph (a) of this paragraph, where action is taken under paragraph 2 of this Article without prior consultation and causes or threatens serious injury in the territory of a contracting party to the domestic producers of products affected by the action, that contracting party shall, where delay would cause damage difficult to repair, be free to suspend, upon the taking of the action and throughout the period of consultation, such obligations or concessions as may be necessary to prevent or remedy the injury.

5. Whereas, pursuant to the said proclamation of December 16, 1947, the rates of duty which have been applied to products described in the said item 1526(a) in Part I of the said Schedule XX entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption since January 1, 1948, have been the rates of duty specified in the column at the right of the said description of products;

6. Whereas, pursuant to paragraph 13 of Executive Order 10082, dated October 5, 1949 (14 F.R. 6105, 6107), the United States Tariff Commission has made an investigation to determine whether, as a result of unforeseen developments and of the concessions granted in the said trade agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation with respect to hats, caps, bonnets, and hoods, for women's wear, trimmed or untrimmed, including bodies, hoods, plateau, forms, or shapes, for women's hats or bonnets, composed wholly or in chief value of fur felt, described in the said item 1526(a) of Part I of the said Schedule XX, such products are being imported in such relatively increased quantities and under such conditions as to cause or threaten serious injury to the domestic industry producing like or directly competitive products;

7. Whereas in the course of its investigation, after due notice, a public hearing was held by the Tariff Commission at which parties interested were given opportunity to be present, to produce evidence, and to be heard;

8. Whereas the Tariff Commission has made findings of fact and has transmitted to me a report of its findings and has recommended for my consideration in the light of the public interest the withdrawal in whole of the tariff concessions granted in the said General Agreement with respect to hats, caps, bonnets, and hoods, for women's wear, trimmed or untrimmed, including bodies, hoods, plateau, forms, or shapes, for women's hats or bonnets, composed wholly or in chief value of fur felt, and valued at more than $9 and not more than $24 per dozen, described in the said item 1526(a) of Part I of the said Schedule XX;

9. Whereas notice and opportunity to consult have been given to contracting parties to the said General Agreement in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article XIX of the said Agreement, and I have determined, in the light of the public interest, to withdraw the tariff concessions granted in the said General Agreement with respect to the products referred to in the eighth recital of this proclamation, in accordance with the provisions of the said Article XIX of the said General Agreement, effective December 1, 1950;

10. And Whereas the said section 350(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, authorizes the President to terminate in whole or in part any proclamation carrying out a trade agreement entered into under such section;

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 hereby proclaim that the said proclamation of December 16, 1947, is hereby terminated in part to the extent that, on and after December 1, 1950, it shall be applied as though item 1526(a) in Part I of Schedule XX of the said General Agreement were stated as follows:

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 30th day of October in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and seventy-fifth.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

By the President:

DEAN ACHESON,

Secretary of State.