GSP and ATPA One Year Extension Bill Introduced in House, Vote May Occur Today
On December 11, 2009, the Chairman Rangel of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chairman Levin of the Trade Subcommittee introduced H.R. 4284, a bill to extend the Generalized System of Preferences and Trade Preference Act/Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPA/ATPDEA) beyond their December 31, 2009 expiration dates.
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According to Congressional sources, the House is expected to consider H.R. 4284 on December 14, 2009 under a suspension of the rules, a special procedure to take expeditious action on non-controversial measures. Bills brought up under suspension are debated for 40 minutes, may not be amended1, and require a 2/3 vote to pass.
GSP and ATPA/ATPDEA Would be Extended for One Year, Without Change
According to the text of H.R. 4284, GSP and ATPA/ATPDEA would be extended, without change, through December 31, 2010.
For ATPA/ATPDEA, this means the extension would apply to Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, the ATPDEA regional fabric tariff preference level (TPL), and the ATPDEA brassiere provision. H.R. 4284 would also extend through December 31, 2010 (from December 31, 2009) authority for the President to take certain bilateral emergency tariff actions with respect to ATPDEA apparel.
Deadline for Next ATPA/ATPDEA Biennial Report Moved Up by 10 Months
According to a House Ways and Means Committee press release, the U.S. Trade Representative is currently required to review of the operation of the ATPA/ATPDEA program, including compliance with eligibility criteria, and submit a report biennially to Congress. H.R. 4284 would move up the deadline for the next report to June 30, 2010 (from April 30, 2011).
3-4 Month Extension of Certain Customs User Fees (Including the MPF)
H.R. 4284 would amend 19 USC 58c(j)(3)(B)(i) in order to extend through May 14, 2018 (from February 14, 2018) the merchandise processing fee (MPF)).
H.R. 4284 would also extend certain other customs user fees (19 USC 58c(j)(3)(B)(i)) through June 7, 2018 (from February 7, 2018).
Note that these extensions "pay for" the cost of the GSP and ATPA/ATPDEA extensions.
Corporate Estimated Tax Revisions
H.R. 4284 would also make certain revisions to provisions on corporate estimated taxes in Section 202(b) of the Corporate Estimated Tax Shift Act of 2009.
(GSP (i.e., A, A*, and A) for most beneficiary countries, i.e., other than those listed as African Growth and Opportunity Act beneficiary countries, is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2009, unless a law extending it is enacted. Similarly, the ATPA/ATPDEA is scheduled to expire on December 31, 2009 (for Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador).
For AGOA beneficiary countries, both the GSP program (i.e., A, A*, and A) and the AGOA-GSP program (i.e., D) expire on a later date - September 30, 2015.)
1unless the amendment is submitted with the bill by its manager at the time the motion to suspend the Rules is offered.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/07/09 news, 09120705, for most recent BP summary on GSP/ATPA extension legislation.)
House Ways and Means press release on H.R. 4284 (dated 12/11/09) available by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.
H.R. 4284 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h4284ih.txt.pdf.