Proclamation 2929—Carrying Out the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and for Other Purposes

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), 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 Luxembourg, 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 National 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, which proclamation has been supplemented by the proclamations referred to in the second recital of proclamation No. 2867 of December 22, 1949 (3 CFR, 1949 Supp., p. 55), and by the said proclamation of December 22, 1949, Proclamation No. 2874 of March 1, 1950, Proclamation No. 2884 of April 27, 1950, Proclamation No. 2888 of May 13, 1950, Proclamation No. 2901 of September 6, 1950, Proclamation No. 2908 of October 12, 1950, and Proclamation No. 2912 of October 30, 1950 (3 CFR 1950 Supp., pp. 21, 28, 32, 51, 63, and 68);

3. Whereas, I, HARRY S. TRUMAN, President of the United States of America, have found as a fact that certain existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America, the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Dominican Republic, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Indonesia, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Korea, the Gran Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, Peru, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Republic of Turkey are unduly burdening and restricting the foreign trade of the United States of America and that the purposes 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 (63 Stat. 698), 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;

4. Whereas reasonable public notice of the intention to conduct trade-agreement negotiations with the governments of the countries other than the United States of America named in the third 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:

5. Whereas (pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the acts specified in the first and third recitals of this proclamation, the period for the exercise of the authority to enter into trade agreements under the said 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), the trade-agreement negotiations with the countries named in the third recital of this proclamation having been successfully carried out, on April 21, 1951, I entered, through my duly empowered plenipotentiary, into a trade agreement providing for the accession to the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation of the Governments of the republic of Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Peru, and the Republic of Turkey, and for the application of the relevant provisions of the said General Agreement to additional schedules of concessions relating to countries already contracting parties thereto, including the countries named in the third recital of this proclamation other than the United States of America and other than those countries previously named in this recital, which trade agreement consists of the Torquay Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated April 21, 1951, including the Annexes thereto, authentic in the English and French languages as indicated therein, a copy of this is annexed to this proclamation;

6. Whereas, in view of the provisions of section 508 of the Philippine Trade Act of 1946 (ch. 244, 60 Stat. 158), no trade-agreement negotiations were entered into by the Government of the United States of America with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Article XXXV of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation, as amended by the Protocol Modifying Certain Provisions of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, dated March 24, 1948 (Treaties and Other International Acts Series 1761-1765, p. 49), has been invoked to prevent the General Agreement from applying between the United States of America and the Republic of the Philippines;

7. Whereas, the said Torquay Protocol specified in the fifth recital of this proclamation having been signed on behalf of the Government of the United States of America on April 21, 1951, pursuant to paragraph 3 thereof, Schedule XX contained in Annex A thereto will become a schedule to the General Agreement relating to the United States of America on June 6, 1951;

8. Whereas, under paragraph 4 of the said Torquay Protocol specified in the fifth recital of this proclamation, a government which has signed the said Torquay Protocol may withhold in whole or in part any concession provided for in the schedule annexed thereto which was initially negotiated with a government which has not signed the said Torquay Protocol;

9. Whereas I find that each modification of existing duties and other import restrictions of the United States of America and each continuance of existing customs or excise treatment of articles imported into the United States of America which is hereinafter proclaimed in Part I of this proclamation will be required or appropriate to carry out the said trade agreement specified in the said fifth recital of this proclamation on and after such date as may be notified by the president to the Secretary of the Treasury, and published in the Federal Register as the date on and after which the President considers such modification or undertaking to continue treatment should not be withheld pursuant to the said paragraph 4 of the Torquay Protocol referred to in the eight recital of this proclamation;

10. Whereas item 781 [part] (Geneva), item 1205 [first] (Geneva), and items 1532(a) [part] (Geneva) and 1532(a) in Part I of Schedule XX contained in Annex A to the said Torquay Protocol specified in the fifth recital of this proclamation provide for the withdrawal in part of each of items 781, 1205 [first], and 1532(a), respectively, in Part I of Schedule XX (original) to the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation;

