[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 9 (Monday, March 5, 2007)]
[Pages 227-229]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 8111--To Implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-
United States Free Trade Agreement With Respect to the Dominican 
Republic and for Other Purposes

 February 28, 2007

 By the President of the United States

 of America

 A Proclamation

    1. On August 5, 2004, the United States entered into the Dominican 
Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (the 
``Agreement'') with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, 
Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua (the ``Agreement countries''). The 
Agreement was approved by the Congress in section 101(a) of the 
Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (the ``Act'') (Public Law 109-53, 119 Stat. 462) (19 
U.S.C. 4011 note).
    2. Section 201 of the 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 Article 
3.3 and Annex 3.3 (including the schedule of United States duty 
reductions with respect to originating goods) of the Agreement.
    3. Consistent with section 201(a)(2) of the Act, each Agreement 
country is to be removed from the enumeration of designated beneficiary 
developing countries eligible for the benefits of the Generalized System 
of Preferences (GSP) on the date the Agreement enters into force with 
respect to that country.

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    4. Consistent with section 201(a)(3) of the Act, each Agreement 
country is to be removed from the enumeration of designated beneficiary 
countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) (19 
U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) on the date the Agreement enters into force with 
respect to that country, subject to the exceptions set out in section 
201(a)(3)(B) of the Act.
    5. Consistent with section 213(b)(5)(D) of the CBERA, as amended by 
the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) (Public 
Law 106-200), each Agreement country is to be removed from the 
enumeration of designated CBTPA beneficiary countries on the date the 
Agreement enters into force with respect to that country.
    6. Section 1634(c)(2) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Public 
Law 109-280) (29 U.S.C. 1001 note) authorizes the President to proclaim 
a reduction in the overall limit in the tariff preference level for 
Nicaragua provided in Annex 3.28 of the Agreement if the President 
determines that Nicaragua has failed to comply with a commitment under 
an agreement between the United States and Nicaragua with regard to the 
administration of such tariff preference level.
    7. Presidential Proclamation 6641 of December 15, 1993, implemented 
the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with respect to the 
United States and, pursuant to the North American Free Trade Agreement 
Implementation Act (Public Law 103-182) (the ``NAFTA Implementation 
Act''), incorporated in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States (HTS) the tariff modifications and rules of origin necessary or 
appropriate to carry out the NAFTA.
    8. Section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C. 3332) 
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)).
    9. The United States and Mexico have agreed to modify certain NAFTA 
rules of origin. It is therefore necessary to modify the NAFTA rules of 
origin set out in Proclamation 6641.
    10. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, established 
the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA), 
consisting of representatives of the Departments of State, the Treasury, 
Commerce, and Labor, and the Office of the United States Trade 
Representative, with the representative of the Department of Commerce as 
Chairman, to supervise the implementation of textile trade agreements. 
Consistent with 3 U.S.C. 301, when carrying out functions vested in the 
President by statute and assigned by the President to CITA, the 
officials collectively exercising those functions are all to be officers 
required to be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of 
the Senate.
    11. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the ``1974 Act'') (19 
U.S.C. 2483), 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 the authority vested in me by the Constitution 
and the laws of the United States of America, including but not limited 
to section 201 of the Act, section 1634(c)(2) of the Pension Protection 
Act of 2006, section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act, section 301 of 
title 3, United States Code, and section 604 of the 1974 Act, and the 
Act having taken effect pursuant to section 107(a), do proclaim that:
    (1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff 
treatment being accorded under the Agreement to the Dominican Republic, 
to provide certain other treatment to originating goods for the purposes 
of the Agreement, to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect to certain 
goods, to reflect the removal of the Dominican Republic from the 
enumeration of designated beneficiary developing countries for purposes 
of the GSP, to

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reflect the removal of the Dominican Republic from the enumeration of 
designated beneficiary countries for purposes of the CBERA and the 
CBTPA, and to make technical and conforming changes in the general notes 
to the HTS, the HTS is modified as set forth in Annexes I and II of 
Publication 3901 of the United States International Trade Commission, 
entitled Modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United 
States to Implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States 
Free Trade Agreement With Respect to the Dominican Republic (Publication 
3901), which is incorporated by reference into this proclamation.
    (2) The CITA is authorized to exercise the function of the President 
under section 1634(c)(2) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 of 
determining whether Nicaragua has failed to comply with a commitment 
under an agreement between the United States and Nicaragua with regard 
to the administration of the tariff preference level for Nicaragua 
provided in Annex 3.28 of the Agreement and, on making such a 
determination, to reduce the overall limit in the tariff preference 
level for Nicaragua provided in Annex 3.28 of the Agreement.
    (3) In order to modify the rules of origin under the NAFTA, general 
note 12 to the HTS is modified as set forth in the Annex to this 
proclamation.
    (4)(a) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraph (1) 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 I or II of Publication 3901.
    (b) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraph (3) of this 
proclamation shall enter into effect on the date that the United States 
Trade Representative announces in the Federal Register that Mexico has 
completed its applicable domestic procedures to give effect to 
corresponding modifications to be applied to goods of the United States 
and shall, at that time, be effective with respect to goods of Mexico 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the 
date indicated in the Annex to this proclamation.
    (c) Except as provided in paragraphs (4)(a) and (b) of this 
proclamation, this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods 
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after March 
1, 2007.
    (5) 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-eighth 
day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, 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, 8:45 a.m., March 5, 
2007]

Note: This proclamation and its attached annex were released by the 
Office of the Press Secretary on March 1, and they will be published in 
the Federal Register on March 6.