[House Document 105-263]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



105th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 105-263


 
               EXTENSION OF WAIVER AUTHORITY FOR VIETNAM

                               __________

                                2MESSAGE

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

 NOTIFICATION OF HIS DETERMINATION THAT A WAIVER OF THE APPLICATION OF 
 SUBSECTIONS 402 (a) AND (b) OF THE TRADE ACT OF 1974 WITH RESPECT TO 
   VIETNAM WILL SUBSTANTIALLY PROMOTE THE OBJECTIVES OF SECTION 402 
(PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION 98-27), PURSUANT TO 19 U.S.C. 2432 (c) AND 
                                  (d).





    June 3, 1998.--Message and accompanying papers referred to the 
         Committee on Ways and Means and ordered to be printed


To the Congress of the United States:
    I hereby transmit the document referred to in subsection 
402(d)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (the ``Act''), as amended, 
with respect to the continuation of a waiver of application of 
subsections (a) and (b) of section 402 of the Act to Vietnam. 
This document constitutes my recommendation to continue in 
effect this waiver for a further 12-month period and includes 
my determination that continuation of the waiver currently in 
effect for Vietnam will substantially promote the objectives of 
section 402 of the Act, and my reasons for such determination.

                                                William J. Clinton.
    The White House, June 3, 1998.


Report to the Congress Concerning the Extension of Waiver Authority for 
                                Vietnam

    Pursuant to subsection 402(d)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 
(hereinafter ``the Act''), as amended, having determined that 
further extension of the waiver authority granted by subsection 
402(c) of the Act for 12 months will substantially promote the 
objectives of section 402, I have today determined that 
continuation of the waiver currently applicable to Vietnam will 
also substantially promote the objectives of section 402 of the 
Act. My determination is attached and incorporated herein.
Freedom of Emigration Determination
    Overall, Vietnam's emigration policy has liberalized 
considerably over the last 10-15 years. Under the Orderly 
Departure Program (ODP), over 480,000 Vietnamese have entered 
the United States.
    There has been too little time since the Jackson-Vanik 
waiver for Vietnam was granted on March 9 for there to have 
been far-reaching changes in Vietnam's migration policies. 
Nonetheless, in general, Vietnam has continued to make 
progress.
    The Government of Vietnam's (GVN) performance on its 
commitments under the Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese 
Returnees (ROVR) program has continued to improve since October 
1997 when it eliminated the requirement for applicants to 
obtain exist permits prior to interview by the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service (INS). To date it has located, 
contacted, screened and authorized for interview 78% (over 
14,500 persons) of the approximately 18,500 persons potentially 
eligible for ROVR. As of April 27, 2,133 persons who qualified 
for ROVR benefits had departed for the United States, 
demonstrating that the GVN is honoring its commitment to permit 
these individuals to leave Vietnam.
    Vietnam also has been providing us with an accounting for 
those persons it had not previously cleared for interview. Of 
the 3,003 persons not cleared for INS interviews in February 
1998, 1,900 are now cleared; additional information or 
clearance is still pending for the remaining 1,103. Of this 
number, the GVN did not have current addresses for about 40%; 
another 18% were reported to have resettled elsewhere or to 
have decided to remain in Vietnam. We expect a significant 
number of these persons will be cleared for interview once we 
provide the GVN with more information. There remain about 2,596 
individuals about whom the GVN has not provided us any 
information; however, we anticipate most of these individuals 
will be cleared for interview as well. At the present rate of 
processing, we expect the INS will complete most of the ROVR 
interviews by November 1998.
    The GVN's cooperation in permitting the timely processing 
of most other current non-refugee immigrant visa cases also has 
continued to be good. In 1997, 15,700 immigrant visas were 
issued to Vietnamese under ODP. The State Department expects to 
issue more than 18,000 immigrant visas in 1998.
    Despite such progress, we continue to be concerned about 
the GVN's failure to issue exit permits for some individuals in 
the non-ROVR ODP caseload. GVN progress on closing out the 
remaining ODP refugee program for re-education camp detainees 
appears to have stalled. While the number of remaining cases in 
this program is small (631 cases/3400 people), nearly 900 of 
those people are Montagnards. In addition, there are about 60 
current immigrant visa cases involving Montagnards of interest 
to us that have not been interviewed due to a lack of exit 
permits.
    We have stepped up our efforts to press the Vietnamese to 
resolve these outstanding cases as part of our ongoing dialogue 
on emigration issues. Ambassador Peterson and State Department 
officials in Washington have met with their Vietnamese 
counterparts to impress upon them the need for immediate 
improvement in these areas. The issue of discriminatory 
treatment of ethnic minorities such as the Montagnards, 
including the denial of access to U.S. departure programs, was 
placed on the agenda of the most recent round of the ongoing 
U.S.-Vietnam bilateral human rights dialogue held May 26. Given 
the substantial progress we have achieved with the GVN in the 
ROVR program, we are hopeful that the GVN will continue to 
cooperate with us in resolving these issues.


                                           The White House,
                                          Washington, June 3, 1998.

Memorandum for the Secretary of State
Subject: Determination Under Subsection 402(d)(1) of the Trade Act of 
        1974, as Amended--Continuation of Waiver Authority
    Pursuant to the authority vested in me under the Trade Act 
of 1974, as amended, Public Law 93-618, 88 Stat. 1978 
(hereinafter the ``Act''), I determine, pursuant to section 
402(d)(1) of the Act, 19 U.S.C. 2432(d)(1), that the further 
extension of the waiver authority granted by section 402 of the 
Act will substantially promote the objectives of section 402 of 
the Act. I further determine that continuation of the waiver 
applicable to Vietnam will substantially promote the objectives 
of section 402 of the Act.
    You are authorized and directed to publish this 
determination in the Federal Register.

                                                William J. Clinton.

                                
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