Proclamation 6982

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

1. On December 13, 1996, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the United States and 16 other major trading countries, announced in the WTO Singapore Ministerial Declaration 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 ("Uruguay Round"). In addition, it was agreed that the agreement on pharmaceutical products reached at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and consequently Schedule XX-United States of America, annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994) ("Schedule XX") erroneously included 25 products.

2. (a) 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 correct technical errors in Schedule XX or to make other rectifications to the Schedule.

(b) Section 111(a) of the URAA (19 U.S.C. 3521(a)) authorizes the President to proclaim such additional duties as the President determines to be necessary or appropriate to carry out Schedule XX.

3. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (1974 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.

4. (a) Pursuant to section 111(b) of the URAA, I have determined that modifications to Schedule XX are necessary and that Schedule XX should be modified accordingly. In addition, I have determined to modify the HTS to implement the multilateral agreement on pharmaceuticals negotiated under the auspices of the WTO.

(b) Pursuant to section 111(a) of the URAA, I have determined that it is necessary or appropriate to modify the HTS to increase tariffs on products that were included erroneously in the pharmaceuticals agreement reached at the end of the Uruguay Round.

(c) On January 29, 1997, 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 set forth the proposed tariff eliminations and corrections in existing tariff treatment, together with the advice received from the appropriate private sector advisory committee and the U.S. International Trade Commission regarding such actions. During the 60-day period thereafter, the USTR consulted with the Committees on the proposed tariff eliminations and corrections.

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 111(a) and (b) of the URAA and section 604 of the 1974 Act, do hereby proclaim that:

(1) 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 correct errors, Schedule XX and the pharmaceutical appendix to the HTS are modified as set forth in the Annex to this proclamation.

(2) The modifications to the HTS set forth in this proclamation shall be effective as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.

(3) 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 April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-first.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 1:54 p.m., April 2, 1997]