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TO EXTEND NONDISCRIMINATORY TREATMENT (NORMAL TRADE
RELATIONS TREATMENT) TO PRODUCTS OF MONGOLIA AND
TO IMPLEMENT AN AGREEMENT TO ELIMINATE TARIFFS ON
CERTAIN PHARMACEUTICALS AND CHEMICAL INTERMEDIATES
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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
The United States has had in effect a bilateral Agreement on
Trade Relations with Mongolia since 1991 and has provided normal trade
relations treatment to the products of Mongolia since that time. I have
found Mongolia to be in full compliance with the freedom of emigration
requirements of title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (the "Trade Act") (19
U.S.C. 2432).
Pursuant to section 2424(b)(1) of Public Law 106-36, and having
due regard for the findings of the Congress in section 2424(a) of said
Law, I hereby determine that title IV of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C.
2431-2441) should no longer apply to Mongolia.
On November 13, 1998, members of the World Trade Organization
(WTO), including the United States and 21 other major trading countries,
announced in the WTO an agreement to eliminate tariffs on certain
pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates that were the subject of
reciprocal duty elimination negotiations during the Uruguay Round of
Multilateral Trade Negotiations (the "Uruguay Round"). A similar
agreement between the United States and 16 other major trading countries
eliminating tariffs on enumerated pharmaceuticals and chemical
intermediates was implemented for the United States on April 1, 1997, by
Proclamation 6982, adding such goods to the scope of the agreement on
pharmaceutical products reached at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round
and reflected in Schedule XX-United States of America, annexed to the
Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994)
(Schedule XX).
Section 111(b) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA) (19
U.S.C. 3521(b)) authorizes the President to proclaim the modification of
any duty or staged rate reduction of any duty set forth in Schedule XX
for products that were the subject of reciprocal duty elimination
negotiations during the Uruguay Round, if the United States agrees to
such action in a multilateral negotiation under the auspices of the WTO,
and after compliance with the consultation and layover requirements of
section 115 of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3524). Section 111(b) also
authorizes the President to proclaim such modifications as are necessary
to reflect such duty treatment in Schedule XX by means of rectifications
thereof.
On April 29, 1999, pursuant to section 115 of the URAA, the
United States Trade Representative (USTR) submitted a report to the
Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the
Committee on Finance of the Senate ("the Committees") that sets forth
the proposed tariff eliminations, together with the advice received from
the appropriate private sector advisory committee and the United States
International Trade Commission regarding the proposed tariff
eliminations. During the 60-day period thereafter, the USTR consulted
with the Committees on the proposed actions.
Section 604 of the Trade Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 2483),
authorizes the President to embody in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (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.
Pursuant to section 111(b) of the URAA, I have determined that
Schedule XX should be modified to reflect the implementation by the
United States of the multilateral agreement on certain pharmaceuticals
and chemical intermediates negotiated under the auspices of the WTO. In
addition, I have determined that the pharmaceuticals appendix to the HTS
should be modified to reflect the duty eliminations provided in such
agreement, and to make certain minor technical corrections in the
identification of particular products in order to ensure that products
are accorded the intended duty treatment.
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 section
2424(b)(2) of Public Law 106-36, section 111(b) of the URAA, and section
604 of the Trade Act, do hereby proclaim that:
(1) Nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment)
shall be extended to the products of Mongolia, which shall no longer be
subject to title IV of the Trade Act.
(2) The extension of nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of
Mongolia shall be effective as of the date of signature of this
proclamation.
(3) In order to implement the multilateral agreement negotiated under
the auspices of the WTO to eliminate tariffs on certain pharmaceutical
products and chemical intermediates, and to make technical corrections
in the tariff treatment accorded to such products, the HTS is modified
as set forth in the Annex to this proclamation.
(4) Such modifications to the HTS shall be effective with respect to
articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or
after the dates set forth in the Annex for the respective actions taken.
(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 first day of
July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-third.