# Implementation of the Second Round of Accelerated Tariff Eliminations Under Provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement

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## Record

- **Collection:** Federal Register
- **Document type:** Notice
- **Published:** June 11, 1998
- **Citation:** 63 FR 32036

## Text

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE

Implementation of the Second Round of Accelerated Tariff
Eliminations Under Provisions of the North American Free Trade
Agreement

AGENCY: Office of the United States Trade Representative.

ACTION: Notification of articles proposed for accelerated tariff
elimination under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Section 201(b) of the North American Free Trade Agreement
Implementation Act of 1993 (``the Act'') grants the President, subject
to the consultation and lay-over requirements of section 103(a) of the
Act, the authority to proclaim any accelerated schedule for duty
elimination that may be agreed to by the United States, Mexico and
Canada under Article 302(3) of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(``the NAFTA''). This notice is intended to inform the public of those
articles on which the United States has provisionally agreed to
accelerate the elimination of duties as a result of the second round of
talks.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs,
Office of the United States Trade Representative, Room 522, 600 17th
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20508; telephone: (202) 395-3412; fax:
(202) 395-9517. The list of products for which the United States will
accelerate tariff elimination, as well as the lists for Mexico and
Canada and can be obtained from the USTR Internet Web Page, at
www.ustr.gov under ``Reports.''.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Two Federal Register notices provide
information on the second round. A notice soliciting petitions appeared
May 12, 1997 (62 FR 25992) and a request for comments on the list of
products to be considered appeared October 21, 1997, (62 FR 54671).
Article 302 of the NAFTA provides that the Parties may consider and
agree to accelerate the elimination of customs duties on goods of a
Party. Pursuant to this provision, the United States, Canada and Mexico
solicited requests from interested parties in May 1997. As a result,
approximately 1,500 8-digit tariff subheadings were considered by the
three Parties. For trade between the United States and Canada, all
duties subject to tariff reductions were eliminated on January 1, 1998.
Therefore, this acceleration round resulted in two parallel agreements,
one between the United States and Mexico and another between Mexico and
Canada.
Section 201 of the Act authorizes the President to proclaim such
modifications in NAFTA duty treatment as the President determines to be
necessary or appropriate to maintain the general level of reciprocal
and mutually advantageous concessions provided in the NAFTA, subject to
the consultation and layover requirements of section 103 of the Act.
Pursuant to section 103, on May 29, 1998, a report was submitted to the
House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees that sets forth the
proposed action to be proclaimed, the reasons therefore, and the advice
obtained from the International Trade Commission and appropriate
advisory committees. After expiration of the 60-day consultation and
layover period, the President may proclaim the proposed changes in
NAFTA duty treatment.
As a part of the process, USTR requested the advice of the United
States International Trade Commission (USITC) and consulted with
private sector trade advisory groups. As was the practice under the
first NAFTA tariff acceleration and the three rounds conducted under
the provisions of the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement, the
United States did not agree to provide accelerated tariff elimination
for those products subject to negative advice. In a similar manner, the
governments of Canada and Mexico declined to agree to acceleration for
products subject to negative comments by their interested parties.
The Parties agreed to accelerated tariff elimination on the
remaining products, involving all or parts of approximately 600 8-digit
tariff lines for which one or more of the Parties have provisionally
agreed to eliminate duties at the conclusion of the necessary domestic
procedures.
As noted above, the relevant private sector advisory committees
were consulted throughout this process, and have expressed no objection
to eliminating tariffs for the products appearing in the Annex. In
addition, the USITC provided a report to USTR indicating that the
proposed eliminations would have no harmful impact on the United
States.
The attached list shows the tariff subheadings for which the United
States proposes to eliminate the remaining tariffs on imports of NAFTA-
qualifying goods from Mexico, effective August 1, 1998.
Regarding future tariff acceleration activity, trilateral work to
date has brought about a positive process of consultations and
communication among the private sectors of the NAFTA

[[Page 32037]]

countries. To encourage this process of industry cooperation, the
Governments of the three NAFTA countries have agreed to keep this
consultation process open, so that if consensus is reached among the
industries for particular items which were included in the Federal
Register notice of October 21, 1997, and equivalent notices published
by Mexico and Canada, the Governments will proceed with the appropriate
internal procedures to implement acceleration for such items. A further
Federal Register notice will be published in the near future providing
information on procedures regarding such industry consensus, as well as
those for new NAFTA accelerated tariff reduction requests.
Jon Huenemann,
Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for North America.

NAFTA Tariff Acceleration--Second Round Annex: List of Subheadings
for Which the United States Has Provisionally Agreed To Accelerate
Elimination of Duties for NAFTA Qualifying Goods of Mexico

2909.49.10, 2909.49.15, 2915.90.14, 2915.90.18, 2916.39.03,
2916.39.06, 2916.39.45, 2916.39.75, 2917.39.70, 2921.22.10,
2922.49.27, 2924.29.75, 2933.40.08, 2933.40.15, 2933.40.20,
2933.40.26, 2933.40.60, 2933.40.70, 2933.90.13, 2934.90.05,
2934.90.06, 2934.90.08, 2934.90.39, 2934.90.44, 3808.30.50,
3811.90.00, 3822.00.50, 3824.90.28, 3824.90.45, 3824.90.90,
5112.11.10, 5112.19.20, 5208.11.20, 5208.11.40, 5208.11.60,
5208.11.80, 5208.12.40, 5208.12.60, 5208.12.80, 5208.19.40,
5208.19.60, 5208.19.80, 5208.21.20, 5208.21.40, 5208.21.60,
5208.22.40, 5208.22.60, 5208.22.80, 5208.29.40, 5208.29.60,
5208.29.80, 5208.31.40, 5208.31.60, 5208.31.80, 5208.32.30,
5208.32.40, 5208.32.50, 5208.39.40, 5208.39.60, 5208.39.80,
5208.41.40, 5208.41.60, 5208.41.80, 5208.42.30, 5208.42.40,
5208.42.50, 5208.43.00, 5208.49.20, 5208.49.40, 5208.49.60,
5208.49.80, 5208.51.40, 5208.51.60, 5208.51.80, 5208.52.30,
5208.52.40, 5208.52.50, 5208.59.40, 5208.59.60, 5208.59.80,
5209.11.00, 5209.21.00, 5209.29.00, 5209.31.60, 5209.39.00,
5209.41.60, 5209.43.00, 5209.49.00, 5209.51.60, 5209.59.00,
5210.11.40, 5210.11.60, 5210.11.80, 5210.19.40, 5210.19.60,
5210.19.80, 5210.21.40, 5210.21.60, 5210.21.80, 5210.29.40,
5210.29.60, 5210.29.80, 5210.31.40, 5210.31.60, 5210.31.80,
5210.39.40, 5210.39.60, 5210.39.80, 5210.41.40, 5210.41.60,
5210.41.80, 5210.42.00, 5210.49.20, 5210.49.40, 5210.49.60,
5210.49.80, 5210.51.40, 5210.51.60, 5210.51.80, 5210.59.40,
5210.59.60, 5210.59.80, 5211.11.00, 5211.19.00, 5211.21.00,
5211.29.00, 5211.31.00, 5211.39.00, 5211.41.00, 5211.43.00,
5211.49.00, 5211.51.00, 5211.59.00, 5212.11.10, 5212.11.60,
5212.12.10, 5212.12.60, 5212.13.10, 5212.13.60, 5212.14.10,
5212.14.60, 5212.15.10, 5212.15.60, 5212.21.10, 5212.21.60,
5212.22.10, 5212.22.60, 5212.23.10, 5212.23.60, 5212.24.10,
5212.24.60, 5212.25.10, 5212.25.60, 5402.10.30, 5402.10.60,
5402.31.30, 5402.31.60, 5402.32.30, 5402.32.60, 5402.33.30,
5402.33.60, 5402.39.30, 5402.39.60, 5402.41.90, 5402.43.10,
5402.43.90, 5402.59.00, 5402.61.00, 5402.62.00, 5402.69.00,
5403.10.30*, 5403.20.60, 5403.31.00*, 5403.39.00, 5403.49.00,
5404.10.80, 5405.00.30, 5406.10.00, 5406.20.00, 5407.10.00,
5407.20.00, 5407.30.10, 5407.30.90, 5407.42.00, 5407.43.10,
5407.43.20, 5407.44.00, 5407.53.10, 5407.53.20, 5407.61.11,
5407.61.19, 5407.61.21, 5407.61.29, 5407.61.91, 5407.61.99,
5407.69.10, 5407.69.20, 5407.69.30, 5407.69.40, 5407.69.90,
5407.71.00, 5407.72.00, 5407.73.10, 5407.73.20, 5407.74.00,
5407.81.00, 5407.82.00, 5407.83.00, 5407.84.00, 5407.91.05,
5407.91.10, 5407.91.20, 5407.92.05, 5407.92.10, 5407.92.20,
5407.93.05, 5407.93.10, 5407.93.15, 5407.93.20, 5407.94.05,
5407.94.10, 5407.94.20, 5408.10.00, 5408.21.00, 5408.22.10,
5408.22.90, 5408.23.11, 5408.23.19, 5408.23.21, 5408.23.29,
5408.24.10, 5408.24.90, 5408.31.05, 5408.31.10, 5408.31.20,
5408.32.05, 5408.32.10, 5408.32.30, 5408.32.90, 5408.33.05,
