[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 51 (Monday, December 24, 2007)]
[Pages 1629-1631]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Proclamation 8213--To Implement an Amendment to the Dominican Republic-
Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement
December 20, 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
Congress approved the Agreement in section 101(a) of the Dominican
Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act (the ``CAFTA-DR Act'') (19 U.S.C. 4011).
2. The Parties to the Agreement entered into an amendment to the
Agreement on July 27, August 6, and August 14, 2007 (the ``Amendment'').
The terms of the Amendment are contained in letters of understanding
between the United States and the Agreement countries described in
sections
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1634(a)(2) and 1634(b)(2) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Public
Law 109-280, 120 Stat. 780).
3. Section 1634 of the Pension Protection Act authorizes the
President to proclaim modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (HTS) as necessary to carry out the understandings
described therein subject, in the case of certain provisions of the
Amendment, to the consultation and layover requirements in section 104
of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4014).
4. Section 203(o) of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4033) authorizes
the President to proclaim, as part of the HTS, the provisions set out in
Annex 4.1 of the Agreement.
5. 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.
6. 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 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 203 of the CAFTA-DR Act, section 1634 of the Pension Protection
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 modifications in the rules
for determining whether goods imported into the customs territory of the
United States are eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the
Agreement, to provide preferential tariff treatment for certain other
goods under the Agreement, and to make technical and conforming changes
in the general notes to the HTS, the HTS is modified as set forth in:
(a) Sections A, B, and C of the Annex to this proclamation; and
(b) Section D of that Annex.
(2) The modifications to the HTS made by paragraph (1)(a) of this
proclamation shall enter into effect on the date, as announced by the
United States Trade Representative in the Federal Register, that the
Amendment enters into force and shall be effective with respect to goods
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after that
date.
(3) The modifications to the HTS made by paragraph (1)(b) of this
proclamation shall enter into effect on the date, as announced by the
United States Trade Representative in the Federal Register, that the
Amendment has entered into force and the conditions set forth in
paragraph (a), paragraph (b), or both, of footnote 1 to Appendix 4.1-B
of the Agreement have been fulfilled, and shall be effective with
respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption,
on or after that date.
(4) The CITA is authorized to exercise my authority under section
203(o) of the CAFTA-DR Act to implement Appendix 4.1-B of the Agreement
by determining whether and, if so, by what amount, to increase in
accordance with paragraph 3 or footnote 2 of that Appendix the
quantitative limits in the provisions of the HTS set out in section D of
the Annex to this proclamation.
(5) The United States Trade Representative shall modify U.S. note 21
to subchapter XXII of chapter 98 of the HTS in a notice published in the
Federal Register to reflect determinations pursuant to paragraph (4) of
this proclamation by the CITA.
(6) 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 twentieth day
of December, in
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the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.
George W. Bush
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 9:06 a.m., December 26,
2007]
Note: This proclamation and its attached annex were released by the
Office of the Press Secretary on December 21, and they will be published
in the Federal Register on December 27. The Office of the Press
Secretary also released a Spanish language version of this proclamation.