[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 14 (Monday, April 7, 1997)]
[Pages 442-443]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6982--To Implement an Agreement To Eliminate Tariffs on 
Certain Pharmaceuticals and Chemical Intermediates

April 1, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. On December 13, 1996, members of the World Trade Organization 
(WTO), including the United States and 16 other major trading countries, 
announced in the WTO Singapore Ministerial Declaration an agreement to 
eliminate tariffs on certain pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates 
that were the subject of reciprocal duty elimination negotiations during 
the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (``Uruguay 
Round''). In addition, it was agreed that the agreement on 
pharmaceutical products reached at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round 
and consequently Schedule XX--United States of America, annexed to the 
Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994) 
(``Schedule XX'') erroneously included 25 products.
    2. (a) Section 111(b) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) (19 
U.S.C. 3521(b)) authorizes the President to proclaim the modification of 
any duty or staged rate reduction of any duty set forth in Schedule XX 
for products that were the subject of reciprocal duty elimination 
negotiations during the Uruguay Round if the United States agrees to 
such action in a multilateral negotiation under the auspices of the WTO 
and after compliance with the consultation and layover requirements of 
section 115 of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3524). Section 111(b) also authorizes 
the President to proclaim such modifications as are necessary to correct 
technical errors in Schedule XX or to make other rectifications to the 
Schedule.
    (b) Section 111(a) of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3521(a)) authorizes the 
President to proclaim such additional duties as the President determines 
to be necessary or appropriate to carry out Schedule XX.
    3. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (1974 Act), as amended (19 
U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) the substance of the relevant 
provisions of that Act, and 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.
    4. (a) Pursuant to section 111(b) of the URAA, I have determined 
that modifications to Schedule XX are necessary and that Schedule XX 
should be modified accordingly. In addition, I have determined to modify 
the HTS to implement the multilateral agreement on pharmaceuticals 
negotiated under the auspices of the WTO.
    (b) Pursuant to section 111(a) of the URAA, I have determined that 
it is necessary or appropriate to modify the HTS to increase tariffs on 
products that were included erroneously in the pharmaceuticals agreement 
reached at the end of the Uruguay Round.
    (c) On January 29, 1997, pursuant to section 115 of the URAA, the 
United States Trade Representative (USTR) submitted a report to the 
Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Finance of the Senate (``the Committees'') that set forth 
the proposed 

[[Page 443]]

tariff eliminations and corrections in existing tariff treatment, 
together with the advice received from the appropriate private sector 
advisory committee and the U.S. International Trade Commission regarding 
such actions. During the 60-day period thereafter, the USTR consulted 
with the Committees on the proposed tariff eliminations and corrections.
    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 sections 111(a) and (b) of the URAA and section 604 of the 
1974 Act, do hereby proclaim that:
    (1) In order to implement the multilateral agreement negotiated 
under the auspices of the WTO to eliminate tariffs on certain 
pharmaceutical products and chemical intermediates, and to correct 
errors, Schedule XX and the pharmaceutical appendix to the HTS are 
modified as set forth in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (2) The modifications to the HTS set forth in this proclamation 
shall be effective as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (3) Any 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 first day of 
April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:54 p.m., April 2, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation and its annexes were published in the Federal 
Register on April 3.