Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41 Issue 51 (Monday, December 26, 2005)

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 51 (Monday, December 26, 2005)]
[Pages 1907-1909]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7971--To Implement the United States-Morocco Free Trade 
Agreement

 December 22, 2005

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    1. On June 15, 2004, the United States entered into the United 
States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (USMFTA). The USMFTA was approved by 
the Congress in section 101(a) of the United States-Morocco Free Trade 
Agreement Implementation Act (the ``USMFTA Act'') (Public Law 108-302, 
118 Stat. 1103) (19 U.S.C. 3805 note).
    2. Section 105(a) of the USMFTA 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 20 of the USMFTA.
    3. Section 201 of the USMFTA Act authorizes the President to 
proclaim such modifications 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 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 4.1, 4.3.9, 4.3.10, 4.3.11, 4.3.13, 
4.3.14, and 4.3.15, and the schedule of reductions with respect to 
Morocco set forth in Annex IV of the USMFTA.
    4. Consistent with section 201(a)(2) of the USMFTA Act, Morocco 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 Harmonized 
Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) are necessary to reflect that 
Morocco is no longer eligible to receive benefits of the GSP.
    5. Section 203 of the USMFTA Act provides certain rules for 
determining whether a good is an originating good for the purposes of 
implementing preferential tariff treatment under the USMFTA. I have 
decided that it is necessary to include these rules of origin,

[[Page 1908]]

together with particular rules applicable to certain other goods, in the 
HTS.
    6. Section 204 of the USMFTA Act authorizes the President to take 
certain enforcement actions relating to trade with Morocco in textile 
and apparel goods.
    7. Subtitle B of title III of the USMFTA Act authorizes the 
President to take certain actions in response to a request by an 
interested party for relief from serious damage or actual threat thereof 
to a domestic industry producing certain textile or apparel articles.
    8. Executive Order 11651, 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.
    Now, Therefore, I, George W. Bush, President of the United States of 
America, acting under authority vested in me by the Constitution and the 
laws of the United States of America, including but not limited to 
sections 201, 203, 204, and 321-328 of the USMFTA Act, section 301 of 
title 3, United States Code, and section 604 of the 1974 Act, do 
proclaim that:
    (1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff 
treatment being accorded under the USMFTA, 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 
USMFTA, to provide certain other treatment to originating goods for the 
purposes of the USMFTA, to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect to 
certain originating goods, to reflect Morocco'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 No. 3721 of the United States International Trade 
Commission, entitled ``Modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 
of the United States Implementing the United States-Morocco Free Trade 
Agreement'' (Publication 3721), which is incorporated by reference into 
this proclamation.
    (2) In order to implement the initial stage of duty elimination 
provided for in the USMFTA, and to provide for future staged reductions 
in duties for products of Morocco for purposes of the USMFTA, the HTS is 
modified as provided in Annex II of Publication 3721, 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 my authority 
under section 105(a) of the USMFTA Act to establish or designate an 
office within the Department of Commerce to carry out the functions set 
forth in that section.
    (4) (a) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraphs (1) and (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 3721.
    (b) Except as provided in paragraph 4(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, 2006.
    (5) The CITA is authorized to exercise my authority under section 
204 of the USMFTA Act to exclude textile and apparel goods from the 
customs territory of the United States; to determine whether an 
enterprise's production of, and capability to produce, goods are 
consistent with statements by the enterprise; to find that an enterprise 
has knowingly or willfully engaged in circumvention; and to deny 
preferential tariff treatment to textile and apparel goods.
    (6) The CITA is authorized to exercise my authority under subtitle B 
of title III of the USMFTA 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 imports of a Moroccan textile or apparel article are 
causing serious damage, or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry 
producing an article that is like, or directly competitive with, the 
imported article; and

[[Page 1909]]

to provide relief from imports of an article that is the subject of such 
a determination.
    (7) 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.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second 
day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand five, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
thirtieth.
                                                George W. Bush

 [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:29 p.m., December 
23, 2005]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
December 27.