Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 51 / Monday, March 17, 1997 / Notices 12675

7 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12).

reject potential benefits to almost all

options participants, including brokers

whose badge holders were willing to

transfer to CBOE, because the

marketplace placed a higher premium

on participation by one group than

another.

Letter to Lewis J. Horowitz, Executive

Vice President of the Exchange, from

Joseph J. O’Neill, President of the New

York Cotton Exchange, dated December

16, 1996, to the effect that the Cotton

Exchange had no interest in acquiring

the Exchange’s options operations.

Letter to Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of

the City of New York, from Mark Green,

Public Advocate of the City of New

York, dated January 8, 1997, regarding

possible loss of jobs in New York City

as a result of the transfer to CBOE.

Letter to the Exchange from Isaac M.

Ovadiah, an OTR lessor, dated January

9, 1997, reflecting the writer’s intent to

arbitrate against the Exchange’s future

plans concerning trading rights and to

apply to the federal courts seeking

injunctive relief. The Exchange knows

of no basis pursuant to which

arbitration would be available to Mr.

Ovadiah and no basis for the granting of

an injunction or similar relief with

respect to any of the proposed

transactions with CBOE. The Exchange

has received no further written

communication from Mr. Ovadiah

concerning the matters referred to

above.

Letter to William Johnston, President

and Chief Operating Officer of the

Exchange, from Cohen, Duffy, McGowan

& Co., LLC, dated January 16, 1997, to

the effect that the Exchange’s process for

the proposed transfer to CBOE was fair

and that the economic benefit to

members choosing to go to CBOE will

surpass anything they could have

achieved elsewhere.

Memorandum to William Johnston,

President and Chief Operating Officer of

the Exchange, from Mark Duffy, an

Exchange options trader, dated January

20, 1997, to the effect that the proposed

CBOE transaction is fair and provides

beneficial opportunities.

Letter to William Johnston, President

and Chief Operating Officer of the

Exchange, from Lawrence Helfant, Inc.,

dated February 4, 1997, indicating that

the firm did not support any possible

legal action against the Exchange by

OTR holders with respect to the

proposed transfer to CBOE and that it

endorsed the proposed transfer.

Letter to William Johnston, President

and Chief Operating Officer of the

Exchange, from BE Partners, dated

February 12, 1997, to the effect that the

CBOE proposal was the best of the

proposals from the major exchanges for

transfer of the options business.

Undated notice entitled ‘‘An Open

Letter To The Members, Directors, and

Chairman of the New York Stock

Exchange’’ from certain NYSE options

participants named therein, as

distributed on the Exchange’s Options

floor, reflecting opposition to the

proposed transaction. The Exchange

notes that is could simply have

terminated its options business and

sought no benefits for any options

participants.

However, as is more fully explained

elsewhere in this notice, the Exchange

has obtained substantial benefits for a

broad cross-section of options

participants. The objections voiced in

this notice do not take into account the

foregoing fact or the limitations and

trade-offs inherent in the negotiation

process necessarily undertaken by the

Exchange in connection with the

proposed transaction. The Exchange

believes that all objections set forth in

the notice from the options participants

have been addressed in the Exchange’s

notice and rule filing and that the

proposed transaction will be beneficial

to the Exchange’s overall membership.

Undated and unsigned notice entitled

‘‘NYSE Options Update’’, as distributed

on the Exchange options floor, alleging

various shortcomings in the proposed

transaction, all of which were

responded to or explained in the body

of the Exchange’s notice. An abbreviated

reiteration of those responses with

respect to all substantive issues in the

notice follows: (i) The assertion that

NYSE members who have not activated

their OTRs will receive no

compensation is not correct; depending

upon rulings from the Internal Revenue

Services with respect to tax treatment of

certain proceeds from the transaction,

members may receive a pro rata

distribution of some or all of such

proceeds, or will benefit indirectly from

contribution of amounts to the NYSE

Foundation; (ii) as to OTR lessors

‘‘losing their income’’ for OTR leases, it

is anticipated that, subject to certain

contingencies, OTR lessors will receive,

for 7 years, payments from the lease

pool to be maintained by CBOE which

will exceed lease payments now

received for OTRs; and (iii) as to current

‘‘operatives’’ of OTRs receiving

‘‘severely limited trading rights on

CBOE’’, in fact, CBOE is creating a new

and separate trading floor with new and

very broad-based trading rights available

in former NYSE options and other

options to transferring NYSE

participants who meet CBOE rules and

requirements.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for

Commission Action

Within thirty-five days of the date of

publication of this notice in the Federal

Register or within such longer period (i)

as the Commission may designate up to

ninety days of such date if it finds such

longer period to be appropriate and

publishes its reasons for so finding or

(ii) as to which the self-regulatory

organization consents, the Commission

will:

(A) by order approve such proposed

rule change or

(B) institute proceedings to determine

whether the proposed rule change

should be disapproved.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

Interested persons are invited to

submit written data, views and

arguments concerning the foregoing.

Persons making written submissions

should file six copies thereof with the

Secretary, Security and Exchange

Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW.,

Washington, DC 20549. Copies of the

submission, all subsequent

amendments, all written statements

with respect to the proposed rule

change that are filed with the

Commission, and all written

communications relating to the

proposed rule change between the

Commission and any person, other than

those that may be withheld from the

public in accordance with the

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be

available for inspection and copying at

the Commission’s Public Reference

Section, 450 Fifth Street, NW.,

Washington, DC 20549. Copies of such

filing will also be available for

inspection and copying at the principal

office of the NYSE. All submissions

should refer to File No. SR–NYSE–97–

05 and should be submitted by April 7,

1997.

