The European Commission has confirmed that Sri Lanka will temporarily lose its preferential access to the EU market, starting August 15, 2010. Though the European Council offered to delay its February 2010 decision to remove Sri Lanka's GSP+ status pending tangible and sustainable progress on a number of outstanding issues, the Commission has not heard anything from Sri Lankan authorities and is moving forward with the revocation.
CBP has issued a CSMS message announcing recent changes to the 2010 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HS Update No. 1003). This update contains 303 ABI records and 66 harmonized tariff records.
On June 29, 2010, President Obama issued Proclamation 8539 in order to amend the harmonized tariff schedule to modify duty-free treatment and certain designations under the Generalized System of Preferences.
The International Trade Commission has posted the July 1, 2010 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (Revision 1) to its Web site.
The U.S. Trade Representative has issued a press release announcing the outcome of the 2009 Generalized System of Preferences Product and Country Eligibility Practices Review (2009 Annual GSP Review). The USTR has also issued a set of tables containing the review results.
On June 23, 2010, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “the U.S.-China Trade Relationship: Finding a New Path Forward.” Testifying at the hearing were U.S. Trade Representative Kirk and Commerce Secretary Locke.
On May 20, 2010, Representative Delahunt (D) introduced the Cambodian Trade Act of 2010 (H.R. 5349) which would prohibit the extension of duty-free treatment to all Cambodian apparel and certain Cambodian textiles, footwear.
In the May 26, 2010 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 44, No. 22), CBP published notices that revoke or modify certain rulings in order to correctly classify the products described below.
The European Commission has posted a final report regarding the Mid-term evaluation of the European Union's Generalized System of Preferences. The aim of the report is to consider the extent to which the GSP regime corresponds to the needs of developing countries, and in that context, to put forward recommendations for possible ways forward. Executive summary is available here.
The Treasury Department has published its spring 2010 semi-annual regulatory agenda for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.