President Bush Signs DR-CAFTA Implementation Act into Law
On August 2, 2005, President Bush signed H.R. 3045, the Dominican Republic-Central America - U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) Implementation Act into law (Public Law (P.L.) 109-53).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
H.R. 3045, which provides for the implementation of DR-CAFTA, was passed by the House and Senate on July 28, 2005. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/29/05 news, 05072905, for BP summary on House and Senate passage of H.R. 3045.)
According to a Congressional Research Service summary, H.R. 3045:
Approves DR-CAFTA. Approves the DR-CAFTA1 entered into with the Governments of Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua and the statement of administrative action proposed to implement the DR-CAFTA, both submitted to Congress;
(Press sources indicate that the following three countries have not yet approved the DR-CAFTA agreement - Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.)
Authorizes Presidential proclamation to implement DR-CAFTA. Authorizes the President to proclaim such actions, and other appropriate officers of the U.S. Government to issue such regulations, as may be necessary to ensure appropriate implementation of any provision of this Act that takes effect on the date the DR-CAFTA enters into force;
Provides for tariff modifications, etc. Provides for (1) administration of dispute settlement proceedings; (2) arbitration of claims against the U.S. covered by the DR-CAFTA; and (3) specified tariff modifications;
Assesses safeguard duties. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury, in certain circumstances, to assess additional duties, calculated according to a specified formula, on agriculture safeguard goods included in the Schedule of the U.S. to the DR-CAFTA that qualify as an originating good under this Act. Except from additional duties any good subject to import relief under this Act or to any action to facilitate positive adjustment to import competition under the Trade Act of 1974;
Prescribes requirements for textile and apparel rules of origin, etc. Prescribes requirements for (partial list):
a) enforcement of textile and apparel rules of origin;
b) retroactive application for certain liquidations and reliquidations of textile or apparel goods (to January 1, 2004);
c) actions for relief from imports benefiting from the DR-CAFTA;
d) certain textile and apparel safeguard measures;
e) presidential actions with regard to International Trade Commission findings on whether imports of articles from a DR-CAFTA country are a substantial cause of serious injury or threat to U.S. articles and industries; and
f) periodic presidential reports to Congress on the implementation of the DR-CAFTA, and periodic meetings between the Secretary of Labor and the labor ministers of the DR-CAFTA countries on labor obligations and labor capacity-building; and
Makes DR-CAFTA country products and services eligible for U.S. government procurement. Amends the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 to make products or services of any foreign country or instrumentality that is a party to the DR-CAFTA eligible for U.S. government procurement.
1 DR-CAFTA is sometimes referred to as CAFTA-DR or CAFTA by U.S. government officials and documents.
H.R. 3045, as passed by House and Senate, available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h3045enr.txt.pdf,)
Washington Trade Daily, dated 08/03/05, www.washingtontradedaily.com