USTR Announces Deadlines for Product and Country Practice Petitions in 2010 GSP Review

July 15, 2010

In today’s Federal Register, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published a  notice announcing the schedule for filing product and country eligibility petitions in connection with 2010 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Review. As part of the review, importers can lower their tariff costs by requesting duty-free treatment under GSP be granted for certain products when imported from beneficiary countries. Additionally, U.S. producers who feel that their business has been harmed by goods entering the U.S. duty free under GSP can request the suspension or withdrawal of an article’s GSP designation.

Interested parties, including foreign governments, may submit petitions to:

• Designate additional articles as eligible for GSP benefits, including designating articles as eligible for GSP benefits only for countries designated as least-developed beneficiary developing countries (LDBCs), or only for countries designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
• Withdraw, suspend or limit the application of duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP with respect to any article, either for all beneficiary developing countries, LDBCs, or for any of these countries individually.
• Determine whether a like or directly competitive product was produced in the U.S. on January 1, 1995, for the purposes of section 503(c)(1)(E).
• Waive the competitive need limitations (CNL) for individual beneficiary countries with respect to specific GSP eligible articles.Suspend a country’s beneficiary status under GSP based on the criteria listed in sections 502(b) or 502(c) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2462(b) and (c)) (“a country practice petition”).
• Otherwise modify GSP coverage.

The deadline for submission of country practice petitions or product petitions other than CNL waivers and section 503(c)(1)(E) determinations is August 3, 2010. The deadline for submission of requests for CNL waivers and section 503(c)(1)(E) determinations is 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 16, 2010.

For more information and to determine if your firm should file a GSP petition, please contact a Barnes/Richardson attorney.