USTR Accepting Country & Product Petitions for 2011 GSP Annual Review
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced that it is prepared to receive petitions to modify the list of products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program and to modify the status of certain GSP beneficiary developing countries because of country practices, as part of the 2011 GSP Annual Review.
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Product Petitions May Be Submitted for Add’l GSP Benefits, CNL Waivers, Etc.
Interested parties, including foreign governments, may submit petitions to:
- Designate additional articles as eligible for GSP benefits, including to designate articles as eligible for GSP benefits only for countries designated as least-developed beneficiary developing countries, or only for countries designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA);
- Withdraw, suspend or limit the application of duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP with respect to any article, either for all beneficiary developing countries, least-developed beneficiary developing countries or beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, or for any of these countries individually;
- Waive the “competitive need limitations” (see below1) for individual beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific GSP-eligible articles (these limits do not apply to least developed beneficiary developing countries or AGOA beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries); and
- Otherwise modify GSP coverage.
Country Practice Petitions May Be Submitted on GSP Eligibility Criteria
Any interested party may submit a petition to review the GSP eligibility of any beneficiary developing country with respect to any of the designation criteria listed in sections 502(b) or 502(c) of the Trade Act (19 USC 2462(b) and (c)).
Petitions Due Dec 5, but Petitions with CNL Waivers Have until Dec 16
Country practice and product petitions (other than those requesting competitive need limitation (CNL) waivers) are due by December 5, 2011. Petitions requesting CNL waivers are due by December 16, 2011.
Hearing Dates & Accepted Petitions to Be Announced Later
Decisions on which petitions are accepted for review, along with a schedule for any related public hearings, will be announced at a later date.
1Competitive need limits represent the maximum import level of a product that is eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP. Once the limit is reached, trade is considered competitive," benefits are no longer needed, and imports of the article become ineligible for GSP treatment, unless a waiver is granted.
There are two types of CNLs - the value CNL (which is a dollar threshold) and the 50% CNL (equal to or greater than 50% of the value of total U.S. imports of the tariff number from all countries for that year). The USTR has previously explained that the President has the authority to waive both the value and 50% CNLs for country/tariff number combinations if an interested party petitions for a waiver before the country/tariff number combination exceeds a CNL.
(See ITT’s Online Archives 11110124 for summary of USTR announcing it had accepted one country practice petition for the 2010 GSP Annual Review and that there would be no CNL action in 2011 as part of the 2010 GSP Annual Review due to the lapse of GSP authorization through much of 2011.
See ITT’s Online Archives 11102103 for summary of the signing of H.R. 2832 which retroactively extended the GSP program from January 1, 2011 through July 31, 2013.
See ITT’s Online Archives 10122711 for summary of CBP instructions on GSP’s expiration on December 31, 2010.)
(FR Pub 11/01/11)
USTR contact - Tameka Cooper (202) 395--6971