Proclamation 6988—To Modify Application of Duty-Free Treatment Under the Generalized System of Preferences

1. Sections 502(d)(1) and 503(c)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended by Public Law 104-188; 110 Stat. 1755, 1920, 1922 ("the 1974 Act") (19 U.S.C. 2462(d)(1) and 2463(c)(1)), provide that the President may withdraw, suspend, or limit the application of the duty-free treatment accorded under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) with respect to any country and any article upon consideration of the factors set forth in sections 501 and 502(c) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2461 and 2462(c)). Pursuant to sections 502(d)(1) and 503(c)(1) of the 1974 Act and having considered the factors set forth in sections 501 and 502(c) of such Act, including, in particular, section 502(c)(5) (19 U.S.C. 2464(c)(5)) on the extent to which a designated beneficiary developing country is providing adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, I have determined that it is appropriate to suspend the duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP to certain eligible articles that are the product of Argentina, as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.

2. Section 604 of the 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.

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 502(d)(1), 503(c)(1), and 604 of the 1974 Act, do proclaim that:

(1) In order to provide that Argentina should no longer be treated as a beneficiary developing country with respect to certain eligible articles for purposes of the GSP, the HTS is modified as provided in the Annex to this proclamation.

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proclamations and Executive orders that are inconsistent with the actions and provisions of this proclamation are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.

(3) The modifications made by this proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles both: (i) imported on or after January 1, 1976, and (ii) entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 30 days after the date of publication of this proclamation in the Federal Register.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh 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