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Skriven 2007-03-01 23:31:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070301) for Thu, 2007 Mar 1
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Implementation of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free
Trade Agreement with Respect to the Dominican Republic and for Other
Purposes
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary March 1, 2007

Implementation of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free
Trade Agreement with Respect to the Dominican Republic and for Other
Purposes A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

˙˙White House News


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.

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
implemen-tation 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
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

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