[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 40 (Monday, October 9, 2000)]
[Pages 2286-2287]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7351--To Implement the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade 
Partnership Act

October 2, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. Section 211 of the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade 
Partnership Act (Title II of Public Law 106-200) (CBTPA), which amends 
section 213(b) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) (19 
U.S.C. 2703(b)), provides that certain preferential tariff treatment may 
be provided to eligible articles that are the product of any country 
that the President designates as a ``CBTPA beneficiary country'' 
pursuant to section 213(b)(5)(B) of the CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(5)(B)), 
provided that the President determines that the country has satisfied 
the requirements of section 213(b)(4)(A)(ii) of the CBERA (19 U.S.C. 
2703(b)(4)(A)(ii)) relating to the implementation of procedures and 
requirements similar to those in chapter 5 of the North American Free 
Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
    2. Section 211 of the CBTPA, which amends section 213(b) of the 
CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)), provides that eligible textile and apparel 
articles of a designated CBTPA beneficiary country shall enter the 
United States free of duty and free of quantitative limitations, 
provided that the President determines that the country has satisfied 
the requirements of section 213(b)(4)(A)(ii) of the CBERA relating to 
the implementation of procedures and requirements similar to those in 
chapter 5 of the NAFTA.
    3. Section 212 of the CBTPA, which amends section 213(a) of the 
CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703(a)), provides duty-free treatment for certain 
liqueurs and spirituous beverages produced in Canada from rum that 
originates in a designated beneficiary country or the Virgin Islands of 
the United States.
    4. In order to implement the tariff treatment provided under the 
CBTPA, it is necessary to modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States (HTS), thereby incorporating the substance of the relevant 
provisions of the CBTPA.
    5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the ``1974 Act'') (19 
U.S.C. 2483) authorizes the President to embody in the 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.
    6. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the United 
States Trade Representative (USTR) to perform the functions specified in 
section 213(b)(4)(A)(ii) of the CBERA and certain functions under 
section 604 of the 1974 Act.
    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 section 301 of 
title 3, United States Code, sections 211 and 212 of the CBTPA, section 
213 of the CBERA, and section 604 of the 1974 Act, do proclaim that:
    (1) In order to provide for the preferential treatment provided for 
in section 213 of the CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703), as amended by the CBTPA, 
the HTS is modified as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (2) The following countries are designated as CBTPA beneficiary 
countries pursuant to section 213(b)(5)(B) of the CBERA:
    Antigua and Barbuda
    Aruba
    Bahamas
    Barbados
    Belize
    Costa Rica
    Dominica
    Dominican Republic
    El Salvador
    Grenada
    Guatemala
    Guyana
    Haiti
    Honduras
    Jamaica
    Montserrat

[[Page 2287]]

    Netherlands Antilles
    Nicaragua
    Panama
    St. Kitts and Nevis
    Saint Lucia
    Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
    Trinidad and Tobago
    British Virgin Islands
    (3) The USTR is authorized to determine whether each designated 
beneficiary country has satisfied the requirements of section 
213(b)(4)(A)(ii) of the CBERA relating to the implementation of 
procedures and requirements similar in all material respects to the 
relevant procedures and requirements under chapter 5 of the NAFTA. To 
implement such determination or determinations, the USTR is authorized 
to exercise the authority provided to the President under section 604 of 
the 1974 Act to embody modifications and technical or conforming changes 
in the HTS. The determination or determinations of the USTR under this 
paragraph shall be set forth in a notice or notices that the USTR shall 
cause to be published in the Federal Register. Such notice or notices 
shall modify general note 17 of the HTS by listing the countries that 
satisfy the requirements of section 213(b)(4)(A)(ii) of the CBERA.
    (4) 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.
    (5) This proclamation is effective on the date of signature of this 
proclamation, except that the modifications to the HTS made by the Annex 
to this proclamation, as further modified by any notice to be published 
in the Federal Register as described in paragraph 3 of this 
proclamation, shall be effective on the date announced by the USTR in 
such notice.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of 
October, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence 
of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:03 a.m., October 3, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
4.