[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 16 (Monday, April 21, 1997)]
[Pages 520-521]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6988--To Modify Application of Duty-Free Treatment Under 
the Generalized System of Preferences

April 11, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. Sections 502(d)(1) and 503(c)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as 
amended by Public Law 104-188; 110 Stat. 1755, 1920, 1922 (``the 1974 
Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2462(d)(1) and 2463(c)(1)), provide that the President 
may withdraw, suspend, or limit the application of the duty-free 
treatment accorded under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) 
with respect to any country and any article upon consideration of the 
factors set forth in sections 501 and 502(c) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 
2461 and 2462(c)). Pursuant to sections 502(d)(1) and 503(c)(1) of the 
1974 Act and having considered the factors set forth in sections 501 and 
502(c) of such Act, including, in particular, section 502(c)(5) (19 
U.S.C. 2464(c)(5)) on the extent to which a designated beneficiary 
developing country is providing adequate and effective protection of 
intellectual property rights, I have determined that it is appropriate 
to suspend the duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP to certain 
eligible articles that are the product of Argentina, as provided in the 
Annex to this proclamation.
    2. Section 604 of the 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.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by

[[Page 521]]

the Constitution and the laws of the United States, including but not 
limited to sections 502(d)(1), 503(c)(1), and 604 of the 1974 Act, do 
proclaim that:
    (1) In order to provide that Argentina should no longer be treated 
as a beneficiary developing country with respect to certain eligible 
articles for purposes of the GSP, the HTS is modified as provided in the 
Annex to this proclamation.
    (2) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders 
that are inconsistent with the actions and provisions of this 
proclamation are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
    (3) The modifications made by this proclamation shall be effective 
with respect to articles both: (i) imported on or after January 1, 1976, 
and (ii) entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or 
after 30 days after the date of publication of this proclamation in the 
Federal Register.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh 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, 8:45 a.m., April 16, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on April 15, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
April 17.