For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 30, 2003
To Implement the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. On June 6, 2003, the United States entered into the United
States-Chile Free Trade Agreement (USCFTA). The Congress approved the
USCFTA in section 101(a) of the United States-Chile Free Trade
Agreement Implementation Act (the "USCFTA Act") (Public Law 108-77, 117
Stat. 909) (19 U.S.C. 3805 note).
2. Section 105 of the USCFTA Act authorizes the President to
establish or designate within the Department of Commerce an office that
shall be responsible for providing administrative assistance to panels
established under Chapter 22 of the USCFTA.
3. Section 201 of the USCFTA 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 articles 3.3 (including the schedule of United States duty
reductions with respect to originating goods set forth in Annex 3.3 to
the USCFTA), 3.7, 3.9, and 3.20(8), (9), (10), and (11) of the USCFTA.
4. Section 202 of the USCFTA Act provides certain rules for
determining whether a good is an originating good for the purpose of
implementing tariff treatment under the USCFTA. I have decided that it
is necessary to include these rules of origin, together with particular
rules applicable to certain other goods, in the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the United States (HTS).
5. Consistent with section 201(a)(2) of the USCFTA Act, Chile is
to be removed from the enumeration of designated beneficiary developing
countries eligible for the benefits of the Generalized System of
Preferences (GSP). Further, consistent with section 604 of the Trade
Act of 1974 (the "1974 Act") (19 U.S.C. 2483), as amended, I have
determined that other technical and conforming changes to the HTS are
necessary to reflect that Chile is no longer eligible to receive
benefits of the GSP.
6. Section 208 of the USCFTA Act authorizes the President to
direct the Secretary of the Treasury to take certain actions related to
verifications conducted consistent with Article 3.21 of the USCFTA.
7. Subtitle B of title III of the USCFTA Act authorizes the
President to take certain actions in response to a request by an
interested party for relief from imports that are a cause of serious
damage, or actual threat thereof, to a domestic industry producing
certain textile or apparel articles.
8. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended, establishes
the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) to
supervise the implementation of textile trade agreements.
9. Section 604 of the 1974 Act, 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, including the removal, modifica-tion, 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 sections 105, 201, 202, and 208 of the USCFTA Act, section 604 of
the 1974 Act, and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, do
proclaim that:
(1) In order to provide generally for the preferential tariff
treatment being accorded under the USCFTA, to set forth rules for
determining whether goods imported into the customs territory of the
United States are eligible for preferential tariff treatment under the
USCFTA, to provide certain other treatment to originating goods for the
purposes of the USCFTA, to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect to
certain originating goods, to reflect Chile's removal from the
enumeration of designated beneficiary developing countries for purposes
of the GSP, and to make technical and conforming changes in the general
notes to the HTS, the HTS is modified as set forth in Annex I of
Publication 3652 of the United States International Trade Commission,
entitled Modifications of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States Implementing the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement
(Publication 3652), which is incorporated by reference into this
proclamation.
(2) In order to implement the initial stage of duty elimination
provided for in the USCFTA, and to provide for future staged reductions
in duties for products of Chile for purposes of the USCFTA, the HTS is
modified as provided in Annex II of Publication 3652, effective on the
dates specified in the relevant sections of such publication and on any
subsequent dates set forth for such duty reductions in that
publication.
(3) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized to exercise the
authority of the President under section 105(a) of the USCFTA Act to
establish or designate an office within the Department of Commerce to
carry out the functions set forth in that section.
(4) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the
President under section 208 of the USCFTA Act with respect to
verifications conducted in a manner consistent with article 3.21 of the
USCFTA.
(5) The CITA is authorized to exercise the authority of the
President under subtitle B of title III of the USCFTA Act to review
requests and to determine whether to commence consideration of such
requests; to cause to be published in the Federal Register a notice of
commencement of consideration of a request and notice seeking public
comment; to determine whether a Chilean textile or apparel article is
being imported into the United States in such increased quantities and
under such conditions as to cause serious damage, or actual threat
thereof, to a domestic industry producing an article that is like, or
directly competitive with, the imported article; and to provide relief
from imports of an article that is the subject of such a
determination.
(6)(a) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraph (2) 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 II to Publication 3652.
(b) Except as provided in paragraph (6)(a) of this proclamation,
this proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods entered, or
withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2004.
(7) All 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 thirtieth day
of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-eighth.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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