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[Federal Register: June 12, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 113)]
[Notices]
[Page 35193-35194]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access 
[wais.access.gpo.gov]


Notices


DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Foreign Agricultural Service 

WTO Agricultural Safeguard Trigger Levels 

AGENCY: Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA. 
ACTION: Notice of product coverage and trigger levels for safeguard measures provided for in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture.


SUMMARY: This notice lists the updated quantity trigger levels for products, which may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. It also includes the relevant period applicable for trigger levels on each of those products. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: June 12, 2003. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles R. Bertsch, Multilateral Trade Negotiations Division, Foreign Agricultural Service, room 5530--South Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250-1022, telephone at (202) 720-6278, or e-mail charles.bertsch@usda.gov

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Article 5 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture provides that additional import duties may be imposed on imports of products subject to tariffication as a result of the Uruguay Round if certain conditions are met. The agreement permits additional duties to be charged if the price of an individual shipment of imported products falls below the average price for similar goods imported during the years 1986-88 by a specified percentage. It also permits additional duties to be imposed if the volume of imports of an article exceeds the average of the most recent 3 years for which data are available by 5, 10, or 25 percent, depending on the article. These additional duties may not be imposed on quantities for which minimum or current access commitments were made during the Uruguay Round negotiations, and only one type of safeguard, price or quantity, may be applied at any given time to an article. 

Section 405 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act requires that the President cause to be published in the Federal Register information regarding the price and quantity safeguards, including the quantity trigger levels, which must be updated annually based upon import levels during the most recent 3 years. The President delegated this duty to the Secretary of Agriculture in Presidential Proclamation No. 6763, QUANTITY BASED SAFEGUARD TRIGGER dated December 23, 1994. The Secretary of Agriculture further delegated the duty to the Administrator of the Foreign Agricultural Service (7 CFR 2.43(a)(2)). The Annex to this notice contains the updated quantity trigger levels. 

Additional information on the products subject to safeguards and the additional duties which may apply can be found in subchapter IV of Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and in the Secretary of Agriculture's Notice of Safeguard Action, published in the Federal Register at 60 FR 427, January 4, 1995. 

Notice: As provided in section 405 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, consistent with Article 5 of the Agreement on Agriculture, the safeguard quantity trigger levels previously notified are superceded by the levels indicated in the Annex to this notice. 

Issued at Washington, DC, this 4 day of June. 
K.J. Roberts, 
Acting Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service, Annex. 
The definitions of these products were provided in the Notice of Safeguard Action published in the Federal Register, at 60 FR 427, January 4, 1995.

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Quantity-Based Safeguard Trigger

Product Trigger level Period
Beef 1,186,106 mt January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Mutton. 17,117 mt January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Cream 5,534,383 liters January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Evaporated or Condensed Milk 7,455,620 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Nonfat Dry Milk 4,466,516 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Dried Whole Milk 3,564,465 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Dried Cream 7,653 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Dried Whey/Buttermilk 69,343 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Butter 13,733,235 kilograms  January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Butter Oil and Butter Substitutes 10,526,925 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Dairy Mixtures 4,895,300 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Blue Cheese 4,218,407 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Cheddar Cheese 15,619,014 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
American-Type Cheese 21,653,472 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Edam/Gouda Cheese 8,310,586 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Italian-Type Cheese 18,789,008 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Swiss Cheese with Eye Formation 37,381,545 kilograms  January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Gruyere Process Cheese 8,092,469 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Lowfat Cheese 3,404,944 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
NSPF Cheese 58,201,906 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Peanuts 64,394 mt April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2003
Peanut Butter/Paste 19,583 mt January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Raw Cane Sugar 1,358,418 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
1,292,926 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Refined Sugar and Syrups 46,395 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
66,348 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Blended Syrups 2 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
0 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Articles Over 65% Sugar 10 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
Articles Over 10% Sugar 80,886 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
80,886 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
0 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Sweetened Cocoa Powder 759 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
843 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Chocolate Crumb 22,524,838 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Lowfat Chocolate Crumb 460,521 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Infant Formula Containing Oligosaccharides 125,000 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Mixes and Doughs 5,364 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
5,358 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Mixed Condiments and Seasonings 523 mt October 1, 2002 to September 30, 2003
554 mt October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004
Ice Cream 3,832, 905 liters January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Animal Feed Containing Milk 5,772 kilograms January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
Short Staple Cotton 5,273,740 kilograms September 20, 2002 to September 19, 2003
328,762 kilograms September 20, 2003 to September 19, 2004
Harsh or Rough Cotton 0 mt August 1, 2002 to July 31, 2003
0 mt August 1, 2003 to July 31, 2004
Medium Staple Cotton 740,504 kilograms August 1, 2002 to July 31, 2003
175,688 kilograms August 1, 2003 to July 31, 2004
Extra Long Staple Cotton 6,562,505 kilograms August 1, 2002 to July 31, 2003
6,218,181 kilograms August 1, 2003 to July 31, 2004
Cotton Waste 0 kilograms September 20, 2002 to September 19, 2003
0 kilograms September 20, 2003 to September 19, 2004
Cotton, Processed, Not Spun 1,790 kilograms September 11, 2002 to September 10, 2003
1,042 kilograms September 11, 2003 to September 10, 2004

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Last modified: Thursday, October 14, 2004 PM