2015-15880. WTO Agricultural Quantity-Based Safeguard Trigger Levels

AGENCY:

Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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-based trigger levels for products which may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. This notice also includes the relevant period applicable for the trigger levels on each of the listed products.

DATES:

June 29, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Safeguard Staff, Import Policies and Export Reporting Division, Office of Trade Programs, Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Stop 1020, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250-1020; by telephone [phone]; or by fax [phone].

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, dated December 23, 1994, 60 FR 1005 (Jan. 4, 1995). The Secretary of Agriculture further delegated this duty, which lies with 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 (2014) and in the Secretary of Agriculture's Notice of Uruguay Round Agricultural Safeguard Trigger Levels, published in the Federal Register at 60 FR 427 (Jan. 4, 1995).

Notice: As provided in Section 405 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, consistent with Article 5 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, the safeguard quantity trigger levels previously notified are superceded by the levels indicated in the Annex to this notice. The definitions of these products were provided in the Notice of Safeguard Action published in the Federal Register, at 60 FR 427 (Jan. 4, 1995).

Issued at Washington, DC, this 4th day of June 2015.

Philip C. Karsting,

Administrator, Foreign Agricultural Service.

ANNEX

Quantity-Based Safeguard Trigger

Product	Trigger level	Period
Beef	276,008 mt	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Mutton	3,233 mt	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Cream	12,129 liters	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Evaporated or Condensed Milk	1,097,885 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Nonfat Dry Milk	524,659 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Dried Whole Milk	3,293,081 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Dried Cream	662 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Dried Whey/Buttermilk	34,560 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Butter	9,414,976 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Butter Oil and Butter Substitutes	5,840,777 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Dairy Mixtures	14,384,611 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Blue Cheese	4,779,080 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Cheddar Cheese	9,768,173 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
American-Type Cheese	14,668 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Edam/Gouda Cheese	7,700,542 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Italian-Type Cheese	18,291,760 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Swiss Cheese with Eye Formation	26,807,720 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Gruyere Process Cheese	3,551,763 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Lowfat Cheese	149,910 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
NSPF Cheese	50,415,571 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Peanuts	20,493 mt	April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2015.
	19,037 mt	April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016.
Peanut Butter/Paste	3,527 mt	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Raw Cane Sugar	599,416 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
	676,944 mt	October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Refined Sugar and Syrups	198,613 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
	177,579 mt	October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Blended Syrups	60 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
	87 mt	October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Articles Over 65% Sugar	269 mt 385 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Articles Over 10% Sugar	15,471 mt 20,158 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Sweetened Cocoa Powder	84 mt 86 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Chocolate Crumb	11,646,383 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Lowfat Chocolate Crumb	478,061 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Infant Formula Containing Oligosaccharides	210,818 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Mixes and Doughs	170 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
	230 mt	October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Mixed Condiments and Seasonings	653 mt	October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.
	961 mt	October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.
Ice Cream	2,552,994 liters	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Animal Feed Containing Milk	53,195 kilograms	January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.
Short Staple Cotton	2,899,397 kilograms	September 20, 2014 to September 19, 2015.
	2,330,949 kilograms	September 20, 2015 to September 19, 2016.
Harsh or Rough Cotton	0 kilograms 0 kilograms	August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2015. August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016.
Medium Staple Cotton	57,587 kilograms 48,783 kilograms	August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2015. August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016.
Extra Long Staple Cotton	860,694 kilograms 1,505,611 kilograms	August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2015. August 1, 2015 to July 31, 2016.
Cotton Waste	443,246 kilograms	September 20, 2014 to September 19, 2015.
	793,048 kilograms	September 20, 2015 to September 19, 2016.
Cotton, Processed, Not Spun	4,035 kilograms 2,058 kilograms	September 20, 2014 to September 19, 2015. September 20, 2015 to September 19, 2016.