Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VIII, International Monetary and Trade Policy

311. Telegram From the Embassy in Belgium to the Department of State¹

Brussels, July 1, 1966, 1306Z.

009. Busec. Subj: RTS negotiations.

1. Following is French text of letter which Commission delivered to Mission last night:

2. “Brussels, June 30, 1966 to the Director General.

3. “Representatives of the United States and the European Economic Community have conducted negotiations pursuant to Article XXVIII for the purpose of establishing codified list of concessions No. XX, in accordance with the United States revised tariff. The two delegations call attention, on the one hand, to the fact that their negotiations have not yet ended and, on the other, to the fact that the decisions of the Contracting Parties dated July 20, 1963, June 25, 1964, June 30, 1964, and December 1, 1965,² by virtue of which the customs duties, as provided for in the United States revised tariff, were put into force before the completion of the procedures indicated in Article XXVIII of the General Agreement, will cease to be valid on June 30, 1966.

4. “In view of the desire of the United States and the Community to terminate the negotiations and the desire of the United States Government to put into force, as soon as possible, Codified List No. XX, based on the United States revised tariff, the two delegations have agreed as follows:

5. “(1) It being understood that the negotiations will be continued, the representative of the Community signifies his agreement that, during the period prior to January 1, 1967, the concessions appearing in the annexed list³ shall be substituted for the concessions in present list XX in which the Community or member states have negotiation rights under Article XXVIII.

6. “(2) The United States representative signifies his agreement to the continuation of the negotiations and, subject to the condition of acceptance by the President of the United States, to substitution of the United States concessions indicated in the annex for the concessions in present list XX.

7. “(3) The two delegations agree that the reciprocal rights and obligations of their respective authorities under the General Agreement will be maintained under the same conditions as if the validity of the decisions of the Contracting Parties referred to above had been extended from June 30, 1966 to January 1, 1967. Consequently, the substitution of the United States concessions contained in the annexed list for the concessions in present list No. XX does not prejudge final agreement between the United States and the Community with respect to the items still under discussion.

8. “The two delegations request that a copy of the communication be sent to all the Contracting Parties.

9. “Accept, Mr. Director General, the assurances of my high consideration.”

10. Signed Hijzen. End.⁴

1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, FT 13–2. Unclassified; Priority; Official Translation. Repeated to Geneva. A note at the end of the source text states that the foreign language text was received July 1, lists its distribution, and states that the official translation was given normal distribution on July 5.
2. None of the decisions on these dates has been further identified.
3. The annexed list is not included in the telegram and has not been found.
4. The telegram is unsigned.