USTR Announces Results of 2004 GSP Annual Product Review and 2004 De Minimis Waiver and Redesignation Review
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the disposition of the product petitions accepted for review in the 2004 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Product Review (including self-initiated product reviews) and the results of the 2004 De Minimis Waiver and Redesignation Review.
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(According to USTR, the GSP program provides for the duty-free importation of designated articles when imported from beneficiary developing countries.)
Annex I Contains Disposition of Product Petitions in 2004 GSP Annual Review
The USTR states that in the 2004 Annual Review, the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) reviewed petitions to change the product coverage of the GSP. According to USTR, the disposition of those petitions is described in Annex I to its notice.
Annexes II-IV Contain Results of 2004 De Minimis Waiver & Redesignation Review
The USTR states that in the 2004 De Minimis Waiver and Redesignation Review, the GSP Subcommittee evaluated the appraised import values of each GSP-eligible article in 2004 to determine whether an article from a GSP beneficiary developing country exceeded the GSP Competitive Need Limitations (CNLs).
Articles newly excluded from GSP eligibility. Articles that exceeded one of the GSP CNLs in 2004, and that are newly excluded from GSP eligibility for a specific country, are listed in Annex II to the USTR's notice.
Articles redesignated for GSP eligibility. Certain articles from GSP-eligible countries that had previously exceeded one of the CNLs, but had fallen below the CNLs in 2004 ($115 million and 50% of U.S. imports of the article), were redesignated for GSP eligibility. These articles and countries are listed in Annex III.
Articles granted de minimis waivers.De minimis waivers were granted to certain articles that exceeded the 50% import share CNL but for which the aggregate value of the imports of that article was below the 2004 de minimis level of $17.0 million. Annex IV to the USTR's notice contains a list of the articles and the associated countries granted de minimis waivers.
USTR contact - GSP Subcommittee (202) 395-6971
USTR notice (FR Pub 07/11/05) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-13592.pdf
BP Note
Any disposition of product petition or review result which resulted in changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) would have been noted in Presidential Proclamation 7912. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/05/05 news, 05070512, for BP summary of the GSP changes implemented by Proclamation 7912.)