WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.686
17October 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-4515)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: UNITED STATES
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Department ofAgriculture (21)
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Tomatoes
(HSChapter 0702)
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Tomatoes Grown in
Florida andImported Tomatoes; Proposed Rule toChange Minimum SizeandSize
Designation Requirements (5pages inEnglish)
6. Description ofcontent: This proposal invites comments onincreasing theminimum
diameter sizerequirement forFlorida andimported tomatoes. Therequirements would
apply during theperiod 10October through to15June, inclusive, each year. For
Florida tomatoes alone, theproposal would change thesizedesignations from Medium,
Large, and Extra Large tonumeric designations of6X7,6X6,and5X6,
respectively. Thediameter sizeranges alsowould beincreased slightly forthe
designated sizes. Theapplication ofthesizerequirement increase toimported tomatoes
isrequired under section 8eoftheAgricultural Marketing Agreement Actof1937.
7. Objective andrationale: Theproposal isintended toprovide handlers more marketing
flexibility, andprovide consumers withslightly larger, more mature imported tomatoes.
8. Relevant documents: 62FR52047, 6October 1997; 7CFR Parts 966and980. Will
appear intheFederal Register when adopted.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: Tobedetermined
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:
10. Final dateforcomments: 16October 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [x]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: