President Designates Angola as an AGOA Beneficiary Country (AGOA Designation Terminated for Eritrea and Central African Republic)
On December 30, 2003, President Bush issued Proclamation 7748 in order to change the status of the Republic of Angola (Angola), State of Eritrea (Eritrea), and the Central African Republic for purposes of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as well as to make a technical amendment to Proclamation 7616.
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AGOA GSP for Eligible Products from Angola Effective January 1, 2004
In Proclamation 7748, President Bush designated Angola as an eligible sub-Saharan African country and as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country ("AGOA beneficiary country"). In order to reflect its new beneficiary status, Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) General Note 16(a) is modified by adding Angola to the list of AGOA beneficiary countries. In addition, Proclamation 7748 designates Angola as a lesser developed AGOA beneficiary country.
As a result of Angola's designation as an AGOA beneficiary country, duty-free treatment under the AGOA Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program will be available for qualifying articles from Angola that are classified under any of approximately 1,835 specified HTS numbers, which Proclamation 7748 states is effective for goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after January 1, 2004.
Angola Not Yet Eligible for AGOA Textile and Apparel Benefits
Despite Angola's designation as a beneficiary country, it will not qualify for AGOA duty-free benefits for specified textiles and apparel unless and until the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) determines that the country has (1) adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent unlawful transshipment and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with shipments of textile articles and (2) implemented and follows, or is making substantial progress toward implementing and following, the customs procedures required by AGOA.
Eritrea and Central African Republic No Longer Beneficiary AGOA Countries
Proclamation 7748 also terminates the designation of Eritrea and the Central African Republic as AGOA beneficiary countries effective January 1, 2004. In order to reflect this, HTS General Note 16(a) is modified by deleting Eritrea and the Central African Republic from the list of AGOA beneficiary countries. In addition, HTS Chapter 98, Subchapter XIX, Note 2(d) is modified by deleting Eritrea and the Central African Republic from the list of lesser developed AGOA beneficiary countries.
Technical Amendment Made to Proclamation 7616 Regarding ATPA and CBERA
Proclamation 7748 also makes a technical amendment to Proclamation 7616 in order to correctly state that the authority delegated to the USTR is to publish notice of the President's proposed action to withdraw or suspend benefits of the Andean Trade Promotion Act (ATPA), as amended, or the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), as amended, for a country or any article of a country.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 11/18/02 news, 02111830, for the final part of BP's series of summaries on Proclamation 7616.)
Proclamation 7748 (FR Pub 01/02/04) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/03-32327.pdf