[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 126, 112th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 8783--MAR. 6, 2012

Proclamation 8783 of March 6, 2012

To Implement the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

1. On June 30, 2007, the United States entered into the United States-
Korea Free Trade Agreement (the ``Agreement''). The Congress approved
the Agreement in section 101(a) of the United States-Korea Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act (the ``Implementation Act'') (Public Law
112-41, 125 Stat. 428).
2. Section 105(a) of the Implementation 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 22 of the Agreement.
3. Section 201 of the Implementation 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



[[Page 2533]]



apply Articles 2.3, 2.5, and 2.6, and Annex 2-B, Annex 4-B,
and Annex 22-A of the Agreement.
4. Section 201(d) of the Implementation Act authorizes the President to
proclaim the tariff treatment therein for certain motor vehicles of
Korea.
5. Section 202 of the Implementation Act sets forth certain rules for
determining whether a good is an originating good for the purpose of
implementing preferential tariff treatment provided for under the
Agreement. 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).
6. Section 202(o) of the Implementation Act authorizes the President,
upon receiving a request from an interested entity, to determine that a
fabric, yarn, or fiber is or is not available in commercial quantities
in a timely manner in the United States; to establish procedures
governing the submission of a request for any such determination and
ensuring appropriate public participation in any such determination; to
add to the list of the United States as set forth in Appendix 4-B-1 of
the Agreement any fabric, yarn, or fiber determined to be not available
in commercial quantities in a timely manner in the United States; or to
remove from the list in Appendix 4-B-1 of the Agreement any fabric,
yarn, or fiber that the President has previously added to that list.
7. Section 207 of the Implementation Act authorizes the President to
take certain enforcement actions relating to trade with Korea in textile
and apparel goods.
8. Subtitle C of title III of the Implementation Act authorizes the
President to take certain actions in response to a request by an
interested party for relief from serious damage or actual threat thereof
to a domestic industry producing certain textile or apparel articles.
9. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, established the
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA),
consisting of representatives of the Departments of State, the Treasury,
Commerce, and Labor, and the Office of the United States Trade
Representative, with the representative of the Department of Commerce as
Chairman, to supervise the implementation of textile trade agreements.
Consistent with section 301 of title 3, United States Code, when
carrying out functions vested in the President by statute and assigned
by the President to CITA, the officials collectively exercising those
functions are all to be officers required to be appointed by the
President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
10. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ``1974 Act''),
19 U.S.C. 2483, 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, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States of America, including but not limited to
section 604 of the 1974 Act; sections 105(a), 201, 202, 207, and
subtitle C of title III of the Implementation Act; and section 301 of
title 3, United States Code, and having made the determination


[[Page 2534]]



under section 101(b) of the Implementation Act necessary for the exchange of
notes, do hereby proclaim:
(1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff
treatment being accorded under the Agreement, 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
Agreement, to provide certain other treatment to originating goods of
Korea for the purposes of the Agreement, the HTS is modified as set
forth in Annex I of Publication 4308 of the United States International
Trade Commission, entitled ``Modifications to the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States to Implement the United States-Korea Free
Trade Agreement,'' which is incorporated by reference into this
proclamation.
(2) In order to implement the initial stage of duty elimination
provided for in the Agreement and to provide for future staged
reductions in duties for originating goods of Korea for purposes of the
Agreement, the HTS is modified as provided in Annex II of Publication
4308, 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 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 the Annexes of Publication 4308.
(4) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to exercise the
authority of the President under section 105(a) of the Implementation
Act to establish or designate an office within the Department of
Commerce to carry out the functions set forth in that section.
(5) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the
President under section 202(o) of the Implementation Act to determine
that a fabric, yarn, or fiber is or is not available in commercial
quantities in a timely manner in the United States; to establish
procedures governing the request for any such determination and ensuring
appropriate public participation in any such determination; to add any
fabric, yarn, or fiber determined to be not available in commercial
quantities in a timely manner in the United States to the list in
Appendix 4-B-1 of the Agreement; or to remove from the list in Appendix
4-B-1 of the Agreement any fabric, yarn, or fiber that the President has
previously added to that list.
(6) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the
President under section 207 of the Implementation Act to direct the
exclusion of certain textile and apparel goods from the customs
territory of the United States and to direct the denial of preferential
tariff treatment to textile and apparel goods.
(7) The CITA is authorized to exercise the functions of the
President under subtitle C of title III of the Implementation Act to
review requests, and to determine whether to commence consideration of
such requests; after an appropriate determination, 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 Korean textile or apparel article are
causing serious damage, or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry
producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, the
imported article; and



[[Page 2535]]


to provide relief from imports of an article that
is the subject of an affirmative determination as to damage or threat.
(8) The United States Trade Representative (USTR) is authorized to
fulfill the obligations of the President under section 104 of the
Implementation Act to obtain advice from the appropriate advisory
committees and the United States International Trade Commission on the
proposed implementation of an action by Presidential proclamation; to
submit a report on such proposed action to the appropriate congressional
committees; and to consult with those congressional committees regarding
the proposed action.
(9) The USTR is authorized to modify U.S. note 4 to subchapter XX of
chapter 99 of the HTS in a notice published in the Federal Register to
reflect modifications pursuant to paragraph (6) of this proclamation by
the CITA to the list of fabrics, yarns, or fibers in Annex 4-B-1 of the
Agreement.
(10) 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 sixth day of March,
in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
BARACK OBAMA