Presidential Document2024-18444
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
August 15, 2024
Signed
August 12, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 158 (Thursday, August 15, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 158 (Thursday, August 15, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66181-66185]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-18444]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 158 / Thursday, August 15, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 66181]]
Proclamation 10790 of August 12, 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. 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
(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.
3. 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.
[[Page 66182]]
However, in November 2023, a panel of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the
CIT's decision.
4. 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 TRQ on imports of solar
cells not partially or fully assembled into other
products imposed by Proclamation 9693, as described in
paragraph 1 of Proclamation 10339 and paragraph 1 of
this proclamation, for an additional period of 4 years,
with unchanging within-quota quantities of 5.0
gigawatts (GW) for each year and annual reductions in
the rates of duty applicable to goods entered in excess
of those quantities of cells in the fifth, sixth,
seventh, and eighth years, as described in Annex I to
Proclamation 10339; and
(b) continuation of the safeguard tariff on imports
of modules imposed by Proclamation 9693, as described
in paragraph 1 of Proclamation 10339 and paragraph 1 of
this proclamation, 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.
5. 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.
6. On February 6, 2024, the USITC issued its 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 extension 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.
7. On September 19, 2023, 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 eliminating the TRQ and providing for tariff-free
treatment of all imports of CSPV cells, or
alternatively to increase the TRQ from 5 GW to 20 GW
annually. The petition explains how the domestic
industry has continued to make a positive adjustment to
import competition. It also explains that expected
domestic
[[Page 66183]]
module production coupled with current lack of
sufficient domestic cell production will require
domestic module producers to rely on imports in the
near term, in excess of the current 5 GW within-quota
TRQ amount.
8. 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.
9. After taking into account the information provided
in the USITC's midterm report, and after receiving a
petition from a majority of the representatives of the
domestic industry requesting expansion or elimination
of the TRQ on imports of certain CSPV cells, 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 expected domestic module production and
associated imports of CSPV cells have increased such
that it is necessary to modify the action taken in
Proclamation 9693, as extended by Proclamation 10339,
by expanding the TRQ to unchanging within-quota
quantities of 12.5 GW.
10. The in-quota quantity in each year of the TRQ
described in paragraph 9 of this proclamation shall be
allocated among all countries except those countries
the products of which are excluded from such TRQ
pursuant to clause (4) of Proclamation 10339 or
paragraph 10 of Proclamation 9693.
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 on August 1, 2024, and shall continue in effect as provided
in Annex I to this proclamation, unless such actions are earlier expressly
reduced, modified, or terminated.
(3) CSPV products that are subject to the modifications described in clause
(1) of this proclamation, and which are entered into the United States
above the prior TRQ limit of 5 GW on or after August 1, 2024, shall be
included within the modified TRQ limit of 12.5 GW and shall not be assessed
safeguard tariffs unless they enter into the United States above the
modified TRQ limit of 12.5 GW.
(4) U.S. Customs and Border Protection shall take such actions as are
necessary to ensure proper application of clauses (1), (2), and (3) of this
proclamation.
(5) 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.
(6) 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.
[[Page 66184]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twelfth day of August, 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-
ninth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3395-F4-P
[[Page 66185]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD15AU24.000
[FR Doc. 2024-18444
Filed 8-14-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 7020-02-C
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on August 15, 2024.
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