[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 46 (Monday, November 20, 2000)]
[Pages 2885-2886]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Signing the FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income 
Exclusion Act of 2000

November 15, 2000

    Today I am pleased to sign into law H.R. 4986, the ``FSC Repeal and 
Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000.'' This legislation is 
necessary to address a World Trade Organization Appellate Body finding 
that the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) provisions of U.S. tax law 
violated the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, and 
the Agreement on Agriculture. Enactment of this legislation is possible 
due to extraordinary bipartisan cooperation between the Congress and my 
Administration and the strong involvement of the business community.
    Never before has the United States had to enact legislation--and 
particularly legislation in the sensitive field of taxation policy--in 
order to implement the findings of a dispute settlement panel of the 
World Trade Organization (WTO). We believe that this legislation 
specifically addresses the concerns raised by the WTO Appellate Body and 
will be found to be WTO-compliant.
    Under a procedural agreement reached between the European Union and 
the United States, enactment of this legislation will avoid an immediate 
confrontation with the EU by ensuring that the World Trade Organization 
must review the new law before any decision authorizing retaliation may 
be made. We plan to continue working with the EU to manage this 
difference of views responsibly and to avoid any harm to our strong 
bilateral relationship, and we remain open to further discussions with 
the EU about resolving this issue.
                                            William J. Clinton
 The White House,
 November 15, 2000.

 Note: At the time of publication, H.R. 4986, approved November 15, had 
not been received by the Office of the Federal Register in time for 
assignment of a public law number. This statement was released by the 
Office of the Press Secretary on November 17.

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