5408.33.10, 5408.33.15, 5408.33.30, 5408.33.90, 5408.34.05,
5408.34.10, 5408.34.30, 5408.34.90, 5501.10.00, 5502.00.00,
5503.40.00, 5503.90.90, 5506.90.00, 5512.11.00, 5512.19.00,
5512.91.00, 5512.99.00, 5513.11.00, 5513.12.00, 5513.13.00,
5513.19.00, 5513.21.00, 5513.22.00, 5513.23.00, 5513.29.00,
5513.31.00, 5513.32.00, 5513.33.00, 5513.39.00, 5513.41.00,
5513.42.00, 5513.43.00, 5513.49.00, 5514.11.00, 5514.12.00,
5514.13.00, 5514.19.00, 5514.21.00, 5514.22.00, 5514.23.00,
5514.29.00, 5514.31.00, 5514.32.00, 5514.33.00, 5514.39.00,
5514.41.00, 5514.42.00, 5514.43.00, 5514.49.00, 5515.11.00,
5515.12.00, 5515.13.05, 5515.19.00, 5515.21.00, 5515.22.05,
5515.29.00, 5515.91.00, 5515.92.05, 5515.92.10, 5515.99.00,
5516.21.00, 5516.22.00, 5516.23.00, 5516.24.00, 5516.31.05,
5516.32.05, 5516.33.05, 5516.34.05, 5516.34.10, 5516.41.00,
5516.42.00, 5516.43.00, 5516.44.00, 5516.91.00, 5516.92.00,
5516.93.00, 5516.94.00, 5602.21.00, 5603.11.00, 5603.12.00,
5603.13.00, 5603.14.30, 5603.14.90, 5603.91.00, 5603.92.00,
5603.93.00, 5603.94.10, 5603.94.30, 5603.94.90, 5604.20.00,
5604.90.00, 5607.50.25, 5608.11.00, 5608.19.10, 5608.19.20,
5608.90.10, 5609.00.10, 5801.10.00, 5801.21.00, 5801.23.00,
5801.24.00, 5801.26.00, 5801.31.00, 5801.33.00, 5801.34.00,
5801.36.00, 5802.11.00, 5802.19.00, 5802.20.00, 5802.30.00,
5803.10.00, 5803.90.11, 5803.90.12, 5803.90.20, 5803.90.30,
5803.90.40, 5811.00.10, 5811.00.20, 5811.00.30, 5811.00.40,
5901.10.10, 5901.10.20, 5901.90.20, 5901.90.40, 5903.20.10,
5903.20.18, 5903.20.25, 5903.20.30, 5903.90.25, 5903.90.30,
5905.00.90, 5906.91.10, 5906.91.25, 5906.91.30, 5906.99.10,
5906.99.25, 5906.99.30, 5907.00.15, 5907.00.35, 5907.00.60,
5907.00.80, 5908.00.00, 5909.00.20, 5910.00.90, 5911.31.00,
5911.32.00, 6210.10.50, 6302.21.30, 6302.21.50, 6302.21.70,
6302.21.90, 6302.22.10, 6302.22.20, 6302.29.00, 6302.31.30,
6302.31.50, 6302.31.70, 6302.31.90, 6302.32.10, 6302.32.20,
6302.39.00, 6302.91.00, 6304.19.05, 6304.19.10, 6304.19.15,
6304.19.20, 6304.19.30, 6307.90.30, 6307.90.40, 6307.90.50,
6307.90.60, 6307.90.68, 6307.90.72, 6307.90.75, 6307.90.89,
6505.90.15, 6505.90.20, 6505.90.25, 6505.90.30, 6505.90.40,
6505.90.50, 6505.90.60, 6505.90.70, 6505.90.80, 6505.90.90,
7216.22.00, 7219.21.00, 7219.22.00, 7220.11.00, 7223.00.10,
7223.00.50, 7223.00.90, 7229.10.00, 8544.51.90, 9101.11.40,
9101.11.80, 9102.11.10, 9102.11.25, 9102.11.30, 9102.11.45,
9102.11.50, 9102.11.65, 9102.11.70, 9102.11.95, 9102.91.40,
9102.91.80, 9108.11.40, 9108.11.80

* = Only portions of the subheading as described below will have
duty elimination accelerated:
for 5403.10.00: Solution dyed viscose rayon yarn certified by the
importer to be solution dyed (provided for in subheading 5403.10.00)
for 5403.31.00: Solution dyed viscose rayon yarn certified by the
importer to be solution dyed (provided for in subheading 5403.31.00)

[FR Doc. 98-15291 Filed 6-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3190-01-P

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A98-15291. Public record. Not legal advice.