124 STAT. 4769 PROCLAMATION 8618—DEC. 21, 2010 Proclamation 8618 of December 21, 2010 To Take Certain Actions Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and for Other Purposes By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation 1. Section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the ‘‘1974 Act’’) (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1)), as added by section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (title I of Public Law 106–200) (AGOA), authorizes the President to designate a country listed in section 107 of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3706) as a ‘‘beneficiary sub-Saharan African country’’ if the President determines that the country meets the eligi- bility requirements set forth in section 104 of the AGOA (19 U.S.C. 3703), as well as the eligibility criteria set forth in section 502 of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2462). 2. Section 104 of the AGOA authorizes the President to designate a country listed in section 107 of the AGOA as an ‘‘eligible sub-Saharan African country’’ if the President determines that the country meets certain eligibility requirements. 3. In Proclamation 7657 of March 28, 2003, the President designated the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as an eligible sub-Saharan Af- rican country pursuant to section 104 of the AGOA. 4. Proclamation 7657 also authorized the United States Trade Rep- resentative (USTR) to exercise the authority provided to the President under section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act to designate the DRC as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country. 5. Pursuant to the authority delegated to the USTR, on October 31, 2003, the USTR designated the DRC as a beneficiary sub-Saharan Afri- can country (68 FR 62158–04). 6. Section 506A(a)(3) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)) authorizes the President to terminate the designation of a country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for purposes of section 506A if he deter- mines that the country is not making continual progress in meeting the requirements described in section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act. 7. Pursuant to section 506A(a)(3) of the 1974 Act, I have determined that the DRC is not making continual progress in meeting the require- ments described in section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act. Accordingly, I have decided to terminate the designation of the DRC as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for purposes of section 506A of the 1974 Act, effective on January 1, 2011. 8. On April 22, 1985, the United States and Israel entered into the Agreement on the Establishment of a Free Trade Area between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Israel (the ‘‘USIFTA’’), which the Congress approved in the United States-Israel Free Trade Area Implementation Act of 1985 (the ‘‘USIFTA Act’’) (19 U.S.C. 2112 note). 9. Section 4(b) of the USIFTA Act provides that, whenever the Presi- dent determines that it is necessary to maintain the general level of re- ciprocal and mutually advantageous concessions with respect to Israel
