Presidential Document2024-14143
To Further Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition From Imports of Certain Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells (Whether or Not Partially or Fully Assembled Into Other Products)
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 26, 2024
Signed
June 21, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2024)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 123 (Wednesday, June 26, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 53333-53338]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14143]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 123 / Wednesday, June 26, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 53333]]
Proclamation 10779 of June 21, 2024
To Further Facilitate Positive Adjustment to
Competition From Imports of Certain Crystalline Silicon
Photovoltaic Cells (Whether or Not Partially or Fully
Assembled Into Other Products)
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. On January 23, 2018, pursuant to section 203 of the
Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ``Trade Act'') (19
U.S.C. 2253), the President issued Proclamation 9693,
imposing a safeguard measure for a period of 4 years
that included both a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on imports
of certain crystalline silicon photovoltaic (CSPV)
cells, not partially or fully assembled into other
products, provided for in subheading 8541.40.60
(currently 8541.42.00) of the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTS), and an increase in
duties (safeguard tariff) on imports of CSPV cells
exceeding the TRQ and all imports of other CSPV
products, including modules provided for in subheading
8541.40.60 (currently 8541.43.00) of the HTS.
Proclamation 9693 exempted imports from certain
designated beneficiary countries under the Generalized
System of Preferences from the application of the
safeguard measure.
2. Clause (4) and Annex I of Proclamation 9693 directed
the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to
establish procedures for interested persons to request
the exclusion of particular products from the safeguard
measure. Pursuant to the procedures that the USTR
enacted, effective June 13, 2019, the USTR excluded
bifacial solar panels that absorb light and generate
electricity on each side of the panel and that consist
of only bifacial solar cells that absorb light and
generate electricity on both sides of the cells
(bifacial modules). Exclusion of Particular Products
From the Solar Products Safeguard Measure, 84 FR 27684
(June 13, 2019).
3. After taking into account the United States
International Trade Commission's (USITC) report on the
results of its monitoring of developments with respect
to the domestic solar industry (USITC, Crystalline
Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Partially or
Fully Assembled Into Other Products: Monitoring
Developments in the Domestic Industry, No. TA-201-075
(Monitoring)) and the USITC's report regarding the
probable economic effect on the domestic CSPV cell and
module manufacturing industry of modifying the
safeguard measure (USITC, Crystalline Silicon
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Partially or Fully
Assembled Into Other Products: Advice on the Probable
Economic Effect of Certain Modifications to the
Safeguard Measure, No. TA-201-075 (Modification)), and
after receiving a petition from a majority of the
representatives of the domestic industry with respect
to each of the following modifications, on October 10,
2020, the President issued Proclamation 10101 under
section 204(b)(1)(B) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2254(b)(1)(B)). In Proclamation 10101, the President
determined that the domestic industry had begun to make
a positive adjustment to import competition, as shown
by the increases in domestic module production
capacity, production, and market share. Proclamation
10101 also:
(a) revoked the exclusion of bifacial modules from
application of the safeguard measure on the basis that
it had impaired and was likely to continue to impair
the effectiveness of the safeguard action; and
[[Page 53334]]
(b) adjusted the safeguard tariff for the fourth
year of the safeguard measure from 15 percent to 18
percent on the basis that the exclusion of bifacial
modules from application of the safeguard tariff had
impaired the remedial effectiveness of the 4-year
action proclaimed in Proclamation 9693, and to achieve
the full remedial effect envisaged in that action.
4. On November 16, 2021, the United States Court of
International Trade (CIT) held in Solar Energy
Industries Association et al. v. United States that the
President acted outside of his statutory authority in
issuing Proclamation 10101, and enjoined the Government
from enforcing that proclamation. However, in November
2023, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for
the Federal Circuit reversed the CIT's decision.
5. After receiving the USITC's December 8, 2021,
determination and report pursuant to section 204(c) of
the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2254(c)), which found that the
safeguard action continues to be necessary to prevent
or remedy the serious injury to the domestic industry
and that there was evidence that the domestic industry
was making a positive adjustment to import competition
(USITC, Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether
or Not Partially or Fully Assembled Into Other
Products, Investigation No. TA-201-75 (Extension)), and
after taking into account the information provided in
the USITC's report and the information received from
the public through the process published in the Federal
Register on September 30, 2021 (86 FR 54279), pursuant
to section 203(e)(1)(B) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2253(e)(1)(B)), I issued Proclamation 10339 on February
4, 2022. In Proclamation 10339, I determined that the
safeguard action on imports of CSPV cells, whether or
not partially or fully assembled into other products,
continued to be necessary to prevent or remedy the
serious injury to the domestic industry, and that there
was evidence that the domestic industry was making a
positive adjustment to import competition. I further
determined to extend the safeguard measure proclaimed
in Proclamation 9693, as modified by Proclamation
10101, in relevant part, as follows:
(a) continuation of the increase in duties on
imports of modules described in paragraph 1 of
Proclamation 10339 for an additional period of 4 years,
with annual reductions in the fifth, sixth, seventh,
and eighth years, as described in Annex I to
Proclamation 10339; and
(b) exclusion of bifacial panels from the extension
of duties proclaimed in paragraph 9 of Proclamation
10339.
6. If an extension of an action taken under section 203
of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2253) exceeds 3 years,
section 204(a)(2) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2254(a)(2)) requires the USITC to issue a report to the
President and the Congress on its monitoring of
developments with respect to the domestic industry,
including the progress and specific efforts made by
workers and firms in the domestic industry to make a
positive adjustment to import competition, no later
than the midpoint of the period of the extension.
