[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 187 (Wednesday, September 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59241-59242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-23612]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

TRADE REPRESENTATIVE


Notice of Effective Date of Modifications to Certain Textile and 
Apparel Rules of Origin of the Dominican Republic-Central America-
United States Free Trade Agreement

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notice of Effective Date of Modifications to Certain Textile 
and Apparel Rules of Origin of the Dominican Republic-Central America-
United States Free Trade Agreement (``CAFTA-DR Agreement'').

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Public Law 112-163 modified the rules of origin for certain 
textile and apparel goods of Parties to the CAFTA-DR Agreement. While 
these modifications were incorporated into

[[Page 59242]]

the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (the ``HTS'') 
through the law, those modifications are not yet in effect. This notice 
announces that the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has 
determined that the date on which the equivalent amendments to the 
rules of origin to the CAFTA-DR have entered into force in all other 
CAFTA-DR Parties is October 13, 2012, and that the modifications to the 
HTS pursuant to section 2 of Public Law 112-163 enter into force on 
that date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, please 
contact Caroyl Miller, Deputy Textile Negotiator, Office of the United 
States Trade Representative, 600 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20508, email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Public Law 109-53, the Dominican Republic-
Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act 
(the ``CAFTA-DR Act'') approved the CAFTA-DR Agreement. Presidential 
Proclamations 7987 of February 28, 2006, 7991 of March 24, 2006, 7996 
of March 31, 2006, 8034 of June 30, 2006, 8111 of March 1, 2007, and 
8331 of December, 23 2008, implemented the CAFTA-DR Agreement with 
respect to the United States and, pursuant to the CAFTA-DR Act, 
incorporated in the HTS the tariff modifications and rules of origin 
necessary or appropriate to carry out the CAFTA-DR Agreement. On 
February 23, 2011, the CAFTA-DR Agreement Free Trade Commission adopted 
a decision to modify certain rules of origin for textile and apparel 
products set forth in Annex 4.1 of the CAFTA-DR.
    Public Law 112-163 enacted these modifications into the HTS, 
however, they have not entered into force. The law provides that these 
modifications apply to goods of a CAFTA-DR Party that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the date that the 
USTR determines is the first date on which the equivalent amendments to 
the rules of origin to the CAFTA-DR have entered into force in all 
other CAFTA-DR Parties. After making this determination, the USTR is to 
publish notice of such determination in the Federal Register. This 
notice announces that the USTR has determined that the date on which 
the equivalent amendments to the rules of origin to the CAFTA-DR have 
entered into force in all other CAFTA-DR Parties is October 13, 2012, 
and that the modifications to the HTS pursuant to section 2 of Public 
Law 112-163 enter into force on that date.

Ron Kirk,
Ambassador, United States Trade Representative.
[FR Doc. 2012-23612 Filed 9-25-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3290-F2-P