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 October 14, 2005 for the annual review of the eligibility of sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to receive the benefits of the AGOA.
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.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that it will conduct a Special 301 out-of-cycle review (OCR) focused on whether Ukraine has fully implemented certain improvements to its legislation protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) and has otherwise strengthened IPR enforcement.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a press release announcing that the U.S. is lifting the 100% retaliatory duty rates that have been imposed since 2002 on imports of certain fuel oils, fertilizers, pigments, footwear, diamonds, etc. from the Ukraine.
CBP has issued an ABI administrative message indicating that the Automated Commercial System (ACS) has been modified to reflect Proclamation 7912's amendment of HTS General Note 4(a) on the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to reflect a new "association of countries" (treated as one country for GSP purposes) known as the "South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation" (SAARC). According to a previous CBP administrative message foreshadowing this ACS modification, the SAARC member countries and their ISO codes are as follows:
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 2005 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Review.
On August 2, 2005 President Bush signed H.R. 3045, the "Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) Implementation Act" (Act) into law (Public Law (P.L.) 109-53). A Presidential Proclamation must still be issued to amend the tariff schedule for DR-CAFTA, etc.
On June 29, 2005, President Bush issued Proclamation 7912 in order to implement certain Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) changes effective July 1, 2005; restore suspended GSP benefits for a number of India or Pakistan articles; grant GSP benefits for the country of Serbia and Montenegro; implement certain North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rules of origin changes; delineate certain Carribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) and Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) benefits for footwear; treat certain members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as one country for purposes of GSP, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a July 2005 version of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Application. According to CBP, this application consists of four documents: ACE Account Portal Power of Attorney, Terms and Conditions for Account Access of ACE Portal, Additional Account/Account Owner Information, and ACE Secure Data Portal Request to Participate.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the disposition of the product petitions accepted for review in the 2004 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Product Review (including self-initiated product reviews) and the results of the 2004 De Minimis Waiver and Redesignation Review.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a notice announcing that the China safeguard quotas on cats 338/339 and 352/652 filled on July 5, 2005 at 8:30 a.m. According to CBP, the proration amounts for entries presented at the fill moment are as follows: