[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 30 (Monday, July 31, 2006)]
[Pages 1403-1406]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 8039--To Implement the United States-Bahrain Free Trade 
Agreement, and for Other Purposes

July 27, 2006

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    1. On September 14, 2004, the United States entered into the United 
States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (USBFTA). The USBFTA was approved by 
the Congress in section 101(a) of the United States-Bahrain

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Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the ``USBFTA Implementation 
Act'') (Public Law 109-169, 119 Stat. 3581) (19 U.S.C. 3805 note).
    2. Section 105(a) of the USBFTA Implementation 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 19 of the USBFTA.
    3. Section 201 of the USBFTA Implementation 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, 3.2.8, and 3.2.9, and the 
schedule of reductions with respect to Bahrain set forth in Annex 2-B of 
the USBFTA.
    4. Consistent with section 201(a)(2) of the USBFTA Implementation 
Act, Bahrain 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 Bahrain is no longer eligible to receive 
benefits of the GSP.
    5. Section 202 of the USBFTA Implementation Act provides certain 
rules for determining whether a good is an originating good for the 
purpose of implementing preferential tariff treatment under the USBFTA. 
I have decided that it is necessary to include these rules of origin, 
together with particular rules applicable to certain other goods, in the 
HTS.
    6. Section 204 of the USBFTA Implementation Act authorizes the 
President to take certain enforcement actions relating to trade with 
Bahrain in textile and apparel goods.
    7. Sections 321-328 of the USBFTA Implementation Act authorize 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 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. Presidential Proclamation 7747 of December 30, 2003, implemented 
the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (the ``USSFTA'') with 
respect to the United States and, pursuant to the United States-
Singapore Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the ``USSFTA 
Implementation Act'') (Public Law 108-78, 117 Stat. 948) (19 U.S.C. 3805 
note), incorporated in the HTS the tariff modifications and rules of 
origin necessary or appropriate to carry out the USSFTA.
    10. Section 202 of the USSFTA Implementation Act provides rules for 
determining whether goods imported into the United States originate in 
the territory of a USSFTA party and thus are eligible for the tariff and 
other treatment contemplated under the USSFTA. Section 202(o) of the 
USSFTA Implementation Act authorizes the President to proclaim, as a 
part of the HTS, the rules of origin set out in the USSFTA and to 
proclaim modifications to such previously proclaimed rules of origin, 
subject to the consultation and layover requirements of section 103(a) 
of the USSFTA Implementation Act.
    11. The United States and Singapore have agreed to modifications to 
certain USSFTA rules of origin. Modifications to the USSFTA rules of 
origin set out in Proclamation 7747 are therefore necessary.
    12. 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 
section 604 of the 1974 Act; sections 105(a), 201, 202, 204, and 321-328 
of the USBFTA Implementation Act; section 202

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of the USSFTA Implementation Act; and section 301 of title 3, United 
States Code, do hereby proclaim:
    (1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff 
treatment being accorded under the USBFTA, 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 
USBFTA, to provide certain other treatment to originating goods for the 
purposes of the USBFTA, to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect to 
certain originating goods, to reflect Bahrain'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 3830 of the United States International Trade Commission, 
entitled, Modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States to Implement the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement 
(Publication 3830), which is incorporated by reference into this 
proclamation.
    (2) In order to implement the initial stage of duty elimination 
provided for in the USBFTA and to provide for future staged reductions 
in duties for products of Bahrain for purposes of the USBFTA, the HTS is 
modified as provided in Annex II of Publication 3830, 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 USBFTA Implementation Act to establish or 
designate an office within the Department of Commerce to carry out the 
functions set forth in that section.
    (4) 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 3830.
    (5) The CITA is authorized to exercise my authority under section 
204 of the USBFTA Implementation 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 USBFTA Implementation 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 Bahraini 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 to provide relief from imports of an article that 
is the subject of such a determination.
    (7) In order to modify the rules of origin under the USSFTA, general 
note 25 to the HTS is modified as provided in Annex I to this 
proclamation.
    (8) The modifications made by Annex I to this proclamation shall be 
effective with respect to goods of Singapore that are entered, or 
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after August 1, 2006.
    (9) In order to make technical corrections to the HTS, the HTS is 
modified as provided in Annex II to this proclamation.
    (10) The modifications made by Annex II to this proclamation shall 
be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn for 
consumption, on or after the dates provided in that Annex.
    (11) 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 twenty-seventh 
day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand six, and of the 
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
first.
                                                George W. Bush

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:49 a.m., July 31, 
2006]

[[Page 1406]]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
August 1.