[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 58 (Monday, March 27, 1995)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 15844-15847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: X95-40327]
Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 58 / Monday, March 27, 1995 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 15844]]
Proclamation 6780 of March 23, 1995
To Implement Certain Provisions of Trade
Agreements Resulting From the Uruguay Round of
Multilateral Trade Negotiations, and for Other Purposes
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. On April 15, 1994, I entered into trade agreements
resulting from the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade
negotiations (``the Uruguay Round Agreements''). In
section 101(a) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act
(``the URAA'') (Public Law 103-465; 108 Stat. 4814) (19
U.S.C. 3511(a)), the Congress approved the Uruguay
Round Trade Agreements listed in section 101(d) of that
Act.
2. Pursuant to section 101(b) of the URAA, I decided to
accept the Agreement Establishing the World Trade
Organization (``the WTO Agreement'') on behalf of the
United States, and I determined that the WTO Agreement
entered into force for the United States on January 1,
1995.
3. (a) Sections 1102(a) and (e) of the Omnibus Trade
and Competitiveness Act of 1988, as amended (``the 1988
Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2902(a) and (e)), authorize the
President to proclaim such modification or continuance
of any existing duty, such continuance of existing
duty-free or excise treatment, or such additional
duties, as he determines to be required or appropriate
to carry out any trade agreement entered into under
these sections.
(b) Section 111(a) of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3521(a))
authorizes the President to proclaim such other
modification of any duty, such other staged rate
reduction, or such other additional duties beyond those
authorized by section 1102 of the 1988 Act (19 U.S.C.
2902) as the President determines to be necessary or
appropriate to carry out Schedule XX--United Statesof
America, annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (``Schedule
XX'').
(c) Section 103(a) of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3513(a))
authorizes the President to proclaim such actions as
may be necessary to ensure that any provision or
amendment made by the URAA that takes effect on the
date that any of the Uruguay Round Agreements enters
into force with respect to the United States is
appropriately implemented on such date.
4. Proclamation 6763 of December 23, 1994, implemented
the Uruguay Round Agreements, including Schedule XX,
with respect to the United States; and incorporated in
the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(``the HTS'') tariff modifications necessary and
appropriate to carry out the Uruguay Round Agreements
and certain conforming changes in rules of origin for
the North American Free Trade Agreement (``NAFTA'').
Certain technical errors, including inadvertent
omissions, were made in that proclamation. I have
determined that it is necessary, to reflect accurately
the intended tariff treatment provided for in the
Uruguay Round Agreements and to ensure the continuation
of the agreed NAFTA rules of origin, to modify certain
provisions of the HTS, as set forth in the Annex to
this proclamation.
5. (a) One of the Uruguay Round Agreements approved by
the Congress in sections 101(a) and 101(d) of the URAA
(19 U.S.C. 3511(a) and (d)) is the Agreement on Trade-
Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (``the
TRIPs Agreement'').
(b) Section 104A of title 17, United States Code,
as amended by section 514 of the URAA, provides for
copyright protection in restored works. Section
104A(h), as amended, provides that the date of
restoration of a restored copyright shall be the date
on which the TRIPs Agreement enters into forcewith
respect to the United States, if the source country is
a nation [[Page 15845]] adhering to the Berne
Convention or a World Trade Organization (WTO) member
on such date.
(c) Article 65, paragraph 1, of the TRIPs Agreement
provides that no WTO member shall be obliged to apply
the provisions of this Agreement until one year after
the date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement. The
date of entry into force of the WTO Agreement with
respect to the United States was January 1, 1995.
(d) The statement of administrative action,
approved by the Congress in section 101(a)(2) of the
URAA (19 U.S.C. 3511(a)(2)), provides that, ``in
general, copyright will be restored on the date when
the TRIPs Agreement's obligations take effect for the
United States.''
(e) Accordingly, I have decided that it is
necessary and appropriate, in order to implement the
TRIPs Agreement and to ensure that section 514 of the
URAA is appropriately implemented, to proclaim that the
date on which the obligations of the TRIPs Agreement
will take effect for the United States is January 1,
1996.
6. (a) Section 902(a)(2) of title 17, United States
Code, authorizes the President to extend protection
under chapter 9 of title 17, United States Code, to
mask works of owners who are nationals, domiciliaries,
or sovereign authorities of, and to mask works, which
are first commercially exploited in, a foreign nation
that grants United States mask work owners
substantially the same protection that it grants its
own nationals and domiciliaries, or that grants
protection to such works on substantially the same
basis as does chapter 9 of title 17, United States
Code.