11. Whereas (pursuant to the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and the statutes, including the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the acts specified in the first recital of this proclamation, 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 an exclusive trade agreement with the Government of the Republic of Cuba (61 Stat. (pt. 4) 3699), which exclusive trade agreement includes certain portions of other documents made a part thereof and provides for the treatment in respect of ordinary customs duties of products of the Republic of Cuba imported into the United States of America;

12. Whereas, by Proclamation No. 2764 of January 1, 1948 (3 CFR, 1948 Supp., p. 11), I 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 exclusive trade agreement specified in the eleventh recital of this proclamation on and after January 1, 1948, which proclamation has been supplemented by the proclamations referred to in the fourth recital of the said proclamation of December 22, 1949, specified in the second recital of this proclamation, and by the said proclamations of December 22, 1949, March 1, 1950, April 27, 1950, May 13, 1950, September 6, 1950, and October 12, 1950, specified in the second recital of this proclamation;

13. Whereas I determine that, in view of the finding set forth in the ninth recital of this proclamation, each of the following amendments, or an appropriate part of such an amendment, of the list set forth in the ninth recital of the said proclamation of January 1, 1948, specified in the twelfth recital of this proclamation, as amended and rectified, will be required or appropriate to carry out the said exclusive trade agreement specified in the eleventh recital of this proclamation on and after the date notified by the president to the Secretary of the Treasury in accordance with part I(b)(I) of this proclamation with respect to the application of the concession, or of the corresponding part of a concession, in Part I of Schedule XX contained in Annex A to the said Torquay Protocol specified in the fifth recital of this proclamation which is identified in the column at the left of the respective amendment:

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 by the acts specified in the first and third recitals of this Proclamation, do proclaim as follows:

PART I

To the end that the said trade agreement specified in the fifth 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 12, inclusive, of the said Torquay Protocol specified in the fifty recital of this proclamation and in Schedule XX contained in Annex A thereto, except the items therein which are identified in the tenth recital of this proclamation, shall be effective on and after June 6, 1951.

(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 12, inclusive, of the said Torquay Protocol, in Schedule XX contained in Annex A thereto, in Parts I, II, and III of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this Proclamation, in Part I of, and the general notes in, Schedule XX (original) thereof, sand in the said Protocol of Provisional Application specified in the first recital of this proclamation, including any applicable amendments and rectifications of the said General Agreement; 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 date is prior to the date which may be notified by the President to the Secretary of the Treasury and published in the Federal Register as the date on and after which the concession represented by such rate should not be withheld; or

(II) more favorable customs treatment is prescribed for the article by any of the following then in effect: (i) a proclamation pursuant to the said section 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, but the application of such more favorable treatment shall be subject to the qualifications set forth in paragraph 3(d) of the said Torquay Protocol and in the second paragraph of the general notes in Schedule XX contained in Annex A thereto; 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 April 21, 1951.

PART II

To the end that the said exclusive trade agreement specified in the eleventh recital of this proclamation may be carried out, the list set forth in the ninth recital of the said proclamation of January 1, 1948, as amended and rectified, shall be further amended as specified in the thirteenth recital of this proclamation.

PART III

The said proclamation of December 16, 1947, specified in the second recital of this proclamation, as amended and rectified, and the said proclamations supplemental thereto referred to in the second recital of this proclamation are hereby terminated to the extent that each of items 781, 1205 [first], and 1532(a) in Part I of Schedule XX (original) of the said General Agreement specified in the first recital of this proclamation, effective on and after July 6, 1951, shall be applied with the modifications provided for in item 781 [part] (Geneva), item 1205 [first] (Geneva), and items 1532(a) [part] (Geneva) and 1532(a), respectively, in Part I of Schedule XX contained in Annex A to the said Torquay Protocol specified in the fifth recital of this proclamation.

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 second day of June in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and fifty-one, 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.