The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which is reviewing whether India, Indonesia and Kazakhstan should continue to be Generalized System of Preferences recipients (see 1804130027), announced the date of a public hearing on the matter. The hearing will be held June 19 at 10 a.m. EDT, and public comments are due by June 5.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1806 on April 25, containing 5,993 Automated Broker Interface records and 1,287 harmonized tariff records, it said in a CSMS message. Modifications include the removal of Ukraine as a beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences (see 1712260010), CBP said.
It’s of the “utmost importance” that importers ensure their mailing addresses in ACE and Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) numbers are up to date as CBP begins processing refunds for entries during the recent lapse in the Generalized System of Preferences program, a CBP official said on CBP’s biweekly ACE call held April 26. CBP prefers that the information be updated electronically, as processing of paper requests may not happen until after refunds checks have been cut and mailed, which should happen for most filers by mid-July, the official said.
Benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) mostly won't apply to goods subject to recently implemented tariffs on solar panels, washing machines, aluminum and steel, said CBP in on its website. President Donald Trump imposed new Section 201 safeguard tariffs on imports of large residential washers and solar cells and modules in January and Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum in March.
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CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Filers of entries eligible for the Generalized System of Preferences may resume filing without payment of estimated duties beginning on the April 22 effective date of recent GSP renewal legislation (see 1803230028), CBP said in a notice in the Federal Register mirroring its earlier guidance on the topic (see 1804040031). CBP will on that date begin automatically processing refunds for GSP entries filed during the lapse period of Jan. 1, 2018, through April 21, 2018, that included Special Program Indicator (SPI) “A,” it said. “CBP will not automatically process GSP duty refunds for formal covered entries that were not filed electronically via ABI, nor for formal and informal covered entries that were filed electronically via ABI with payment of estimated duties, but without inclusion of the SPI Code ‘A’ as a prefix to the listed tariff number. In both situations, requests for liquidation or reliquidation of covered entries must be made no later than September 19, 2018,” the agency said. “To avoid confusion, importers should not submit post-importation GSP claims on tariff items filed with the SPI ‘A’ at entry summary,” it said.
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India's eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences is being evaluated after petitions from American dairy interests and medical device manufacturers who complained about Indian trade policies on those products. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which announced the review of three countries on April 12, had mentioned India's pricing controls on knee replacements and stents as a trade irritant in its annual trade report (see 1803300022). The two interest groups have been asking for India's removal from GSP since October 2017 (see 1710190022). India is the top beneficiary of GSP, accounting for $5.6 billion of the program's $21.1 billion in imports last year, according to USTR.
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