On September 21, 2006, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee introduced H.R. 6142, a bill to provide trade preferences for developing countries.
The President of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America's (NCBFAA) has issued a letter to the Chair of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Subcommittee in the Office of the U.S Trade Representative (USTR) calling on the administration to work closely with Congress to ensure a timely, long-term renewal of the GSP beyond its December 31, 2006 expiration date. (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/11/06 news, 06081110, for BP summary of USTR's request for comments on changes, etc. to the GSP program.)(NCBFAA letter, announcement dated 08/31/06, available via email by sending a request to documents@brokerpower.com)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site an updated Synopsis of certain Trade Agreements/Programs which outlines the criteria that imported articles must meet to qualify for preferential treatment under various trade agreements and programs; the statements and documents that an importer must be prepared to submit to substantiate their claim; etc.
The Summer 2006 issue of the NCBFAA Quarterly Bulletin contains an article that states that the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program is being referred to disparagingly as "a unilateral preference program" and "an obstacle" to real trade liberalization due to the unwillingness of certain GSP beneficiary countries' to step forward in the Doha trade talks. In addition, Congressional leaders with the power to decide its fate are threatening to let GSP expire indefinitely at the end of this year or tighten eligibility requirements, which would likely remove some countries from the program. (NCBFAA Quarterly Bulletin, No. 106-2, Summer 2006, www.ncbfaa.org.)
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has previously issued a notice announcing that the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) was seeking public comments and scheduling a public meeting as part of its review on whether the operation of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program should be changed so that the program's benefits are focused in a different way.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that the U.S. is considering whether to recommend that duty-free treatment accorded to imports from Romania under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program be withdrawn or suspended for the following reasons:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that because of technical problems, it may not have received all the petitions which were submitted for the 2006 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review (2006 Annual GSP Review).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that it has initiated a review of and is soliciting public comment by August 25, 2006 on the designation of East Timor for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. According to the notice, the USTR will determine if East Timor meets the eligibility criteria of the GSP program and should be designated as a GSP least-developed beneficiary developing country (LDBDC).
On July 27, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 8039 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc., to implement the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement (BFTA), etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice announcing that the Customs Electronic Bulletin Board (CEBB) has been retired and all valid materials have been migrated to updated systems, including cbp.gov. CBP's notice notes certain new locations for various information, as the CEBB page itself will be retired on September 30, 2006. (CBP notice, undated, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/communications_to_trade/cebb_linklist.xml)