12 2 STA T .53 2 8PROCL A M AT I O N 82 7 2 —JU N E 3 0, 2008 16.Purs u ant t o s ec t i on1 04 o f t h e AGO Aan d section 5 06A ( a ) (1) of the 1 97 4 Act ,I ha v e deter m ined that the U nion of the C omoros (Comoros) meets the e l i g i b ilit y re q uirements set forth or referenced therein, and I have decided to designate Comoros as an eligible sub -S aharan African country and beneficiary sub-Saharan African country. 17. I have further determined that Comoros satisfies the criterion for treatment as a lesser develo p ed beneficiary sub- Saharan African coun- try under section 11 2 (c)(5)( D )(i) of the AGOA. 1 8 . On August 5, 2004, the United States entered into the Dominican R epublic-Central America-United States F ree T rade Agreement (the ‘ ‘Agreement ’ ’) w ith Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, E l Salvador, Guatemala, H onduras, and N icaragua. The Congress approved the Agreement in section 101(a) of the Dominican Republic-Central Amer- ica-United States Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act (the ‘‘CAFTA-DR Act’’) (19 U.S.C. 4011). 19. Pursuant to section 40 3 (a) of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4111(a)), the President is to report biennially to the Congress on the matters described in that section and, as the President deems appro- priate, in section 403(b)(2) of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4111(b)(2)). 20. Pursuant to section 403(a)(4) of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4111(a)(4)), the President is to establish a mechanism to solicit public comments on the matters described in section 403(a)(3)(D) of the CAFTA-DR Act (19 U.S.C. 4111(a)(3)(D)). 21. In Presidential Proclamation 8213 of December 20, 2007, I modified the Harmoni z ed Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) pursuant to section 1634 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Public L aw 109 – 280, 120 Stat. 780) to carry out the understandings described in that section. Technical rectifications to the HTS are required to provide the intended tariff treatment. 22. In Presidential Proclamation 8240 of April 17, 2008, pursuant to section 503(c)(2)(A) of the 1974 Act, I modified the HTS to withdraw duty-free treatment for certain articles from J amaica. A technical rec- tification to the HTS is required to provide the intended tariff treat- ment. 23. Section 604 of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2483) authorizes the Presi- dent to embody in the 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 impo- sition of any rate of duty or other import restriction. NO W , THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. B USH, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Con- stitution and the laws of the United States, including but not limited to title V and section 604 of the 1974 Act, section 104 of the AGOA, section 301 of title 3, United States Code (3 U.S.C. 301), and section 403 of the CAFTA-DR Act, do proclaim that
(1) In order to provide that one or more countries should no longer be treated as beneficiary developing countries with respect to one or more eligible articles for purposes of the GSP, general note 4(d) to the HTS is modified as set forth in section A of Anne x I to this proclamation. (2) In order to provide that one or more countries should not be treated as beneficiary developing countries with respect to certain eligible arti-
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