To Implement the Dominican Republic-Central America- United States Free Trade Agreement With Respect to Costa Rica and for Other Purposes

Proclamation 8331 of December 23, 2008

To Implement the Dominican Republic-Central
America- United States Free Trade Agreement With
Respect to Costa Rica and for Other Purposes

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

1. On August 5, 2004, the United States entered into
the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States
Free Trade Agreement (the ``Agreement'') with Costa
Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, and Nicaragua (the ``Agreement countries'').
The Agreement was approved by the Congress in section
101(a) of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United
States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the
``Act'') (19 U.S.C. 4011).

2. The Parties to the Agreement entered into an
amendment of the Agreement on July 27, August 6, and
August 14, 2007 (the ``Amendment''). The Amendment
provides for temporary duty-free treatment for certain
goods of Costa Rica. The terms of the Amendment with
respect to Costa Rica are contained in letters of
understanding described in section 1634(b)(2) of the
Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-280, 120
Stat. 780).

3. Section 201(a)(1) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 4031(a)(1))
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 and 3.27, and
Annexes 3.3 (including the schedule of United States
duty reductions with respect to originating goods) and
3.27 of the Agreement.

4. Consistent with section 201(a)(2) of the Act (19
U.S.C. 4031(a)(2)), each Agreement country is to be
removed from the enumeration of designated beneficiary
developing countries eligible for the benefits of the
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) on the date the
Agreement enters into force with respect to that
country.

5. Consistent with section 201(a)(3) of the Act (19
U.S.C. 4031(a)(3)), each Agreement country is to be
removed from the enumeration of designated beneficiary
countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery
Act (CBERA) (19 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) on the date the
Agreement enters into force with respect to that
country, subject to the exceptions set out in section
201(a)(3)(B) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 4031(a)(3)(B)).

6. Consistent with section 213(b)(5)(D) of the CBERA
(19 U.S.C. 2703(b)(5)(D)), as amended by the United
States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA)
(Public Law 106-200), each Agreement country is to be
removed from the enumeration of designated CBTPA
beneficiary countries on the date the Agreement enters
into force with respect to that country.

7. Section 201(b) of the Act (19 U.S.C. 4031(b))
authorizes the President, subject to the consultation
and layover requirements of section 104(a) of the Act
(19 U.S.C. 4014(a)), to proclaim such modifications or
continuation of any duty, such modifications as the
United States may agree to with an Agreement country
regarding the staging of any duty treatment set forth
in Annex 3.3 of the Agreement, such continuation of
duty-free or excise

treatment, or such additional duties, as the President
determines to be necessary or appropriate to maintain
the general level of reciprocal and mutually
advantageous concessions provided for by the Agreement.
The consultation and layover requirements of section
104(a) of the Act have been satisfied with respect to
providing temporary duty free treatment for certain
goods of Costa Rica as set forth in the Amendment.

8. Pursuant to section 201(b) of the Act, I have
determined that the modifications herein proclaimed of
duties on goods of Costa Rica are necessary or
appropriate to maintain the general level of reciprocal
and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to
Costa Rica provided for by the Agreement.

9. In Proclamation 8095 of December 29, 2006,
consistent with the authority set out in section 111(b)
of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (19 U.S.C.
3521(b)), I modified the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of
the United States (HTS) to implement the multilateral
agreement negotiated under the auspices of the World
Trade Organization to eliminate tariffs on certain
pharmaceutical products and chemical intermediates. I
have determined that technical corrections to the
pharmaceuticals annex to the HTS are necessary to
ensure that certain products receive the intended duty
treatment.

10. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the ``1974
Act'') (19 U.S.C. 2483), as amended, authorizes the
President to embody in the HTS the substance of
relevant provisions of that Act, and of other Acts
affecting import treatment, and of actions taken
thereunder.

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 201 of the Act and section 604 of the 1974 Act,
and the Act having taken effect pursuant to section
107, do proclaim that:

(1) In order to provide generally for the preferential
tariff treatment being accorded to Costa Rica under the
Agreement, as amended, to provide certain other
treatment to originating goods for the purposes of the
Agreement, to provide tariff-rate quotas with respect
to certain goods, to reflect the removal of Costa Rica
from the enumeration of designated beneficiary
developing countries for purposes of the GSP, to
reflect the removal of Costa Rica from the enumeration
of designated beneficiary countries for purposes of the
CBERA and the CBTPA, and to make technical and
conforming changes in the general notes to the HTS, the
HTS is modified as set forth in Annexes I and II of
Publication 4038 of the United States International
Trade Commission, entitled Modifications to the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to
Implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-United
States Free Trade Agreement With Respect to Costa Rica
(Publication 4038), which is incorporated by reference
into this proclamation.

(2) In order to make technical corrections necessary to
provide the intended duty treatment to certain
pharmaceutical products and chemical intermediaries,
the HTS is modified as set forth in Annex III of
Publication 4038.

(3) The amendments to the HTS made by paragraphs (1)
and (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 I, II, or III of Publication 4038.

(4) Except as provided in paragraph (3) of this
proclamation, this proclamation shall be effective with
respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse
for consumption, on or after January 1, 2009.

(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
twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
third.