[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 6 (Monday, February 14, 2005)]
[Pages 206-207]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7870--To Modify Rules of Origin Under the North American 
Free Trade Agreement

 February 9, 2005

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    1. Presidential Proclamation 6641 of December 15, 1993, implemented 
the North American Free Trade Agreement (the ``NAFTA'') with respect to 
the United States and, pursuant to the North American Free Trade 
Agreement Implementation Act (the ``NAFTA Implementation Act''), 
incorporated in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (the 
``HTS'') the tariff modifications and rules of origin necessary or 
appropriate to carry out the NAFTA.
    2. Section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act provides rules for 
determining whether goods imported into the United States originate in 
the territory of a NAFTA party and thus are eligible for the tariff and 
other treatment contemplated under the NAFTA. Section 202(q) of the 
NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3332(q)) authorizes the President to 
proclaim, as a part of the HTS, the rules of origin set out in the NAFTA 
and to proclaim modifications to such previously proclaimed rules of 
origin, subject to the consultation and layover requirements of section 
103(a) of the NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3313(a)).
    3. I have determined that the modifications to the HTS set out in 
the Annex to this proclamation are appropriate. For goods of Mexico, I 
have decided that the effective date of the modifications shall be 
determined by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
    4. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (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, of other Acts 
affecting import treatment, and actions thereunder,

[[Page 207]]

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, including section 604 of the 1974 Act, 
section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act, and section 301 of title 3, 
United States Code, do hereby proclaim:
    (1) In order to modify the rules of origin under the NAFTA, general 
note 12 to 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 taken in this proclamation are 
superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
    (3) The modifications made by the Annex to this proclamation shall 
be effective with respect to goods of Canada that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2005. 
The modifications made by such Annex shall be effective with respect to 
goods of Mexico that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for 
consumption, on or after a date that the USTR announces in the Federal 
Register.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this ninth day of 
February, in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
ninth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:51 a.m., February 11, 
2005]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on February 10, and it and its attached annex were published 
in the Federal Register on February 14.