U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a notice to its Web site stating that effective February 25, 2004, hand-loomed fabrics of the cottage industry, hand-made cottage industry products made of hand loomed fabrics and traditional handicraft textile products that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after February 25, 2004 are eligible for Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) duty-free treatment provided that proper requirements are met.
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 March 4, 2004, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 1047, the "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003."
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has inadvertently published a notice containing erroneously selected and organized 10-month data on the Competitive Need Limitations (CNLs) under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program.
President Bush has issued Proclamation 7758 in order to delete ten countries from, and add one country to, the list of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary developing countries.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the product petitions that have been accepted for further review in the 2003 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Review.
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss, and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials on, various customs and trade issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice which invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on information collection requirements concerning the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) non-textile Certificate of Origin (Form CBP-450).
The White House has issued a press release stating that on December 30, 2003, President Bush approved the designation of the following 37 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries as eligible for tariff preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA):
On December 30, 2003, President Bush issued Proclamation 7748 in order to change the status of the Republic of Angola (Angola), State of Eritrea (Eritrea), and the Central African Republic for purposes of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), as well as to make a technical amendment to Proclamation 7616.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice advising the trade of the upcoming system requirements for filing a U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA) claim through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).