Proclamation 6650—To Amend the Generalized System of Preferences and for Other Purposes

1. Pursuant to sections 501 and 502 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended ("Trade Act") (19 U.S.C. 2461 and 2462), and having due regard for the eligibility criteria set forth therein, I have determined that it is appropriate to designate Kazakhstan and Romania as beneficiary developing countries for purposes of the Generalized System of Preferences ("GSP").

2. Proclamation No. 6579 of July 4, 1993, implemented an accelerated schedule of duty elimination and modified the rules of origin under the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Proclamation No. 6641 of December 15, 1993, implemented the North American Free Trade Agreement. Certain conforming changes and technical corrections to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States ("HTS") were omitted from these proclamations. I have decided that it is appropriate to modify the HTS to make such changes and corrections.

3. Section 604 of 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.

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 of America, including but not limited to sections 501 and 604 of the Trade Act, do proclaim that:

(1) General note 4(a) to the HTS, listing those countries whose products are eligible for benefits of the GSP, is modified by inserting "Kazakhstan" and "Romania" in alphabetical order in the enumeration of independent countries.

(2) In order to make conforming changes and technical corrections in certain HTS provisions, pursuant to actions taken in Proclamation No. 6579 and Proclamation No. 6641, the HTS and Proclamation No. 6641 are modified as provided in the annex to this proclamation, effective as of the dates specified in such annex.

(3) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive orders inconsistent with the provisions of this proclamation are hereby superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.

(4) The modifications to the HTS made by paragraph (1) of this proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles that are: (i) imported on or after January 1, 1976, and (ii) entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 15 days after the date of publication of this proclamation in theFederal Register .

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON