USTR Seeks Comment on 2009 GSP Country Practice Petitions, Deadline for 2010 Petitions
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice setting forth the schedule for comment and public hearings on the country practice petitions that have been accepted for the 2009 Generalized System of Preferences Annual Review.
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USTR's notice also announces that the deadline for new country practice petitions under the 2010 GSP Annual Review is 5 p.m., September 10, 2010.
(GSP annual country eligibility practice reviews involve an analysis of petitions to withdraw, suspend, or limit a country's GSP benefits for not meeting GSP eligibility criteria.)
Comment, Public Hearing Schedule for 2009 Accepted Petitions
The petitions accepted include a Worker Rights petition regarding Sri Lanka filed by the AFL-CIO and two Arbitral Awards petitions regarding Argentina filed by Azurix Corporation and Blue Ridge Investments, LLC.
USTR's schedule for these petitions is as follows:
September 3, 2010: Due date for submission of pre-hearing briefs and requests to appear at the GSP Subcommittee public hearing.
September 24, 2010: GSP Subcommittee public hearing, for all country practice petitions accepted for the 2009 GSP Annual Review, to be held in Washington, D.C.
October 15, 2010: Due date for submission of post-hearing briefs.
2010 Petitions Due by Sept 10, Hearing to be Announced Later
The deadline for new country practice petitions under the 2010 GSP Annual Review is September 10, 2010. Any new country practice petitions accepted for review and any hearing schedule would be announced in the Federal Register at a later date.
(The GSP program (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, 2010, unless a law extending it is enacted. 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.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 07/15/10 news, 10071523, for BP summary of USTR accepting product petitions for the 2010 GSP Annual Review.
See ITT's Online Archives or 07/02/10 news, 10070221, for BP summary of USTR’s results of the 2009 GSP Annual Review.)
USTR contact- Tameka Cooper (202) 395-6971 or tameka_cooper@ustr.eop.gov
2009 GSP Annual Review information is available here.
2010 GSP Annual Review information is available here.