On September 7, 2004, the President signed Proclamation 7808 in order to make various changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) with respect to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III), the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), etc.
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)
The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a trade preference program established by the Trade Act of 1974, which promoted economic development by eliminating duties on many products when they were imported from one of the 119 countries and territories designated as developing. The program expired in December 2020 and is pending renewal in Congress. Should Congress renew the program with a retroactive refund clause, CBP will refund duties for entries eligible for GSP. Under the GSP, goods that are entirely produced or manufactured in a beneficiary developing country may qualify for duty-free entry under GSP; all third-party materials must undergo a substantial transformation defined as at least 35% of the good’s value having been added in the beneficiary country. The goods must also be “imported directly” from the GSP eligible country.
On September 7, 2004, the President signed Proclamation 7808 in order to make various changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) with respect to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III), the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), etc.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the initiation of a review to consider the designation of Serbia and Montenegro as a beneficiary developing country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
On September 7, 2004, President Bush signed Proclamation 7808 which makes various changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) with respect to: the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III), the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued The Year in Trade 2003, an annual review of U.S. trade-related activities during 2003. According to the ITC, this report covers major multilateral, regional, and bilateral developments that occurred during 2003, as follows:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice stating that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) is requesting written public comments by noon on September 17, 2004 for the annual review of the eligibility of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to receive the benefits of the AGOA.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a notice to its Web site stating that effective August 20, 2004, certain wall hangings of wool or fine animal hair, not knitted or crocheted (HTS 6304.99.10) and certain pillow covers of wool or fine animal hair (HTS 6304.99.40) that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after August 20, 2004 are eligible for Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) duty-free treatment provided that the proper GSP requirements are met.
On July 22, both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed H.R. 4842, the "U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act," clearing the measure for the President.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that its most recent Harmonized System (HS) update contains:
On July 13, 2004, President Bush signed into law H.R. 4103, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III).