For the Commission, by the Division of

Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated

authority.7

Margaret H. McFarland,

Deputy Secretary.

[FR Doc. 97–6560 Filed 3–14–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8010–01–M

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

State of Mississippi Declaration of

Disaster #2936

Union County and the contiguous

Counties of Benton, Lafayette, Lee,

Marshall, Pontotoc, Prentiss, and
12676 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 51 / Monday, March 17, 1997 / Notices

Tippah in the State of Mississippi

constitute a disaster area as a result of

damages caused by heavy rain and

tornadoes which occurred February

28—March 1, 1997. Applications for

loans for physical damage may be filed

until the close of business on May 9,

1997 and for economic injury until the

close of business on December 10, 1997

at the address listed below or other

locally announced locations: U.S. Small

Business Administration, Disaster Area

2 Office, One Baltimore Place, Suite

300, Atlanta, GA 30308.

The interest rates are:

Percent

For physical damage:

Homeowners with credit available elsewhere ........................ 7.625

Homeowners without credit available elsewhere ........................ 3.875

Businesses with credit available

elsewhere ................................ 8.000

Businesses and non-profit organizations without credit available elsewhere ........................ 4.000

Others (including non-profit organizations) with credit available

elsewhere ................................ 7.250

For economic injury:

Businesses and small agricultural

cooperatives without credit

available elsewhere ................. 4.000

The number assigned to this disaster

for physical damage is 293612 and for

economic injury the number is 943000.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program Nos. 59002 and 59008)

Dated: March 10, 1997.

Aida Alvarez,

Administrator.

[R Doc. 97–6565 Filed 3–14–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Allocation of the 200,000 Metric Ton

Increase in the Amount Available

Under the Raw Cane Sugar Tariff-Rate

Quota

AGENCY: Office of the United States

Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Office of the United

States Trade Representative (USTR) is

providing notice of the allocation among

supplying countries and customs areas

for the 200,000 metric ton increase in

the amount available under the current

raw cane sugar tariff-rate quota triggered

by the fact that the stocks to use ratio

for sugar reported in the U.S.

Department of Agriculture’s World

Agricultural Supply and Demand

Estimates on March 11, 1997, was 14

percent.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 17, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Inquiries may be mailed or

delivered to Audrae Erickson, Senior

Economist, Office of Agricultural Affairs

(Room 421), Office of the United States

Trade Representative, 600 17th Street,

NW, Washington, DC 20508.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Audrae Erickson, Office of Agricultural

Affairs, 202–395–6127.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant

to Additional U.S. Note 5 to chapter 17

of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of

the United States (HTS), the United

States maintains a tariff-rate quota for

imports of raw cane sugar. On

September 13, 1996, the Secretary of

Agriculture announced the in-quota

quantity for the tariff-rate quota for raw

cane sugar for the period October 1,

1997–September 30, 1997, and

announced an administrative plan

under which the quantity available

would be increased by 200,000 metric

tons, raw value, if the stocks-to-use ratio

reported in the March 1997 U.S.

Department of Agriculture’s World

Agricultural Supply and Demand

Estimates (WASDE) is less than or equal

to 15.5 percent. On March 11, 1997, the

WASDE reported a stocks to use ratio of

14 percent, thereby triggering a 200,000

metric ton increase in the quantity

available under the tariff-rate quota.

Section 404(d)(3) of the Uruguay Round

Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. 3601(d)(3))

authorizes the President to allocate the

in-quota quantity of a tariff-rate quota

for any agricultural product among

supplying countries or customs areas.

The President delegated this authority

to the United States Trade

Representative under paragraph (3) of

Presidential Proclamation No. 6763 (60

FR 1007). Additional U.S. Note 5(b)(i) to

chapter 17 of the HTS also provides that

the quota amounts established under

that note may be allocated among

supplying countries and areas by the

United States Trade Representative.

Raw Cane Sugar Allocation

Accordingly, USTR is allocating the

200,000 metric ton increase in the

amount available under the raw cane

sugar tariff-rate quota to the following

countries or areas in metric tons, raw

value:

Country

Current FY

1997 allocation

Additional

allocation

New FY

1997 allocation

Argentina .................................................................................................................................................. 69,774 8,731 78,505

Australia .................................................................................................................................................... 134,681 16,853 151,533

Barbados .................................................................................................................................................. 11,359 0 11,359

Belize ........................................................................................................................................................ 17,849 2,234 20,083

Bolivia ....................................................................................................................................................... 12,981 1,624 14,606

Brazil ......................................................................................................................................................... 235,286 29,442 264,727

Colombia .................................................................................................................................................. 38,944 4,873 43,817

Congo ....................................................................................................................................................... 7,258 0 7,258

Costa Rica ................................................................................................................................................ 24,340 3,046 27,386

Cote d’Ivoire ............................................................................................................................................. 7,258 0 7,258

Dominican Republic ................................................................................................................................. 285,588 35,736 321,324

Ecuador .................................................................................................................................................... 17,849 2,234 20,083

El Salvador ............................................................................................................................................... 42,189 5,279 47,468

Fiji ............................................................................................................................................................. 14,604 1,827 16,431

Gabon ....................................................................................................................................................... 7,258 0 7,258

Guatemala ................................................................................................................................................ 77,888 9,746 87,634

Guyana ..................................................................................................................................................... 19,472 2,437 21,908

Haiti .......................................................................................................................................................... 7,258 0 7,258

Honduras .................................................................................................................................................. 16,227 2,030 18,257

India .......................................................................................................................................................... 12,981 1,624 14,606

Jamaica .................................................................................................................................................... 17,849 2,234 20,083

Madagascar .............................................................................................................................................. 7,258 0 7,258