To Modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States and for Other Purposes

Proclamation 8228 of March 28, 2008

To Modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States and for Other Purposes

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

1. Section 1205(a) of the Omnibus Trade and
Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the ``1988 Act'') (19
U.S.C. 3005(a)) directs the United States International
Trade Commission (the ``Commission'') to keep the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS)
under continuous review and periodically to recommend
to the President such modifications to the HTS as the
Commission considers necessary or appropriate to
accomplish the purposes set forth in that subsection.
In 2006, the Commission recommended modifications to
the HTS pursuant to section 1205 of the 1988 Act to
conform the HTS to amendments made to the International
Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and
Coding System (the ``Convention''). In Presidential
Proclamation 8097 of December 29, 2006, I modified the
HTS pursuant to section 1206(a) of the 1988 Act (19
U.S.C. 3006(a)) to conform the HTS to the Convention.

2. The Commission has recommended further modifications
to the HTS pursuant to sections 1205(a) and (d) of the
1988 Act (19 U.S.C. 3005(a) and (d)) to alleviate
unnecessary administrative burdens, and to ensure that
the prior modifications proclaimed in Proclamation 8097
maintain substantial rate neutrality.

3. Section 1206(a) of the 1988 Act authorizes the
President to proclaim modifications to the HTS based on
the recommendations of the Commission under section
1205 of the 1988 Act, if he determines that the
modifications are in conformity with United States
obligations under the Convention and do not run counter
to the national economic interest of the United States.
I have determined that the modifications to the HTS
proclaimed in this proclamation pursuant to section
1206(a) of the 1988 Act are in conformity with United
States obligations under the Convention and do not run
counter to the national economic interest of the United
States.

4. Presidential Proclamation 7746 of December 30, 2003,
implemented the United States-Chile Free Trade
Agreement with respect to the United States, and
Presidential Proclamation 7747 of December 30, 2003,
implemented the United States-Singapore Free Trade
Agreement with respect to the United States. In
Presidential Proclamation 8097, I proclaimed
modifications to the HTS that I determined were
necessary or appropriate to continue to carry out the
duty reductions proclaimed in Proclamations 7746 and
7747.

5. In Presidential Proclamation 8214 of December 27,
2007, I further modified the HTS pursuant to section
1206(a) of the 1988 Act to ensure the continuation of
tariff and certain other treatment accorded originating
goods under tariff categories modified in Proclamation
8097 and to carry out the duty reductions proclaimed in
Proclamations 7746 and 7747. Technical rectifications
to the HTS are required to provide the intended tariff
treatment.

6. On August 5, 2004, the United States entered into
the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States
Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) with Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
and Nicaragua. The Congress approved the CAFTA-DR 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).

7. Sections 321-328 of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C.
4081-4088) authorize the President to take certain
actions in response to a request by an interested party
for relief from serious damage or actual threat thereof
to a domestic industry producing certain textile or
apparel articles. I assigned certain functions under
these provisions to the Committee for the
Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) in
Proclamation 7987 of February 28, 2006.

8. Executive Order 11651 of March 3, 1972, as amended,
established 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.

9. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended
(the ``Trade Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the
President to embody in the HTS the substance of the
provisions of that Act, and of other Acts affecting
import treatment, and actions thereunder, including
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 of America, including but not limited to
section 1206 of the 1988 Act, sections 321-328 of the
CAFTA-DR Act, section 301 of title 3, United States
Code, and section 604 of the Trade Act do proclaim
that:

(1) In order to modify the HTS to conform it to the
Convention or any amendment thereto recommended for
adoption, to promote the uniform application of the
Convention, to establish additional subordinate tariff
categories, and to make technical and conforming
changes to existing provisions, the HTS is modified as
set forth in Annex I to this proclamation.

(2) In order to provide the intended tariff treatment
to imports of originating goods from Chile, the HTS is
modified as set out in section A of Annex II to this
proclamation.

(3) In order to provide the intended tariff treatment
to imports of originating goods from Singapore, the HTS
is modified as set out in section B of Annex II to this
proclamation.

(4) The CITA is authorized to exercise my authority
under sections 321-328 of the CAFTA-DR Act to provide
relief from imports that are the subject of a
determination under section 322(a) of the CAFTA-DR Act,
to the extent necessary to remedy or prevent serious
damage and to facilitate adjustment by the domestic
industry.

(5) The United States Trade Representative shall modify
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.

(7) The modifications to the HTS set forth in Annex I
and Annex II to this proclamation shall be effective
with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from
warehouse for consumption, on or after the respective
dates specified in each section of such Annexes for the
goods described therein.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD02AP08.000

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD02AP08.001

[GRAPHIC] [TIFF OMITTED] TD02AP08.002