Proclamation 5304 -- Save Your Vision Week, 1985
February 21, 1985
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Good vision is a priceless treasure. Our ability to see the print in a book, the beauty of a sunset, and the faces of our loved ones is a gift that should be cherished and protected. Yet each year many Americans lose vision that could have been saved. To halt this tragic waste, we must make more people aware of the steps that all of us can take to safeguard our vision.
Of all sight-saving precautions, the most important is to have regular eye examinations by an eye care professional. Such check-ups are more valuable today than ever before. Thanks to vision research, effective treatment is now available to many people whose sight is threatened by eye disorders. But the greatest medical benefits generally go to those who get the earliest warning of serious eye disease. For them, there may be an opportunity to stop the disease before it has caused significant visual loss.
Middle age is a particularly good time for a person to take advantage of the protection that regular eye examinations can offer. This is because glaucoma, diabetic retinal disease, and several other disorders that are major causes of blindness tend to strike during the middle years of life.
Older Americans, too, should have regular eye check-ups. Cataract, macular disease, and a number of other age-related conditions that can rob elderly people of their vision are detectable by means of a routine eye examination. For many older Americans, learning of the existence of a visual problem is the first step toward obtaining the medical treatment or special visual aids that will allow them to go on leading active, independent lives.
Children also have much to gain from eye examinations. Even very young babies can benefit from discovery of an unsuspected eye problem that should be corrected while the child is still small. Some childhood eye problems, if left untreated, can cause a child to be needlessly handicapped at school and play or even lead to permanent visual loss.
An important concern for people of all ages in protecting the eye from injury. By wearing safety glasses, goggles, or face shields in all hazardous work situations and recreational activities, we can dramatically reduce the toll of visual loss caused by injuries.
There is yet another way for citizens to help improve the eye health of our Nation. Each of us can sign an organ donation card and carry it all times to insure that after death our eyes are used for vision research and for people who must have a cornea transplant in order to see again.
To encourage people to consider how important their eyesight is and what they can do to preserve it, the Congress, by joint resolution approved December 20, 1963 (77 Stat. 629, 36 U.S.C. 169a), has requested the President to proclaim the first week in March of each year as ``Save Your Vision Week.''
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate the week beginning March 3, 1985, as Save Your Vision Week. I urge all Americans to participate in this observance by making eye care and eye safety an important part of their lives. Also, I invite eye care professionals, the communications media, and all public and private organizations committed to the goal of sight conservation to join in activities that will make Americans more aware of the steps they can take to protect their vision.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth.
Ronald Reagan
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:41 a.m., February 21, 1985]
Proclamation 5305 -- Duty Reductions on High Technology Products
February 21, 1985
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
1. Pursuant to section 308 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984 (Pub. L. 98 - 573; 98 Stat. 2948, 3013) and section 128 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2138), I have, through my duly empowered representative, entered into an agreement with Japan to achieve the negotiating objectives under section 104A(c) of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2114A). In order to obtain those objectives, in particular the maximum openness with respect to international trade and investment in high technology products, I have determined that the reduction to zero of existing column 1 duties provided for in the items of the Tariff Schedules of the United States (TSUS) (19 U.S.C. 1202) listed in section 128 is appropriate.
2. Accordingly, I have determined that the agreement should be implemented and duty-free treatment should be afforded to certain articles enumerated in section 128, effective on or after March 1, 1985. Furthermore, I authorize the United States Trade Representative (USTR), or his designee, on behalf of the United States of America, to modify the TSUS in order to make duty-free treatment effective for the remaining articles set forth in section 128.
3. Pursuant to section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2483), I have determined that technical corrections are necessary in order to implement modifications to the TSUS made by Proclamation 5291 of December 28, 1984 (50 F.R. 223), modifying duties on certain articles used in civil aircraft and on globes. Certain new items in the TSUS created in the Annex to that Proclamation must be redesignated to eliminate numbering conflicts resulting from the redesignation of other provisions by the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984.
Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, including but not limited to sections 128 and 604 of the Trade Act of 1974 and section 308 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, do proclaim that:
(1) Items 687.72, 687.74, 687.77, 687.81, and 687.85 in part 5 of schedule 6 of the TSUS are modified by striking out, from the column entitled ``Rates of Duty 1'' for each item, the duty rate ``4.2% ad val.'' and inserting in such column for each item the duty rate ``Free''. These modifications shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after March 1, 1985.
(2) Item 687.70 in part 5 of schedule 6 of the TSUS is modified by striking out, from the column entitled ``Rates of Duty 1'' for such item, the duty rate ``4.2% ad val.'' and inserting in such column for such item the duty rate ``Free''. This modification shall be effective with respect to articles entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after a date determined by the USTR and published in the Federal Register which is after the effective date of legislation making technical corrections in section 128 of the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984.
(3) The USTR is hereby authorized to make any other modifications of the TSUS in order to make duty-free treatment effective for the remaining articles covered by section 128.
(4) The Annex to Proclamation 5291 is modified --
(a) by striking out, in the modification numbered 16, the item numbers ``708.09'' and ``708.10'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``708.10'' and ``708.12'', respectively; and
(b) by striking out, in the modification numbered 17, the item numbers ``708.29'' and ``708.30'' and inserting in lieu thereof ``708.30'' and ``708.32'', respectively.
These modifications are effective on or after December 28, 1984.
In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 21st day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth.
Ronald Reagan
[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:50 a.m., February 22, 1985]