7. On February 6, 2024, the USITC issued its second
midterm report pursuant to section 204(a)(2) of the
Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2254(a)(2)) on its monitoring of
developments within the industry producing CSPV
products since the President's imposition of the
safeguard measure (USITC, Crystalline Silicon
Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Partially or Fully
Assembled Into Other Products: Monitoring Developments
in the Domestic Industry, No. TA-201-075 (Second
Monitoring)). In its report, the USITC found that the
safeguard measure has resulted in positive adjustments
from the domestic industry in light of increased actual
and planned module production; various announcements of
planned domestic cell production; and improvements in
several of the domestic industry's financial, trade,
and employment indicators. The USITC's report also
noted a shift in imports from non-bifacial CSPV cells
and panels toward primarily bifacial CSPV cells and
modules from 2020-2022 and, when comparing the first
half of 2023 with the first half of 2022, with bifacial
cells and panels increasingly used in traditionally
non-bifacial applications.
[[Page 53335]]
8. On February 23, 2024, a majority of the
representatives of the domestic industry submitted a
petition under section 204(b) of the Trade Act (19
U.S.C. 2254(b)(1)(B)) to modify the safeguard measure
by revoking the exclusion of bifacial products from
safeguard relief proclaimed in Proclamation 10339, thus
subjecting bifacial modules to the remedy under section
201 of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2251). The petition
explains how the domestic industry has continued to
make a positive adjustment to import competition. It
also explains how the exclusion of bifacial panels has
led to large import volumes of bifacial modules
competing in all sectors of the United States market,
thus negatively impacting the domestic industry's
efforts to increase substantially its market share
notwithstanding the increase in apparent United States
consumption.
9. Section 204(b)(1)(B) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2254(b)(1)(B)) authorizes the President, upon
submission of a petition from a majority of the
representatives of the domestic industry, to reduce,
modify, or terminate an action taken under section 203
of the Trade Act when the President determines that the
domestic industry has made a positive adjustment to
import competition.
10. After taking into account the information provided
in the USITC's second midterm report, and after
receiving a petition from a majority of the
representatives of the domestic industry with respect
to the aforementioned modification, I have determined
that the domestic industry has been making and is
continuing to make a positive adjustment to import
competition, shown by increased actual and planned
module production; various announcements of planned
domestic cell production; and improvements in several
of the domestic industry's financial, trade, and
employment indicators. Furthermore, I have determined
that imports of bifacial panels have surged in recent
years, such that the exclusion of bifacial panels
proclaimed in Proclamation 10339 has impaired the
effectiveness of the action taken in Proclamation 9693,
as extended by Proclamation 10339, and that to achieve
the full remedial effect envisaged for that action, it
is necessary to modify the section 201 action by
revoking the exclusion of bifacial panels and applying
the safeguard tariff to bifacial panels.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by the authority vested
in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United
States, including sections 203, 204, and 604 of the
Trade Act, do proclaim that:
(1) In order to modify the action applicable to
imports of CSPV cells under HTS subheading 8541.42.0010
and other CSPV products, such as modules under HTS
subheading 8541.43.0010, subchapter III of chapter 99
of the HTS is modified as set forth in Annex I to this
proclamation.
(2) The modifications to the HTS made by this
proclamation, including Annex I hereto, shall be
effective with respect to goods entered for
consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight
time 5 days after the date of this proclamation, and
shall continue in effect as provided in Annex I to this
proclamation, unless such actions are earlier expressly
reduced, modified, or terminated.
(3) Bifacial panels that are subject to the
modifications described in clause (1) of this
proclamation shall be exempt from the safeguard tariff,
provided that:
(i) the imported bifacial panels are fulfilling in whole or in part a
contract for sale, purchase, or delivery in the United States that was in
effect and dated as executed prior to May 17, 2024, that provides for
importation to or delivery within the United States within 90 days after
the effective date of this proclamation, and that has not been modified on
or later than May 17, 2024, with regard to importation or delivery date;
(ii) the bifacial panels are entered into the United States within 90 days
after the effective date of this proclamation;
[[Page 53336]]
(iii) the bifacial panels are declared and entered under heading 9903.45.29
of the HTS, and meet the conditions thereof; and
(iv) the importer completes the certification in Annex II to this
proclamation and provides the completed certification as part of the
importer's electronic entry summary to U.S. Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) by uploading it to the Document Imaging System in the Automated
Commercial Environment at the time that classification is declared under
heading 9903.45.29 of the HTS.
(4) Where bifacial panels that are subject to the
modifications described in clause (1) of this
proclamation are entered for consumption, or withdrawn
from warehouse for consumption, on or after the
effective date of this proclamation and do not satisfy
the requirements specified in clause (3) of this
proclamation, such bifacial panels shall be subject to
the safeguard tariff.
(5) CBP shall take such actions as are necessary to
ensure compliance with the requirements in clauses (3)
and (4) of this proclamation. Such actions may include
requiring the provision of any additional information
deemed necessary by CBP, including a copy of the pre-
existing contract described in subsection (i) of clause
(3) of this proclamation, in order to verify such
compliance.
(6) One year from the termination of the safeguard
measure referenced in this proclamation, as modified by
this proclamation, the U.S. note and tariff provisions
established in Annex I to this proclamation shall be
deleted from the HTS.
(7) Any provision of previous proclamations and
Executive Orders that is inconsistent with the actions
taken in this proclamation is superseded to the extent
of such inconsistency.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
eighth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
BILLING CODE 3395-F4-P
[[Page 53337]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD26JN24.000
[[Page 53338]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD26JN24.001
[FR Doc. 2024-14143
Filed 6-25-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7020-02-C
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 26, 2024.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.