[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 1 (Monday, January 5, 2004)]
[Pages 1-3]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7746--To Implement the United States-Chile Free Trade 
Agreement

 December 30, 2003

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    1. On June 6, 2003, the United States entered into the United 
States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (USCFTA). The Congress approved the 
USCFTA in section 101(a) of the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (the ``USCFTA Act'') (Public Law 108-77, 117 Stat. 
909) (19 U.S.C. 3805 note).
    2. Section 105 of the USCFTA Act authorizes the President to 
establish or designate within the Department of Commerce an office that 
shall be responsible for providing administrative assistance to panels 
established under Chapter 22 of the USCFTA.
    3. Section 201 of the USCFTA authorizes the President to proclaim 
such modifications

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or continuation of any duty, such continuation of duty-free or excise 
treatment, or such additional duties, as the President determines to be 
necessary or appropriate to carry out or apply articles 3.3 (including 
the schedule of United States duty reductions with respect to 
originating goods set forth in Annex 3.3 to the USCFTA), 3.7, 3.9, and 
3.20(8), (9), (10), and (11) of the USCFTA.
    4. Section 202 of the USCFTA Act provides certain rules for 
determining whether a good is an originating good for the purpose of 
implementing tariff treatment under the USCFTA. I have decided that it 
is necessary to include these rules of origin, together with particular 
rules applicable to certain other goods, in the Harmonized Tariff 
Schedule of the United States (HTS).
    5. Consistent with section 201(a)(2) of the USCFTA Act, Chile is to 
be removed from the enumeration of designated beneficiary developing 
countries eligible for the benefits of the Generalized System of 
Preferences (GSP). Further, consistent with section 604 of the Trade Act 
of 1974 (the ``1974 Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2483), as amended, I have 
determined that other technical and conforming changes to the HTS are 
necessary to reflect that Chile is no longer eligible to receive 
benefits of the GSP.
    6. Section 208 of the USCFTA Act authorizes the President to direct 
the Secretary of the Treasury to take certain actions related to 
verifications conducted consistent with Article 3.21 of the USCFTA.
    7. Subtitle B of title III of the USCFTA Act authorizes the 
President to take certain actions in response to a request by an 
interested party for relief from imports that are a cause of serious 
damage, or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing 
certain textile or apparel articles.
    8. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, establishes 
the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) to 
supervise the implementation of textile trade agreements.
    9. Section 604 of the 1974 Act, as amended, authorizes the President 
to embody in the HTS the substance of relevant provisions of that Act, 
or other acts affecting import treatment, and of actions taken 
thereunder, including the removal, modification, continuance, or 
imposition of any rate of duty or other import restriction.
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, 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 but not limited to 
sections 105, 201, 202, and 208 of the USCFTA Act, section 604 of the 
1974 Act, and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, do proclaim 
that:
    (1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff 
treatment being accorded under the USCFTA, to set forth rules for 
determining whether goods imported into the customs territory of the 
United States are eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the 
USCFTA, to provide certain other treatment to originating goods for the 
purposes of the USCFTA, to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect to 
certain originating goods, to reflect Chile's removal from the 
enumeration of designated beneficiary developing countries for purposes 
of the GSP, and to make technical and conforming changes in the general 
notes to the HTS, the HTS is modified as set forth in Annex I of 
Publication 3652 of the United States International Trade Commission, 
entitled Modifications of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States Implementing the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement 
(Publication 3652), which is incorporated by reference into this 
proclamation.
    (2) In order to implement the initial stage of duty elimination 
provided for in the USCFTA, and to provide for future staged reductions 
in duties for products of Chile for purposes of the USCFTA, the HTS is 
modified as provided in Annex II of Publication 3652, effective on the 
dates specified in the relevant sections of such publication and on any 
subsequent dates set forth for such duty reductions in that publication.
    (3) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to exercise the 
authority of the President under section 105(a) of the USCFTA Act to 
establish or designate an office within the Department of Commerce to 
carry out the functions set forth in that section.
    (4) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the 
President under section 208 of the USCFTA Act with respect to

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verifications conducted in a manner consistent with article 3.21 of the 
USCFTA.
    (5) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the 
President under subtitle B of title III of the USCFTA Act to review 
requests and to determine whether to commence consideration of such 
requests; to cause to be published in the Federal Register a notice of 
commencement of consideration of a request and notice seeking public 
comment; to determine whether a Chilean textile or apparel article is 
being imported into the United States in such increased quantities and 
under such conditions as to cause serious damage, or actual threat 
thereof, to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or 
directly competitive with, the imported article; and to provide relief 
from imports of an article that is the subject of such a determination.
    (6)(a) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraph (2) of this 
proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the relevant dates 
indicated in Annex II to Publication 3652.
    (b) Except as provided in paragraph (6)(a) of this proclamation, 
this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2004.
    (7) All 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 thirtieth day 
of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
eighth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:33 a.m., December 
30, 2003]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
December 31, 2003.