(b) Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and the
Member States of the European Community provide
adequate and effective protection for mask works within
the meaning of 17 U.S.C. 902(a)(2), and have been
subject to interim protection under 17 U.S.C. 914.
Consequently, I find that these countries satisfy the
requirements of 17 U.S.C. 902(a)(2), and are to be
extended full protection under chapter 9 of title 17,
United States Code, effective on July 1, 1995.
(c) In addition, 17 U.S.C. 902(a)(1)(A)(ii)
provides that mask work owners who are nationals,
domiciliaries, or sovereign authorities of a foreign
nation that is a party to a treaty affording protection
to mask works to which the United States is also a
party are eligible for protection under chapter 9 of
title 17, United States Code. The TRIPs Agreement,
which requires all WTO members to provide protection
equivalent to that provided under chapter 9 of title 17
on the basis of national treatment, is such an
agreement. Because the United States is a member of the
WTO and thus of the TRIPs Agreement, and because the
TRIPs Agreement will be effective for the United States
on January 1, 1996, all other WTO members will become
eligible for full protection under chapter 9 of title
17, United States Code, on January 1, 1996.
7. Section 491 of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as
amended (``the 1979 Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2578), requires
the President to designate an agency to be responsible
for informing the public of the sanitary and
phytosanitary standard-setting activities of each
international standard-setting organization. I have
decided to designate the Department of Agriculture as
the agency responsible for providing the public with
this information.
8. (a) The March 24, 1994, Memorandum of Understanding
on the Results of the Uruguay Round Market Access
Negotiations on Agriculture Between the United States
of America and Argentina (``the MOU''), submitted to
the Congress along with the Uruguay Round Agreements,
provides for ``an appropriate certificate of origin''
for imports of peanuts and peanut butter and peanut
paste from Argentina.
(b) Proclamation 6763 proclaimed the Schedule XX
tariff rate quotas for peanuts and peanut butter and
peanut paste. However, that proclamation did not
specify which agency should implement the MOU.
[[Page 15846]]
(c) Section 404 of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3601)
requires the President to take such action as may be
necessary to ensure that imports of agricultural
products do not disrupt the orderly marketing of
commodities in the United States.
(d) Accordingly, I have decided to delegate to the
United States Trade Representative (``the USTR'') my
authority under section 404 of the URAA to implement
the MOU, through such regulations as the USTR, or, at
the direction of the USTR, other appropriate agencies,
may issue.
9. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19
U.S.C. 2483) (``the 1974 Act''), authorizes the
President to embody in the HTS the substance of the
relevant provisions of that Act, of other Acts
affecting import treatment, and actions thereunder,
including the removal, modification, continuance, or
imposition of any rate of duty or other import
restriction.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, acting under the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, including but not limited to section 301
of title 3, United States Code, section 902(a)(1) and
(2) of title 17, United States Code, section 604 of the
1974 Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), section 491 of
the 1979 Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2578), section 1102
of the 1988 Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2902), title I
of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3511-3551), and section 404 of
the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3601), do hereby proclaim that:
(1) To more completely implement the tariff
treatment accorded under the Uruguay Round Agreements,
the HTS is modified as set forth in the Annex to this
proclamation.
(2) The obligations of the TRIPs Agreement shall
enter into force for the United States on January 1,
1996.
(3) Australia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and the
Member States of the European Community shall be
extended full protection under chapter 9 of title 17,
United States Code, effective on July 1, 1995. In
addition, as of January 1, 1996, full protection under
chapter 9 of title 17, United States Code, shall be
extended to all WTO Members.
(4) The Secretary of Agriculture is designated,
under section 491 of the 1979 Act, as amended (19
U.S.C. 2578), as the official responsible for informing
the public of the sanitary and phytosanitary standard-
setting activities of each international standard-
setting organization.
(5) The USTR is authorized to exercise my authority
under section 404 of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3601) to
implement the MOU with Argentina, through such
regulations as the USTR, or, at the direction of the
USTR, other appropriate agencies, may issue.
(6) In order to make conforming changes and
technical corrections to certain HTS provisions,
pursuant to actions taken in Proclamation 6763, the HTS
and Proclamation 6763 are modified as set forth in the
Annex to this proclamation.
(7) All provisions of previous proclamations and
Executive orders that are inconsistent with the actions
taken in this proclamation are superseded to the extent
of such inconsistency.
(8) This proclamation shall be effective upon
publication in the Federal Register.
[[Page 15847]] IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
my hand this twenty-third day of March, in the year of
our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and nineteenth.
(Presidential Sig.)
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