01-17648. Uruguay Round Agricultural Safeguard Trigger Levels

AGENCY:

Foreign Agricultural Service, USDA.

ACTION:

Notice of product coverage and trigger levels for safeguard measures provided for in the Uruguay Round 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 Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture. It also includes the relevant period applicable for trigger levels on each of those products.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

July 16, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Charles K. Bertsch, Multilateral Trade Negotiations Division, Foreign Agricultural Service, room 5530—South Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250-1022, telephone at [phone], or email [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Article 5 of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture provides that additional import duties may be imposed on imports of products subject to tariffication during 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. 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 27th day of June, 2001.

Mattie R. Sharpless,

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.

Quantity Based Safeguard Trigger

Product	Trigger level	Period
Beef	1,062,131 mt	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Mutton	14,101 mt	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Cream	6,599,822 liters	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Evaporated or Condensed Milk	6,199,769 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Nonfat Dry Milk	4,689,770 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Dried Whole Milk	2,946,410 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Dried Cream	4,485 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Dried Whey/Buttermilk	136,940 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Butter	8,183,104 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Butter Oil and Butter Substitutes	7,823,523 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Dairy Mixtures	3,875,137 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Blue Cheese	3,618,036 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Cheddar Cheese	11,278,847 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
American Type Cheese	10,140,963 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Edam/Gouda Cheese	7,765,924 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Italian-Type Cheese	17,172,739 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Swiss Cheese with Eye Formation	37,920,677 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Gruyere Process Cheese	8,204,076 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Lowfat Cheese	3,205,090 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
NSPF Cheese	54,467,260 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Peanuts	54,876 mt	April 1, 2001 to March 31, 2002.
Peanut Butter/Paste	21,836 mt	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Raw Cane Sugar	1,945,430 mt. 1,645,884 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Refined Sugar and Syrups	27,058 mt. 27,871 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Blended Syrups	0 mt. 0 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Articles Over 65% Sugar	0 mt. 0 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Articles Over 10% Sugar	80,282 mt. 80,886 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Sweetened Cocoa Powder	1,555 mt. 1,196 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Chocolate Crumb	23,579,229 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Lowfat Chocolate Crumb	148 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Infant Formula Containing Oligosaccharides	125,000 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Mixes and Doughs	6,064 mt. 5,366 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Mixed Condiments and Seasonings	232 mt. 243 mt	October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001. October 1, 2001 to September 30, 2002.
Ice Cream	2,908,496 liters	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Animal Feed Containing Milk	703,742 kilograms	January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2001.
Short Staple Cotton	5,340,573 kilograms 5,197,960 kilograms	September 20, 2000 to September 19, 2001. September 20, 2001 to September 19, 2002.
Harsh or Rough Cotton	0 mt. 0 mt	August 1, 2000 to July 31, 2001. August 1, 2001 to July 31, 2002.
Medium Staple Cotton	622,754 kilograms 701,895 kilograms	August 1, 2000 to July 31, 2001. August 1, 2001 to July 31, 2002.
Extra Long Staple Cotton	1,482,280 kilograms 5,481,363 kilograms	August 1, 2000 to July 31, 2001. August 1, 2001 to July 31, 2002.
Cotton Waste	0 kilograms 0 kilograms	September 20, 2000 to September 19, 2001. September 20, 2001 to September 19, 2002.
Cotton, Processed, Not Spun	798 kilograms 748 kilograms	September 11, 2000 to September 10, 2001. September 11, 2001 to September 10, 2002.