[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 51 (Monday, December 25, 2000)]
[Pages 3114-3115]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7388--To Modify Duty-Free Treatment Under the Generalized 
System of Preferences for Sub-Saharan African Countries and for Other 
Purposes

December 18, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. Section 506A(b)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the 
``1974 Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2466a(b)(1)), as added by section 111(a) of the 
African Growth and Opportunity Act (Title I of Public Law 106-200) 
(AGOA), authorizes the President to provide duty-free treatment under 
the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to any article described in 
section 503(b)(1)(B) through (G) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 
2463(b)(1)(B)-(G)) that is the growth, product, or manufacture of a 
designated beneficiary sub-Saharan African country, if, after taking 
into account the advice of the United States International Trade 
Commission (USITC), the President determines that such article is not 
import-sensitive in the context of imports from beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African countries.
    2. Proclamation 7350 of October 2, 2000, designated certain 
countries listed in section 107 of the AGOA as beneficiary sub-Saharan 
African countries.
    3. Pursuant to section 506A(b)(1) of the 1974 Act, and having taken 
into account the advice of the USITC, I have determined that certain 
articles are not import-sensitive in the context of imports from 
beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries. I have determined to 
designate those articles as eligible for duty-free treatment under the 
GSP. I have decided to designate these articles by inserting the symbol 
``D'' in the Rates of Duty 1-Special subcolumn of the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTS) for subheadings covering such 
articles.
    4. Section 213(b)(3)(A) of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act 
(CBERA) (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(3)(A)), as amended by section 211(a) of the 
United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (Title II of Public 
Law 106-200) (CBTPA), provides that the tariff treatment accorded at any 
time during the transition period defined in section 213(b)(5)(D) of the 
CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(5)(D)), as amended by section 211(a) of the 
CBTPA, to certain articles that are originating goods of designated 
CBTPA beneficiary countries shall be identical to the tariff treatment 
that is accorded at such time under Annex 302.2 of the North American 
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to an article described in the same 8-digit 
subheading of the HTS that is a good of Mexico and is imported into the 
United States. Such articles are described in section 213(b)(1)(B) 
through (F) of the CBERA (19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(1)(B)-(F)), as amended by 
section 211(a) of the CBTPA.
    5. Proclamation 7351 of October 2, 2000, designated certain 
countries as CBTPA beneficiary countries and reflected in the HTS the 
tariff treatment provided under the CBTPA, which became effective on 
that date with respect to those CBTPA beneficiary countries enumerated 
in a Federal Register notice issued by the United States Trade 
Representative. The Annex to Proclamation 7351 designated certain HTS 
subheadings covering articles described in section 213(b)(1)(B) through 
(F) of the CBERA as eligible for the tariff treatment authorized by 
section 213(b)(3)(A) of the CBERA. Certain HTS provisions covering 
watches and watch parts and footwear were inadvertently omitted. I have 
determined that these provisions

[[Page 3115]]

should be designated as covering articles eligible for the tariff 
treatment authorized by section 213(b)(3)(A) of the CBERA.
    6. Proclamation 7351 incorporated into the HTS the provisions of the 
CBTPA concerning the tariff treatment of certain textile and apparel 
articles imported into the United States from designated CBTPA 
beneficiary countries, pursuant to section 213(b)(2) of the CBERA (19 
U.S.C. 2703(b)(2)), as amended by section 211(a) of the CBTPA. I have 
determined that a technical error in one of the legal notes to chapter 
98 of the HTS created by the Annex to that proclamation should be 
corrected.
    7. Section 604 of 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.
    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 of America, including 
title V and section 604 of the 1974 Act, section 111 of the AGOA, 
section 211 of the CBTPA, and section 213 of the CBERA, do proclaim 
that:
    (1) In order to provide duty-free treatment under the GSP to certain 
articles when imported from designated beneficiary sub-Saharan African 
countries, the HTS is modified as provided in Annex I to this 
proclamation.
    (2) In order to accord, at any time during the transition period, to 
certain watches and watch parts described in section 213(b)(1)(E) of the 
CBERA, when such watches and watch parts are CBTPA originating goods, 
the identical tariff treatment that is accorded at such time under Annex 
302.2 of the NAFTA to an article described in the same 8-digit 
subheading of the HTS that is a good of Mexico and is imported into the 
United States, chapter 91 of the HTS is modified as provided in Annex II 
to this proclamation.
    (3) In order to make a technical correction in U.S. note 2(c) to 
subchapter XX of chapter 98 of the HTS, such note is modified as 
provided in Annex II to this proclamation.
    (4) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders 
that are inconsistent with this proclamation are superseded to the 
extent of such inconsistency.
    (5)(a) The modifications made by Annex I to this proclamation shall 
be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from 
warehouse for consumption, on or after the date of publication of this 
proclamation in the Federal Register.
    (b) The modifications made by Annex II to this proclamation shall be 
effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse 
for consumption, on or after October 2, 2000.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day 
of December, 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, 8:45 a.m., December 20, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on December 19, and it and the attached annexes were published 
in the Federal Register on December 21.