Executive Order 12662 --
Implementing the United States-Canada Free-Trade Implementation Act
By
virtue of the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and laws
of the United States of America, including the United States-Canada Free-Trade
Agreement Implementation Act of 1988 (Public Law 100 - 449, 102 Stat. 1851)
(``FTA Implementation Act''), it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Publication of
Proposed Rules Regarding Technical Standards.
(a)
In accordance with Articles 601(1) and 607 of the United States-Canada
Free-Trade Agreement (``Free-Trade Agreement''), each agency subject to the
provisions of the Administration Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. section 551 et seq.)
shall, in applying section 553 of Title 5 of the United States Code with
respect to any proposed Federal standards-related measures or product approval
procedures, publish or serve notice of such measures or procedures not less
than 75 days before the comment due date, except where, in urgent
circumstances, delay would frustrate the achievement of a legitimate domestic
objective.
(b)
For purposes of this section:
(1)
``legitimate domestic objective'' means an objective whose purpose is to
protect health, safety, essential security, the environment, or consumer
interests;
(2)
``product approval'' means a Federal Government declaration that a set of
published criteria has been fulfilled and therefore that goods are permitted to
be used in a specific manner or for a specific purpose;
(3)
``standards'' and ``certification systems'' shall be defined in accordance with
the definitions for those terms set out in section 451 of the Trade Act of
1979, 19 U.S.C. section 2571; and
(4)
``standards-related measures'' include technical specifications, technical
regulations, standards and rules for certification systems that apply to goods,
and processes and production methods.
(c)
This section shall not apply with respect to any proposed rules related to
agricultural, food, beverage, and certain related goods as defined in Chapter
Seven (Agriculture) of the Free-Trade Agreement.
Sec. 2. Establishment of
(1)
the operation of Chapters 18 and 19 of the Free-Trade
Agreement, and
(2)
the work of the binational
panels and extraordinary challenge committees convened under those Chapters.
Sec. 3. Acceptance by the
President of Panel and Committee Decisions. In accordance with
subsection 401(c) of the FTA Implementation Act, in the event that the
provisions of subparagraph 516A(g)(7)(B) of the Tariff
Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. section 1516a(g)(7)(B), take effect, I
accept, as a whole, all decisions of binational
panels and extraordinary challenge committees.
Sec. 4. Judicial Review.
This Order does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law by a party against the
Sec. 5. Effective Date.
This Order shall take effect upon the entry into force of the Free-Trade
Agreement.
Ronald
Reagan
The
White House,
[Filed with the Office
of the Federal Register,