Proclamation 5363

by Ronald Reagan

By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

1. On June 20, 1985, I determined pursuant to section 301(a) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the Act) (19 U.S.C. 2411(a)), that the preferential tariffs granted by the European Economic Community (EEC) on imports of lemons and oranges from certain Mediterranean countries deny benefits to the United States arising under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (61 Stat. (pts. 5 and 6)), are unreasonable and discriminatory, and constitute a burden or restriction on U.S. commerce. I further determined, pursuant to section 301 (a) and (b) of the Act, that the appropriate course of action in response to such practices is to withdraw concessions with respect to certain imports from the EEC and to increase the U.S. import duties on the pasta articles provided for in items 182.35 and 182.36 of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) that are the product of any member country of the EEC. Accordingly, in Proclamation 5354 of June 21, 1985 (50 F.R. 26143), the increased duties with respect to such pasta articles from the EEC were proclaimed to be effective on or after the date that was 15 days after the date on which that proclamation was signed.

2. In light of discussions currently being conducted between the United States and the EEC, I have decided that it is appropriate to delay the effective date of the increased rates of duty with respect to such pasta articles in order to encourage a mutually acceptable solution to the situation.

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 sections 301 (a) and (b) and section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, do proclaim that:

1. Proclamation 5354 of June 21, 1985, is superseded to the extent inconsistent with this proclamation.

2. The increased duties imposed by Proclamation 5354 are suspended with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after July 6, 1985, and before November 1, 1985. Any articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the effective date of Proclamation 5354 and before November 1, 1985, shall be subject to duty and the entries thereof liquidated or reliquidated as if the increased duties imposed by the proclamation were not in effect.

3. The United States Trade Representative is hereby authorized to suspend, modify, or terminate the increase in U.S. import duties on pasta articles, which was imposed by Proclamation 5354, upon the publication in the Federal Register of his determination that such suspension, modification, or termination is justified by actions taken by the EEC toward a mutually acceptable resolution of this dispute.

4. This proclamation shall be effective on and after the date of its signing.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and tenth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 2:21 p.m., August 19, 1985]