The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is changing the hearing date and related deadlines for the Country Practice Petitions Accepted as Part of the 2011 Annual Generalized System of Preferences Review, it said in a Federal Register notice scheduled for Aug. 16. The new dates are:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it's prepared to receive petitions to modify the list of products that are eligible for duty-free treatment under the GSP program and to modify the GSP status of certain GSP beneficiary developing countries because of country practices. USTR said it's also prepared to receive petitions requesting waivers of competitive need limitations (CNLs). GSP petitions must be received by the GSP Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee by 5 p.m. Oct. 5, and CNL petitions by 5 p.m. Nov. 21, it said. GSP petitions may be to: designate additional articles as eligible for GSP benefits, including to designate articles as eligible for GSP benefits only if imported from countries designated as least-developed beneficiary developing countries, or only from countries designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) withdraw, suspend or limit the application of duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP with respect to any article; waive the CNL for individual beneficiary developing countries with respect to specific GSP-eligible articles (these limits do not apply to least-developed beneficiary developing countries or AGOA beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries); or otherwise modify GSP coverage. Further information: Tameka Cooper, 202-395-6971 or Tameka_Cooper@ustr.eop.gov.
The U.S. International Trade Commission released “The Year in Trade 2011,” its annual overview of the previous year's trade-related activities. The Year in Trade 2011 includes complete listings of antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, intellectual property rights infringement, and section 301 cases undertaken by the U.S. government in 2010. In addition, the 2011 report covers:
CBP mistakenly issued billings for additional merchandise processing fees (MPF) for some entry summaries with entry dates prior to Oct. 1, CBP said in a CSMS message July 17. Entry summaries with an entry date on or after Oct. 1, 2011, are subject to the MPF rate of 0.3464 percent.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 9-13 in case they were missed last week.
The Office of U.S. Trade Representative announced the results of the 2011 Annual Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Review, in a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication July 12. It also scheduled public comments and a public hearing for new country practice petitions for Fiji, Indonesia, Iraq, and Ukraine, and announced the closure of the country practices review of Sri Lanka's worker rights practices, and the designation of Afghanistan as a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) for purposes of the GSP. Some specific results of the review:
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 2-6 in case they were missed last week.
CBP posted a document to its website that provides side-by-side comparisons of the following 18 U.S. free trade agreements and preferential trade programs: NAFTA; Chile (CFTA); Singapore (SFTA); Australia (AFTA); Israel (ILFTA); Jordan (JFTA); Bahrain (BFTA); Morocco (MFTA); Oman (OFTA); Central America-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR); Peru (PTPA); Korea (UKFTA); Colombia (CTPA); Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA); Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA); Generalized System of Preferences (GSP); African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA); Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA); and Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA).
CBP issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1207 on changes to the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). This update contains 1,432 ABI records and 302 harmonized tariff records. Changes required by Presidential Proclamation 8840, To Modify Duty Free Treatment Under the Generalized System of Preferences, and for Other Purposes, effective July 1, are included as well. This proclamation is (here).
President Obama issued Proclamation 8840 which, among other things, implements changes to the Generalized System of Preferences and the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement. Details of changes follow: