Proclamation 5660—Amending the Generalized System of Preferences

1. Pursuant to Title V of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the Trade Act) (19 U.S.C. 2461 et seq.), in Proclamation 5365 of August 30, 1985 (50 FR 36220), I designated specified articles provided for in the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) as eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) when imported from designated beneficiary developing countries. I also designated certain such countries as least-developed beneficiary developing countries, pursuant to section 504(c)(6) of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2464(c)(6)), in order to afford such preferential tariff treatment without regard to the limitations imposed in section 504(c), as amended.

2. Pursuant to section 504(c) of the Trade Act, as amended, those beneficiary countries not designated as least-developed beneficiary developing countries are subject to limitations on the preferential treatment afforded under the GSP. Pursuant to section 504(c)(5) of the Trade Act, as amended, a country that has not been treated as a beneficiary developing country with respect to an eligible article may be redesignated with respect to such article if imports of such article from such country did not exceed the limitations in section 504(c)(1) (after application of paragraph (c)(2)) during the preceding calendar year. Further, pursuant to section 504(d)(1) of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2464(d)(1)), the limitation provided in section 504(c)(1)(B) shall not apply with respect to an eligible article if a like or directly competitive article was not produced in the United States on January 3, 1985.

3. Pursuant to sections 503(a) and 504(a) of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2463(a) and 2464(a)), in order to subdivide and amend the nomenclature of existing items for the purposes of the GSP, I have determined, after taking into account information and advice received under section 503(a), that the TSUS should be modified to adjust the original designation of eligible articles. I have also determined, pursuant to section 504(a) and (c)(1) of the Trade Act, that certain beneficiary countries should no longer receive preferential tariff treatment under the GSP with respect to certain eligible articles. Further, I have determined, pursuant to section 504(c)(5) of the Trade Act, that certain countries should be redesignated as beneficiary developing countries with respect to specified previously designated eligible articles. These countries have been excluded from the benefits of the GSP with respect to such eligible articles pursuant to section 504 (c)(1) of the Trade Act. Last, I have determined that section 504(c)(1)(B) of the Trade Act should not apply with respect to certain eligible articles because no like or directly competitive article was produced in the United States on January 3, 1985.

4. In order to reflect correctly the names of certain previously designated beneficiary developing countries, I have determined, pursuant to section 502(a) of the Trade Act, that general headnote 3(e)(v)(A) to the TSUS should be modified.

5. Section 604 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2483) confers authority upon the President to embody in the TSUS the substance of the relevant provisions of that Act, of other acts affecting import treatment, and of actions taken thereunder.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, including but not limited to Title V and section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, do proclaim that:

(1) In order to provide preferential tariff treatment under the GSP to certain designated eligible articles, and to provide that one or more countries should no longer be treated as beneficiary developing countries with respect to certain eligible articles for purposes of the GSP, the TSUS are modified as provided in Annex I to this Proclamation.

(2) In order to provide preferential tariff treatment under the GSP to certain countries that have been excluded from the benefits of the GSP for certain eligible articles imported from such countries, following my determination that a country not previously receiving such benefits should again be treated as a beneficiary developing country with respect to such article, the Rates of Duty Special for the TSUS items enumerated in Annex II to this Proclamation is modified: (a) by deleting from such column for each such item the symbol "A*" in parentheses, and (b) by inserting in such column the symbol "A" in lieu thereof.

(3) In order to provide that one or more countries should no longer be treated as beneficiary developing countries with respect to an eligible article for purposes of the GSP, the Rates of Duty Special column for the TSUS items enumerated in Annex III to this Proclamation is modified: (a) by deleting from each such item the symbol "A" in parentheses, and (b) by inserting in such column the symbol "A*" in lieu thereof.

(4)(a) General headnote 3(e)(v)(A) to the TSUS, listing the designated beneficiary developing countries for the purposes of the GSP, is modified as provided in section (a) of Annex IV to this Proclamation.

(b) General headnote 3(e)(v)(D) to the TSUS, listing those articles that are eligible for benefits of the GSP except when imported from the beneficiary countries listed opposite the enumerated TSUS items for those articles, is modified as provided in section (b) of Annex IV to this Proclamation.

(5)(a) The eligible articles imported from designated beneficiary developing countries and provided for in TSUS item 632.46 shall not be subject to the limitations of section 504(c)(1)(B) of the Trade Act, as amended.

(b) Presidential Proclamation 5453 of March 31, 1986, is modified by inserting in numerical sequence in Annex IV TSUS item "632.46".

(6) Effective with respect to articles the product of Israel that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the dates specified in Annex V to this Proclamation, the rate of duty set forth in the Rates of Duty Special column followed by the symbol "I" in parentheses for each of the TSUS items enumerated in such Annex shall be stricken and the rate of duty provided in such Annex inserted in lieu thereof.

(7) The amendments made by this Proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles both: (a) imported on or after January 1, 1976, and (b) entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after July 1, 1987.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightyseven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

RONALD REAGAN