[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 106 (Friday, May 31, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 27330]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13645]



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Notices
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules 
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings 
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, 
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency 
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents 
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Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 106 / Friday, May 31, 1996 / 
Notices

[[Page 27330]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary


Secretary of Agriculture's Special Cotton Import Quota 
Announcement Number 9

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: A special import quota for upland cotton equal to 42,168,963 
kilograms (92,966,725 pounds) is established in accordance with section 
136(b) of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 
(the 1996 Act) under Presidential Proclamation 6301 of June 7, 1991. 
The quota is referenced as the Secretary of Agriculture's Special 
Cotton Import Quota Announcement Number 9, effective April 29, 1996, 
and is set forth in subheading 9903.52.09, subchapter III, chapter 99 
of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS).

DATES: The quota was established on April 29, 1996, and applies to 
upland cotton purchased not later than July 27, 1996 (90 days from the 
date the quota was established), and entered into the United States not 
later than October 25, 1996 (180 days from the date the quota was 
established).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janise Zygmont, Farm Service Agency, 
United States Department of Agriculture, room 3756-S, Ag Code 0515, PO 
Box 2415, Washington, DC 20013-2415 or call (202) 720-8841.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 1996 Act requires that a special cotton 
import quota be determined and announced immediately if, for any 
consecutive 10-week period, the Friday through Thursday average price 
quotation for the lowest-priced U.S. growth, as quoted for Middling 
1\3/32\ inch cotton, C.I.F. northern Europe (U.S. Northern Europe 
price), adjusted for the value of any cotton user marketing 
certificates issued, exceeds the Northern Europe price by more than 
1.25 cents per pound. This condition was met during the consecutive 10-
week period that ended March 14, 1996. Therefore, a quota referenced as 
the Secretary of Agriculture's Special Cotton Import Quota Announcement 
Number 9, effective April 29, 1996, is hereby established.
    Because there are only twenty subheadings available for designating 
upland cotton special import quotas in subchapter III of chapter 99 of 
the HTS, only twenty such quotas can be in effect at one time. Each 
subheading corresponds to a Secretary of Agriculture's Special Cotton 
Import Quota Announcement specifying that a particular amount of upland 
cotton may be imported during a particular 180-day period. The twenty-
first consecutive quota cannot be established until the earliest of the 
existing twenty quotas ends. Therefore, the special import quota 
described in this notice opened on April 29, 1996--the day after the 
quota 9 in existence at the time of the announcement ended.
    The quota amount, 42,168,963 kilograms (92,966,725 pounds), is 
equal to 1 week's consumption of upland cotton by domestic mills at the 
seasonally-adjusted average rate of the most recent 3 months for which 
data are available--November 1995 through January 1996. The special 
cotton import quota identifies a quantity of imports that is not 
subject to the over-quota tariff rate of a tariff-rate quota. The quota 
is not divided by staple length or by country of origin. The quota does 
not affect existing tariff rates or phytosanitary regulations. The 
quota does not apply to Extra Long Staple cotton.
    Authority: Sec. 136, P.L. 104-127 and U.S. Note 6(a), Subchapter 
III, Chapter 99 of the HTS.

    Signed at Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1996.
Dan Glickman,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-13645 Filed 5-30-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-05-P