The International Trade Commission is readying to release a public report in late August on the effects of waivers on competitive need limitations for two Thai products in the Generalized System of Preferences, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said. USTR is giving stakeholders seven calendar days after the release of the ITC report to comment on its contents, said the USTR notice (here).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is moving forward with its review of the Generalized System of Preferences and is ready to consider petitions to modify both the list of GSP-eligible products and the beneficiary status of GSP countries, it said (here). The agency will also begin to accept petitions for waivers on 2015 GSP competitive need limitations. The agency outlined the following new deadlines in its GSP review (petitions are due at 5:00 p.m. on each deadline):
A U.S. transition from the African Growth and Opportunity Act to free trade agreements with sub-Saharan Africa would take “many years to finalize and implement,” said the Government Accountability Office in a report on AGOA released in recent days. That transition would require the U.S. to establish “timeframes to end access to trade preference programs,” and U.S. officials would likely have to keep the scope of the agreements initially limited, said the summary for the report (here). President Barack Obama signed into law a ten-year AGOA renewal in late June, alongside renewal for the Generalized System of Preferences and other trade legislation (see 1506290045).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is readying to hold an Aug. 11 hearing on competitive needs limitations and proposed designations for cotton products, and stakeholders submitted a range of comments in recent days (here). Those comments were due on July 31 in accordance with USTR’s deadlines for the review (see 1507060025). In the comments, industry and government officials pressured the agency to preserve CNLs for a long list of products, from Thai coconuts to Indian gold rope necklaces to Turkish copper. The National Cotton Council expressed support for GSP-eligibility for certain cotton of various specific staple lengths (not carded or combed), certain cotton card strips made from cotton waste and certain cotton fibers (carded or combed) that originate in least developed beneficiary developing countries. The Malawian government also pushed USTR to admit those cotton products. A number of other stakeholders submitted comments.
Clerical errors in a recently enacted law will increase duties on some outerwear apparel products unless Congress acts to fix them by December, according to trade lawyers and lobbyists. A section of the Trade Preferences Extension Act, which was signed into law in June, created new HTS subheadings for recreational performance outerwear, but specified the wrong duty rates for the new tariff lines. As a result, importers of certain water resistant apparel will see their duty liability change if the provisions take effect as scheduled on Dec. 28. Trade groups say there is already consensus on Capitol Hill that the errors need to be addressed, and fixes could be made in the upcoming Customs Reauthorization bill conference.
CBP updated the Automated Commercial Environment and Automated Commercial System to allow for Generalized System of Preference duty-free claims on July 29, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). The renewed GSP became effective on that date, meaning CBP is now accepting new GSP claims and will soon begin refund processing for GSP claims submitted after it expired in 2013 (see 1507210023).
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A Federal Register notice from CBP (here) details the plans for processing of Generalized System of Preferences refunds for eligible claims submitted while the program had lapsed. The notice includes much of the same information as released by the agency earlier this month (see 1507210023). The GSP reauthorization allows for retroactive benefits to be applied to eligible goods entered after July 31, 2013 through July 28. CBP plans to begin automated processing of GSP refunds on entries that included a GSP indicator "shortly after the effective date," which is July 29, it said. Duty-free treatment of GSP-eligible imports will also resume on July 29, CBP has said.
CBP will again allow for duty-free processing Generalized System of Preferences claims through the Automated Commercial Environment and Automated Commercial System beginning at 7 a.m. on July 29, the agency said. (here). The program was recently renewed after a multi-year lapse and CBP released guidance on procedures for past and future GSP claims (see 1507210023).
The U.S. International Trade Commission released its annual report on the previous year's trade-related activities, it said in a press release (here). The report (here) includes an overview of antidumping and countervailing duty, safeguard, intellectual property rights, and section 301 cases undertaken by the U.S. government in 2014. In addition, the report covers: