To Modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, 81155-81156 [X15-11229]

Agencies

• Executive Office of the President

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 249 (Tuesday, December 29, 2015)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 81155-81156]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X15-11229]




                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 249 / Tuesday, December 29, 2015 / 
Presidential Documents

___________________________________________________________________

Title 3--
The President

[[Page 81155]]

                Proclamation 9384 of December 23, 2015

                
To Modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
                United States

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                1. On September 9, 2012, leaders of the 21 Asia-Pacific 
                Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies agreed to reduce 
                applied tariff rates to 5 percent or less by the end of 
                2015 on 54 environmental goods. On November 19, 2015, 
                leaders of the APEC economies reaffirmed that 
                commitment.

                2. Section 103(a) of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade 
                Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 
                4202(a)), authorizes the President, under certain 
                circumstances, to proclaim such modification of any 
                existing duty as the President determines to be 
                required or appropriate to carry out an agreement 
                entered into in accordance with section 103(a). The 
                President may proclaim such modification provided that 
                the modification does not reduce the rate of duty to a 
                rate that is less than 50 percent of the rate of such 
                duty that applied on June 29, 2015.

                3. Section 502 of the Protecting Americans from Tax 
                Hikes Act of 2015 authorizes the President to exercise 
                the authority under section 103(a)(1)(B) of the 
                Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and 
                Accountability Act of 2015 to implement an agreement by 
                members of APEC to reduce any rate of duty on certain 
                environmental goods included in Annex C of the APEC 
                Leaders' Declaration issued on September 9, 2012.

                4. The United States applies duties to imports of 
                certain environmental goods included in Annex C of the 
                APEC Leaders' Declaration issued on September 9, 2012, 
                of 8 percent, 5.6 percent, and 6.7 percent, the same 
                rates that applied on June 29, 2015. On September 9, 
                2012, the United States agreed to cut applied duties on 
                these environmental goods to 5 percent. The United 
                States reaffirmed that commitment on November 19, 2015.

                5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the ``1974 
                Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2483) authorizes the President to 
                embody in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
                States (HTS) the substance of the relevant provisions 
                of that Act, and of other Acts affecting import 
                treatment, and actions thereunder, including removal, 
                modification, continuance, or imposition of any rate of 
                duty or other import restriction.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States of America, including but not limited to 
                section 103(a) of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade 
                Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, section 502 
                of the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, 
                and section 604 of the 1974 Act, do proclaim that:

                    (1) In order to reduce the applied tariff rates of 
                the United States to the level agreed upon by APEC 
                leaders, the HTS is modified as set forth in the Annex 
                to this proclamation.
                    (2) The modifications to the HTS set forth in the 
                Annex to this proclamation shall be effective with 
                respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse 
                for consumption, on or after December 31, 2015.

[[Page 81156]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord 
                two thousand fifteen, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

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