Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44 Issue 12 (Monday, March 31, 2008)

[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 12 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[Pages 445-447]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 8228--To Modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States and For Other Purposes

March 28, 2008

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

1. Section 1205(a) of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of
1988 (the ``1988 Act'') (19 U.S.C. 3005(a)) directs the United States
International Trade Commission (the ``Commission'') to keep the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) under continuous
review and periodically to recommend to the President such modifications
to the HTS as the Commission considers necessary or appropriate to
accomplish the purposes set forth in that subsection. In 2006, the
Commission recommended modifications to the HTS pursuant to section 1205
of the 1988 Act to conform the HTS to amendments made to the
International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and
Coding System (the ``Convention''). In Presidential Proclamation 8097 of
December 29, 2006, I modified the HTS pursuant to section 1206(a) of the
1988 Act (19 U.S.C. 3006(a)) to conform the HTS to the Convention.
2. The Commission has recommended further modifications to the HTS
pursuant to sections 1205(a) and (d) of the 1988 Act (19 U.S.C. 3005(a)
and (d)) to alleviate unnecessary administrative burdens, and to ensure
that the prior modifications proclaimed in Proclamation 8097 maintain
substantial rate neutrality.
3. Section 1206(a) of the 1988 Act authorizes the President to
proclaim modifications to the HTS based on the recommendations of the
Commission under section 1205 of the 1988 Act, if he determines that the
modifications are in conformity with United States obligations under the
Convention and do not run counter to the national economic interest of
the United States. I have determined that the modifications to the HTS
proclaimed in this proclamation pursuant to section 1206(a) of the 1988
Act are in conformity with United States obligations under the
Convention and do not run counter to the national economic interest of
the United States.
4. Presidential Proclamation 7746 of December 30, 2003, implemented
the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement with respect to the United
States, and Presidential Proclamation 7747 of December 30, 2003,
implemented the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement with
respect to the United States. In Presidential Proclamation 8097, I
proclaimed modifications to the HTS that I determined were necessary or
appropriate to continue to carry out the duty reductions proclaimed in
Proclamations 7746 and 7747.
5. In Presidential Proclamation 8214 of December 27, 2007, I further
modified the HTS pursuant to section 1206(a) of the 1988 Act to ensure
the continuation of tariff and certain other treatment accorded
originating goods under tariff categories modified in Proclamation 8097
and to carry out the duty reductions proclaimed in Proclamations 7746
and 7747. Technical rectifications to the HTS are required to provide
the intended tariff treatment.
6. On August 5, 2004, the United States entered into the Dominican
Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR)
with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Nicaragua. The Congress approved the CAFTA-DR 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).

[[Page 446]]

7. Sections 321-328 of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4081-4088)
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. I assigned certain functions under these provisions to the
Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) in
Proclamation 7987 of February 28, 2006.
8. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, established
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.
9. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ``Trade
Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the HTS
the substance of the provisions of that Act, and of other Acts affecting
import treatment, and actions thereunder, including 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 1206 of the 1988 Act, sections 321-328 of the CAFTA-DR Act,
section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and section 604 of the Trade
Act do proclaim that:
(1) In order to modify the HTS to conform it to the Convention or
any amendment thereto recommended for adoption, to promote the uniform
application of the Convention, to establish additional subordinate
tariff categories, and to make technical and conforming changes to
existing provisions, the HTS is modified as set forth in Annex I to this
proclamation.
(2) In order to provide the intended tariff treatment to imports of
originating goods from Chile, the HTS is modified as set out in section
A of Annex II to this proclamation.
(3) In order to provide the intended tariff treatment to imports of
originating goods from Singapore, the HTS is modified as set out in
section B of Annex II to this proclamation.
(4) The CITA is authorized to exercise my authority under sections
321-328 of the CAFTA-DR Act to provide relief from imports that are the
subject of a determination under section 322(a) of the CAFTA-DR Act, to
the extent necessary to remedy or prevent serious damage and to
facilitate adjustment by the domestic industry.
(5) The United States Trade Representative shall modify 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.
(7) The modifications to the HTS set forth in Annex I and Annex II
to this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered,
or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the respective
dates specified in each section of such Annexes for the goods described
therein.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth
day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, 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, 8:44 a.m., April 1,
2008]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on
April 2.

[[Page 447]]