[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 118, 108th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

Proclamation 7747 of December 30, 2003


 
To Implement the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

1. On May 6, 2003, the President entered into the United States-
Singapore Free Trade Agreement (USSFTA). The USSFTA was approved by the
Congress in section 101(a) of the United States-Singapore Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act (the ``USSFTA Act'') (Public Law 108-78,
117 Stat. 948) (19 U.S.C. 3805 note).
2. Section 105 of the USSFTA Act authorizes the President to establish
or designate within the Department of Commerce an office that shall be
responsible for providing administrative assistance to panels
established under Chapter 20 of the USSFTA.
3. Section 201 of the USSFTA Act authorizes the President to proclaim
such modifications or continuation of any duty, such continuation of
duty-free or excise treatment, or such additional duties, as the
President determines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out or
apply articles 2.2, 2.5, 2.6, and 2.12 of the USSFTA and the schedule of
reductions with respect to the Republic of Singapore (Singapore) set
forth in Annex 2B of the USSFTA.
4. Section 202 of the USSFTA Act provides certain rules for determining
whether a good is an originating good for the purposes of implementing
tariff treatment under the USSFTA. I have decided that it is necessary
to include these rules of origin, together with particular rules
applicable to certain other goods, in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (HTS).
5. Section 205 of the USSFTA Act authorizes the President to take
certain enforcement actions relating to trade with Singapore in textile
and apparel goods.
6. Subtitle B of title III of the USSFTA Act authorizes the President to
take certain actions in response to a request by an interested party for
relief from imports that constitute a substantial cause of serious
damage, or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing
certain textile or apparel articles.
7. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, establishes the
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) to
supervise the implementation of textile trade agreements.
8. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the ``1974 Act'') (19 U.S.C.
2483), as amended, authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the
substance of relevant provisions of that Act, or other acts affecting
import treatment, and of actions taken thereunder, including the
removal, modification, continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or
other import restriction.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of
America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States of America, including but not limited to
sections 105, 201, 202, 205, and 321-328 of the USSFTA

[[Page 4092]]

118 STAT. 4092

Act, section 301 of title 3, United Code, and section 604 of the 1974
Act, do proclaim that:
(1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff
treatment being accorded under the USSFTA, to set forth rules for
determining whether goods imported into the customs territory of the
United States are eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the
USSFTA, to provide certain other treatment to originating goods for the
purposes of the USSFTA, and to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect
to certain originating goods, the HTS is modified as set forth in Annex
I of Publication 3651 of the United States International Trade
Commission, entitled Modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States Implementing the United States-Singapore Free Trade
Agreement (Publication 3651), which is incorporated by reference into
this proclamation.
(2) In order to implement the initial stage of duty elimination
provided for in the USSFTA and to provide for future staged reductions
in duties for products of Singapore for purposes of the USSFTA, the HTS
is modified as provided in Annex II of Publication 3651, effective on
the dates specified in the relevant sections of such publication and on
any subsequent dates set forth for such duty reductions in that
publication.
(3) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to exercise the
authority of the President under section 105(a) of the USSFTA Act to
establish or designate an office within the Department of Commerce to
carry out the functions set forth in that section.
(4) (a) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraphs (1) and (2) of
this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the relevant dates
indicated in Annex II to Publication 3651.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (4)(a) of this proclamation,
this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2004.
(5) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the
President under section 205 of the USSFTA Act to exclude textile and
apparel goods from the customs territory of the United States; to
determine whether an enterprise's production of, and capability to
produce, textile and apparel goods are consistent with statements by the
enterprise; to find that an enterprise has knowingly or willfully
engaged in circumvention; and to deny preferential tariff treatment to
textile and apparel goods.
(6) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the
President under subtitle B of title III of the USSFTA Act to review
requests and to determine whether to commence consideration of such
requests; to cause to be published in the Federal Register a notice of
commencement of consideration of a request and notice seeking public
comment; to determine whether imports of a Singaporean textile or
apparel article constitute a substantial cause of serious damage, or
actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing an article that
is like, or directly competitive with, the imported article; and to
provide relief from imports of an article that is the subject of such a
determination.

[[Page 4093]]

118 STAT. 4093

(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.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of
December, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
eighth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
PROCLAMATION 7748--DEC. 30, 2003