According to Washington Trade Daily, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Grassley has stated that he will not move legislation to reauthorize the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program - slated to expire on December 31, 2006 - because some beneficiary countries, particularly India and Brazil, are holding up the Doha Round of World Trade Organization talks. The article also states that Ways and Means Chairman Thomas last month suggested that GSP and all other U.S. trade preference programs be allowed to expire. (WTD, dated 05/17/06, www.washingtontradedaily.com )
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 the closure of review for cases 012-CP-05, protection of worker Rights in Swaziland, and 015-CP-05, protection of intellectual property in Kazakhstan. According to USTR, the Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) decided to close these cases following its 2005 Annual Review of petitions concerning the practices of certain beneficiary developing countries of the General System of Preferences (GSP) program. (FR Pub 05/01/06, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/pdf/E6-6536.pdf)
The World Shipping Council (WSC) has sent a letter to the House Homeland Security Committee urging the Committee to defeat H.R. 4899, the "Sail Only if Scanned Act," if it is offered as an amendment when the Committee considers H.R. 4954, the SAFE Port Act. According to the WSC, H.R. 4899 would require every ocean shipping container to be "scanned" in a foreign port before the container is loaded on the vessel for shipment to the U.S. (WSC letter, dated 04/18/06, available at http://www.worldshipping.org/king_letter.pdf.)
On March 31, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 7996 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc., to implement the U.S. - Dominican Republic -Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for Honduras and Nicaragua.
On March 31, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 7996 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc., to implement the U.S. - Dominican Republic -Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for Honduras and Nicaragua.
President Issues Proclamation
CBP Issues Instructions on Filing & Acceptance
On February 28, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 7987 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc., to implement the U.S.-Dominican Republic- Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for El Salvador.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message which corrects the phone number listed in another recent message for the CBP Headquarters client representative branch which was changed March 1, 2006. The correct phone number for the HQ client representative branch is (202) 772-3183. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/07/06 news, 06030735 1, for BP summary of CBP's previous message with the incorrect phone number.) (Adm: 06-0313, dated 03/07/06, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/cgi-bin/adminsearch/admmsg.view.pl?article=2006/2006-0313.ADM.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a memorandum providing instructions for the filing and acceptance of claims for preferential tariff treatment of goods made under the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).