[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 52 (Monday, January 1, 2007)]
[Pages 2213-2214]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 8095--To Eliminate Tariffs on Certain Pharmaceuticals and 
Chemical Intermediates

 December 29, 2006

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    1. During the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations (the 
``Uruguay Round''), a group of major trading countries agreed to 
reciprocal elimination of tariffs on certain pharmaceuticals and 
chemical intermediates, and that participants in this agreement would 
revise periodically the list of products subject to duty-free treatment. 
On December 13, 1996, at the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO), the United States and 16 other major trading 
countries agreed to eliminate tariffs on additional pharmaceuticals and 
chemical intermediates. On April 1, 1997, the United States implemented 
this agreement in Proclamation 6982. The second revision to the list of 
products was negotiated under the auspices of the WTO in 1998. The 
United States implemented this revision on July 1, 1999, in Proclamation 
7207. In 2006, the United States and 30 other WTO members concluded 
negotiations, under the auspices of the WTO, on a further revision to 
the list of pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates to receive duty-
free treatment.
    2. Section 111(b) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA)(19 
U.S.C. 3521(b)) authorizes the President under specified circumstances 
to proclaim the modification of any duty or staged rate reduction of any 
duty set forth in Schedule XX-United States of America, annexed to the 
Marrakesh Protocol to the GATT 1994 (Schedule XX) for products that were 
the subject of reciprocal duty elimination negotiations during the 
Uruguay Round, if the United States agrees to such action in a 
multilateral negotiation under the auspices of the WTO. Section 111(b) 
also authorizes the President to proclaim such modifications as are 
necessary to correct technical errors in, or make other rectifications 
to, Schedule XX.
    3. On October 3, 2006, consistent with section 115 of the URAA, the 
United States Trade Representative (USTR) submitted a report to the 
Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Finance of the Senate (the ``Committees'') that set forth 
the proposed further revision to the list of products subject to tariff 
eliminations.
    4. Section 604 of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483), 
authorizes the President to embody in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 
the United States (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.
    5. Pursuant to section 111(b) of the URAA, I have determined that 
Schedule XX should be modified to reflect the implementation by the 
United States of the multilateral agreement on certain pharmaceuticals 
and chemical intermediates negotiated under the auspices of the WTO. In 
addition, I have determined that the pharmaceuticals appendix to the HTS 
should be modified to reflect the duty eliminations provided for in that 
agreement and to make certain technical corrections in the manner in 
which Schedule XX identifies particular products in order to ensure that 
they are accorded the intended duty treatment.
     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 111(b) of the URAA and section 604 of the 1974 Act, do 
proclaim that:
    (1) In order to implement the multilateral agreement negotiated 
under the auspices of the WTO to eliminate tariffs on certain 
pharmaceutical products and chemical intermediates, and to make 
technical corrections in the tariff treatment accorded to such products, 
the HTS is modified as set forth in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (2) Such modifications to the HTS shall be effective with respect to 
articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or 
after the date set forth in the Annex for the respective actions taken.

[[Page 2214]]

    (3) 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-ninth 
day of December, 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, 11:03 a.m., January 3, 
2007]

Note: This proclamation and its annex will be published in the Federal 
Register on January 4, 2007.