Proclamation 7207—To Extend Nondiscriminatory Treatment (Normal Trade Relations Treatment) to Products of Mongolia and To Implement an Agreement To Eliminate Tariffs on Certain Pharmaceuticals and Chemical Intermediates

1. The United States has had in effect a bilateral Agreement on Trade Relations with Mongolia since 1991 and has provided normal trade relations treatment to the products of Mongolia since that time. I have found Mongolia to be in full compliance with the freedom of emigration requirements of title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 (the "Trade Act") (19 U.S.C. 2432).

2. Pursuant to section 2424(b)(1) of Public Law 106-36, and having due regard for the findings of the Congress in section 2424(a) of said Law, I hereby determine that title IV of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2431-2441) should no longer apply to Mongolia.

3. On November 13, 1998, members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the United States and 21 other major trading countries, announced in the WTO 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 (the "Uruguay Round"). A similar agreement between the United States and 16 other major trading countries eliminating tariffs on enumerated pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates was implemented for the United States on April 1, 1997, by Proclamation 6982, adding such goods to the scope of the agreement on pharmaceutical products reached at the conclusion of the Uruguay Round and reflected in Schedule XX-United State of America, annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (1994) (Schedule XX).

4. 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 reflect such duty treatment in Schedule XX by means of rectifications thereof.

5. On April 29, 1999, 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 sets forth the proposed tariff eliminations, together with the advice received from the appropriate private sector advisory committee and the United States International Trade Commission regarding the proposed tariff eliminations. During the 60-day period thereafter, the USTR consulted with the Committees on the proposed actions.

6. Section 604 of the Trade 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.

7. Pursuant to section 111(b) of the URAA, I have determined that Schedule XX should be modified to reflect the implementation by the United States of the multilateral agreement on certain pharmaceuticals and chemical intermediates negotiated under the auspices of the WTO. In addition, I have determined that the pharmaceuticals appendix to the HTS should be modified to reflect the duty eliminations provided in such agreement, and to make certain minor technical corrections in the identification of particular products in order to ensure that products are accorded the intended duty treatment.

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 section 2424(b)(2) of Public Law 106-36, section 111(b) of the URAA, and section 604 of the Trade Act, do hereby proclaim that:

(1) Nondiscriminatory treatment (normal trade relations treatment) shall be extended to the products of Mongolia, which shall no longer be subject to title IV of the Trade Act.

(2) The extension of nondiscriminatory treatment to the products of Mongolia shall be effective as of the date of signature of this proclamation.

(3) 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 make technical corrections in the tariff treatment accorded to such products, the HTS is modified as set forth in the Annex to this proclamation.

(4) Such modifications to the HTS shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after the dates set forth in the Annex for the respective actions taken.

(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 first day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-third.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON