[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

[[Page 1630]]

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

[[Page 1631]]

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.