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White House proclamation released on November 14, 1996
regarding establishing Qualifying Industrial Zones:
TO PROVIDE DUTY-FREE TREATMENT TO
PRODUCTS
OF THE WEST BANK AND THE GAZA STRIP
AND QUALIFYING INDUSTRIAL ZONES
6955
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
1. Section 9(a) of the United States-Israel Free
Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985, as
amended (the "Act") (19 U.S.C. 2112
note), authorizes the President to proclaim elimination
or modification of any existing duty under certain conditions
as the President determines is necessary to exempt any
article of the West Bank or Gaza Strip or a qualifying industrial
zone from duty.
2. Section 9(c) of the Act authorizes the President
to proclaim that articles of Israel may
be treated as though they were articles directly
shipped from Israel for the purposes of the
U.S.-Israel Free Trade Agreement (the "Agreement")
even if shipped to the United States from the
West Bank, the Gaza Strip, or a qualifying industrial
zone, if the articles otherwise meet the requirements
of the Agreement.
3. Section 9(d) of the Act authorizes the President
to proclaim that the cost or value of materials
produced in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, or
a qualifying industrial zone may be included
in the cost or value of materials produced in Israelunder
section 1(c)(i) of Annex 3 of the Agreement,
and the direct costs of processing operations
performed in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, or
a qualifying industrial zone may be included
in the direct costs of processing operations performed in
Israel under section 1(c)(ii) of Annex 3 of the Agreement.
4. Section 9(e) of the Act authorizes the President
to specify areas that constitute qualifying
industrial zones for purposes of the Act.
5. Pursuant to section 9(a) of the Act, I have determined that
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States (HTS) should be modified to provide duty-free
entry to qualifying articles that are the product
of the West Bank or Gaza Strip or a qualifying
industrial zone and are entered in accordance with the
provisions of section 9 of the Act.
6. I have decided that articles of Israel may be
treated as though they were articles directly
shipped from Israel for the purposes of the Agreement
even if shipped to the United States from
the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, or a qualifying industrial
zone, if the articles otherwise meet the requirements
of the Agreement.
7. I have decided that the cost or value of materials
produced in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, or
a qualifying industrial zone may be included
in the cost or value of materials produced in
Israel under section 1(c)(i) of Annex 3 of the
Agreement, and the direct costs of processing
operations performed in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip,
or a qualifying industrial zone may be included
in the direct costs of processing operations
performed in Israel under section 1(c)(ii) of
Annex 3 of the Agreement.
8. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C.
2483) authorizes the President to embody
in the HTS the substance of the provisions of
that Act, and of other acts affecting import treatment,
and actions thereunder.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President
of the United States of America, acting
under the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and the laws of the United States, including
but not limited to section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
section 9 of the Act (19 U.S.C. 2112 note), and section
604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2483),
do proclaim that:
(1) In order to provide the tariff treatment being accorded
under the Act, the HTS is modified as set forth
in the Annex to this proclamation.
(2) I delegate to the United States Trade Representative the
powers granted to me in section 9(e) of the Act
to specify through notice in the Federal Register
areas constituting qualifying industrial
zones.
(3) The modifications to the HTS made by the Annex
shall be effective with respect to goods
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption,
on and after the third day after the date
of publication of this proclamation in the Federal Register.
(4) All provisions of previous proclamations and
Executive orders that are inconsistent with the
actions taken in this proclamation are superseded
to the extent of such in consistency.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand
this thirteenth day of November, in the year
of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six,
and of the Independence of the United States
of America the two hundred and twenty-first.
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