WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.96.123
6May1996
ORGANIZATION
(96-1777)
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 (48)
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):
Almonds (HSChapter 0802)
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Shelled Almonds and
Almonds intheShell; Grade Standards (7pages)
6. Description ofcontent: This proposal would revise theUnited States standards for
grades ofshelled almonds andtheUnited States standards forgrades ofalmonds inthe
shell. TheAlmond Board ofCalifornia 'sGrades Subcommittee (ABCGS) recommends
changes "tobetter reflect therequirements oftoday'salmond industry". TheABCGS
specifically requests changes totheforeign material tolerances; thetolerance forlive
insects inside theshell; removing thelanguage "appearance ofthelot"from all
definitions inthestandards; combining tolerances forchipping andscratching andsplit
andbroken intheUnited States standard sheller rungrade; revising current definitions;
andadding newdefinitions.
7. Objective andrationale: Todevelop andimprove standards ofquality, condition,
quantity, grade, andpackaging inorder tofacilitate commerce byproviding buyers,
sellers, andquality assurance personnel uniform language andcriteria fordescribing
various levels ofquality andcondition asvalued inthemarketplace.
8. Relevant documents: 61FR17580, 22April 1996; 7CFRPart51.Willappear inthe
Federal Register when adopted.
9. Proposed dateofadoption: Tobedetermined
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:
10. Final dateforcomments: 21July1996
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: