[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 183 (Tuesday, September 22, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 50739-50741]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-25476]
[[Page 50737]]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part VII
The President
_______________________________________________________________________
Proclamation 7125--To Modify Certain Provisions of the Special Textile
and Apparel Regime Implemented Under the North American Free Trade
Agreement
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 183 / Tuesday, September 22, 1998 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 50739]]
Proclamation 7125 of September 18, 1998
To Modify Certain Provisions of the Special
Textile and Apparel Regime Implemented Under the North
American Free Trade Agreement
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. On December 17, 1992, the Governments of Canada,
Mexico, and the United States entered into the North
American Free Trade Agreement (``the NAFTA''). The
NAFTA was approved by the Congress in section 101(a) of
the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation
Act (``the NAFTA Implementation Act'') (19 U.S.C.
3311(a)), and was implemented with respect to the
United States by Presidential Proclamation 6641 of
December 15, 1993.
2. Section 201(b)(1)(A) of the NAFTA Implementation Act
(19 U.S.C. 3331(b)(1)(A)) authorizes the President to
proclaim such modifications or continuation of any duty
as the President determines to be necessary or
appropriate to maintain the general level of reciprocal
and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to
Canada or Mexico provided for by the NAFTA, subject to
the consultation and layover requirements of section
103(a) of the NAFTA Implementation Act (19 U.S.C.
3313(a)). Among the provisions previously proclaimed to
implement the NAFTA schedule of concessions is heading
9802.00.90 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (``HTS''), which affords duty-free entry
into the United States of certain textile and apparel
goods assembled in Mexico, in which all fabric
components were wholly formed and cut in the United
States and then exported to Mexico ready for assembly
and there assembled and returned to the U.S. customs
territory.
3. In order to maintain the general level of reciprocal
and mutually advantageous concessions under the NAFTA,
I have determined that new provisions should be added
to chapter 99 of the HTS to provide that specified
apparel articles, which are assembled in Mexico using
interlining fabrics that are cut but not formed in the
United States, and which otherwise meet the conditions
set forth in HTS heading 9802.00.90, may enter the
United States free of duty on a temporary basis because
the necessary interlining fabrics for such apparel are
no longer formed in the United States. The consultation
and layover requirements provided for in section 103(a)
of the NAFTA Implementation Act have been observed.
4. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19
U.S.C. 2483)(``Trade Act''), authorizes the President
to embody in the HTS the substance of the relevant
provisions of that Act, and 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, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, 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, but not limited to, sections
103(a) and 201(b) of the NAFTA Implementation Act,
section 604 of the Trade Act, and section 301 of title
3, United States Code, do proclaim that:
[[Page 50740]]
(1) Subchapter VI of chapter 99 of 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)(a) The modifications to the HTS made by this
proclamation shall be effective with respect to goods
entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption,
on or after the fifteenth day after the signing of this
proclamation.
(b) At the close of the effective period specified
therefor in the Annex, HTS subheadings 9906.98.02 and
9906.98.03 shall cease to apply to imported articles,
except that goods described in such subheadings that
were shipped and in transit on a through bill of lading
on such specified date shall be eligible for the tariff
treatment specified therein as if entered on the last
day of such effective period. At the close of the day
that is one year from the close of the effective period
specified in such HTS subheadings, U.S. note 28 to
subchapter VI of chapter 99, such subheadings and their
immediately superior text beginning with the word
``Apparel'' shall all be deleted from the HTS.
(c) The United States Trade Representative is
authorized, after obtaining advice from the appropriate
advisory committees established under section 135 of
the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2155), to extend the effective
period of the new tariff provisions for one additional
year, upon publication in the Federal Register of a
notice modifying the new HTS subheadings accordingly.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
eighteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-third.
(Presidential Sig.)
Billing code 3195-01-P
[[Page 50741]]
[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD22SE98.045
[FR Doc. 98-25476
Filed 9-21-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3190-01-C
