For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
January 17, 2003
To Modify Rules of Origin Under the North American Free Trade Agreement
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. Presidential Proclamation 6641 of December 15, 1993,
implemented the North American Free Trade Agreement (the "NAFTA") with
respect to the United States and, pursuant to the North American Free
Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the "NAFTA Implementation Act"),
incorporated in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States
(the "HTS") the tariff modifications and rules of origin necessary or
appropriate to carry out the NAFTA.
2. Section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act 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)).
3. I have determined that the modifications to the HTS proclaimed
in this proclamation pursuant to sections 201 and 202 of the NAFTA
Implementation Act are appropriate. For goods of Mexico, I have
decided that the effective date of the modifications shall be
determined by the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
4. 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 the relevant provisions of that Act, of other acts
affecting import treatment, and actions thereunder, including the
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, including section 604 of the 1974
Act, section 202 of the NAFTA Implementation Act, and section 301 of
title 3, United States Code, do hereby proclaim:
(1) In order to modify the rules of origin under the NAFTA,
general note 12 to the HTS is modified as provided in the Annex to this
proclamation.
(2) 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.
(3) The modifications made by the Annex to this proclamation shall
be effective with respect to goods of Canada that are entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2003.
The modifications made by such Annex shall be effective with respect to
goods of Mexico that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for
consumption, on or after a date to be announced in the Federal Register
by the USTR.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth
day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-seventh.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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