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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 21, 2007
To Implement An Amendment to the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
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 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 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
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