USTR to List Country/Tariff Pairs Whose GSP Status May Change due to CNLs
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice to inform the public of the availability of import statistics for the first nine months of 2011 relating to competitive need limitations (CNLs) under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. These import statistics identify some country and tariff pairs for which the 2011 trade levels may exceed statutory CNLs. Interested parties may find this information useful in deciding whether to submit a petition to waive the CNLs for individual beneficiary developing countries (BDC) with respect to specific GSP-eligible articles.
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(Exclusions from GSP duty-free treatment where CNLs have been exceeded will be effective July 1, 2012, unless the President grants a waiver before the exclusion goes into effect.1)
CNL Waiver Petitions due Dec 16
The deadline for submission of product petitions to waive the CNLs for individual BDCs with respect to GSP-eligible articles is 5 p.m., December 16, 2011.
See Future Issue for Details as 9 Month Import Statistics not Yet Posted
However, USTR sources confirm that the import statistics for the first nine months of 2011 that this notice announces have not actually been posted. Once posted, these statistics will be available here. See future issue of ITT for details of this information once it becomes available.
1When the President determines that a BDC has exported to the U.S. during a calendar year either (1) a quantity of a GSP-eligible article having a value in excess of the applicable amount for that year ($150 million for 2011), or (2) a quantity of a GSP-eligible article having a value equal to or greater than 50% of the value of total U.S. imports of the article from all countries (the “50 percent CNL”), the President must terminate GSP duty-free treatment for that article from that BDC by no later than July 1 of the next calendar year. However, the President may waive the 50 percent CNL with respect to an eligible article imported from a BDC, if the value of total imports of that article from all countries during the calendar year did not exceed the applicable de minimis amount for that year ($20.5 million for 2011). Further, if imports of an eligible article from a BDC ceased to receive duty-free treatment due to exceeding a CNL in a prior year, the President may redesignate such an article for duty free treatment if imports in the most recently completed year did not exceed the CNLs.
(See ITT’s Online Archives 11102103 for summary of the signing of H.R. 2832 which retroactively extended the GSP program through July 31, 2013.)
USTR contact - Donnette Rimmer (202) 395-9618