CFR

303.3—Determination of the total annual duty-exemption.

(a) Procedure for determination. If, after considering the productive capacity of the territorial watch industry and the economic interests of the territories, the Secretaries determine that the amount of the total annual duty-exemption, or the territorial shares of the total amount, should be changed, they shall publish in the Federal Register a proposed limit on the quantity of watch units which may enter duty-free into the customs territory of the United States and proposed territorial shares thereof and, after considering comments, establish the limit and shares by Federal Register notice. If the Secretaries take no action under this section, they shall make the allocations in accordance with the limit and shares last established by this procedure.

(b) Standards for determination. (1) Notwithstanding paragraph (b)(2) of this section, the limit established for any year may be 7,000,000 units if the limit established for the preceding year was a smaller amount.

(2) Subject to paragraph (c) of this section, the total annual duty-exemption shall not be decreased by more than 10% of the quantity established for the preceding calendar year, or increased, if the resultant total is larger than 7,000,000, by more than 20% of the quantity established for the calendar year immediately preceding.

(3) The Secretaries shall determine the limit after considering the interests of the territories; the domestic or international trade policy objectives of the United States; the need to maintain the competitive nature of the territorial industry; the total contribution of the industry to the economic well-being of the territories; and the territorial industry's utilization of the total duty-exemption established in the preceding year.

(c) Determinations based on consumption. (1) The Secretaries shall notify the International Trade Commission whenever they have reason to believe duty-free watch imports from the territories will exceed 9,000,000 units, or whenever they make a preliminary determination that the total annual duty-exemption should exceed 10,000,000 units.

(2) In addition to the limitations in paragraph (b) of this section, the Secretaries shall not establish a limit exceeding one-ninth of apparent domestic consumption if such consumption, as determined by International Trade Commission, exceeds 90 million units.

Code of Federal Regulations

[49 FR 17740, Apr. 25, 1984, as amended at 50 FR 7170, Feb. 21, 1985; 50 FR 43568, Oct. 28, 1985; 53 FR 52994, Dec. 30, 1988]

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