USTR Releases GSP Report, Sets Hearing on Four Additional Nations
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:
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- The Administration decided to defer a decision on final action on a petition to add plastic bags (categorized under subheading 3923.21.00.30 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule) to the list of products eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP for all GSP beneficiary countries.
- Seven cotton fiber products were added to the list of eligible products for least-developed beneficiary developing countries of GSP.
The President granted petitions for waivers of CNLs for the following products:
- other acyclic monoamines (HTS 2921.19.60) from the Philippines
- "agarbatti" incense sticks (HTS 3307.41.00) from India
- seamless rubber gloves (HTS 4015.19.10) from Thailand
- certain air conditioning parts (HTS 8415.90.80) from Thailand.
(The disposition of all accepted petitions to grant waivers of CNLs is set out in List III (Decisions on Petitions to Grant a Waiver of the Competitive Need Limitation).)
The President revoked existing CNL waivers for certain silver jewelry articles (HTS 7113.11.50) from Thailand, certain rubber radial tires (HTS 4011.20.10) from Thailand, and certain hand-hooked rugs (HTS 5703.10.20) from India. The President granted de minimis waivers to 97 articles that exceeded the 50-percent import-share CNL but for which the aggregate value of all U.S. imports of that article was below the 2011 de minimis level of $20.5 million. The articles for which de minimis waivers were granted will continue to be eligible for duty-free treatment under GSP when imported from the associated countries. The President redesignated one product, kola nuts (HTS 0802.70.20) from Cote d'Ivoire, as eligible for GSP. Other USTR decisions:
- USTR accepted for review three country practice petitions submitted as part of the 2011 GSP Annual Review -- on Fiji regarding worker rights and on Indonesia and Ukraine regarding intellectual property rights -- as well as a petition on Iraq regarding worker rights that had been submitted as part of an earlier annual review.
- USTR deferred a decision on acceptance of a petition on Russia on expropriation.
- USTR decided to close the country practice review of case 005-CP-08 regarding worker rights in Sri Lanka, in view of significant progress made by the government of Sri Lanka over the past few years in affording internationally recognized worker rights to workers in that country.
- Country practice petitions that remain under review include: Lebanon, Russia and Uzbekistan regarding intellectual property rights, and Bangladesh, Georgia, Niger, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan regarding worker rights.
The GSP Subcommittee of the TPSC will hold a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 27 for Fiji, Indonesia, Iraq, and Ukraine, at 1724 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20508. All submissions in response to this notice must be submitted electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, using docket number USTR-2012-0012. Further information: Tameka Cooper, 202-395-6971 or Tameka_Cooper@ustr.eop.gov.
(See ITT's Online Archives 12070322 and 12070504 for summaries of ITC's Supplement 1 to the HTS and Presidential Proclamation 8840, respectively, which included the GSP-related changes to the HTS listed here, among others.)