Executive Order 12662—Implementing the United States-Canada Free-Trade Implementation Act

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, including the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement Implementation Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-449, 102 Stat. 1851) ("FTA Implementation Act"), it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Publication of Proposed Rules Regarding Technical Standards.

(a) In accordance with Articles 601(1) and 607 of the United States-Canada Free-Trade Agreement ("Free-Trade Agreement"), each agency subject to the provisions of the Administration Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. section 551 et seq.) shall, in applying section 553 of Title 5 of the United States Code with respect to any proposed Federal standards-related measures or product approval procedures, publish or serve notice of such measures or procedures not less than 75 days before the comment due date, except where, in urgent circumstances, delay would frustrate the achievement of a legitimate domestic objective.

(b) For purposes of this section:

(1) "legitimate domestic objective" means an objective whose purpose is to protect health, safety, essential security, the environment, or consumer interests;

(2) "product approval" means a Federal Government declaration that a set of published criteria has been fulfilled and therefore that goods are permitted to be used in a specific manner or for a specific purpose;

(3) "standards" and "certification systems" shall be defined in accordance with the definitions for those terms set out in section 451 of the Trade Act of 1979, 19 U.S.C. section 2571; and

(4) "standards-related measures" include technical specifications, technical regulations, standards and rules for certification systems that apply to goods, and processes and production methods.

(c) This section shall not apply with respect to any proposed rules related to agricultural, food, beverage, and certain related goods as defined in Chapter Seven (Agriculture) of the Free-Trade Agreement.

Sec. 2. Establishment of United States Secretariat. Pursuant to subsection 405(e) of the FTA Implementation Act, a "United States Secretariat" shall be established within the International Trade Administration of the Department of Commerce. The Secretariat shall facilitate:

(1) the operation of Chapters 18 and 19 of the Free-Trade Agreement, and

(2) the work of the binational panels and extraordinary challenge committees convened under those Chapters.

Sec. 3. Acceptance by the President of Panel and Committee Decisions. In accordance with subsection 401(c) of the FTA Implementation Act, in the event that the provisions of subparagraph 516A(g)(7)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. section 1516a(g)(7)(B), take effect, I accept, as a whole, all decisions of binational panels and extraordinary challenge committees.

Sec. 4. Judicial Review, This Order does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or any person.

Sec. 5. Effective Date. This Order shall take effect upon the entry into force of the Free-Trade Agreement.

RONALD REAGAN

The White House,

December 31, 1988.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:34 a.m., January 6, 1989]