USTR Finalizes List of Competitive Need Limitations Waiver Requests to be considered in 2008 GSP Annual Review

January 16, 2009

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing which petitions for competitive need limitations (CNL) waivers have been accepted as part of the 2008 Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Annual Review. Under the GSP program, eligible articles from designated beneficiary developing countries (BDCs) receive duty free entry to the U.S., provided they have been substantially transformed in the BDC.

The Trade Act of 1974 sets forth two conditions under which country/article pairings are considered to have exceeded their “competitive need.”    When the President determines that a BDC exported to the U.S. during a calendar year: (1) a quantity of a GSP-eligible article having a value in excess of the applicable amount for that year ($135 million for 2008), or (2) a quantity of a GSP-eligible article having a value equal to or greater than 50 percent of total U.S. imports from all countries (the “50 percent CNL”), the industry in the BDC is recognized as developed and the President must terminate preferential treatment for that country/article pairing.

Section 503(d) of the 1974 Act allows interested parties, including foreign governments and domestic importers, to submit product petitions requesting waivers for products that have exceeded their CNLs.

For 2008, USTR has accepted for review the following CNL petitions:

• Amino-naphthols and amino-phenol, their ethers, esters, except those with more than one kind of oxygen function; and salts thereof, nesoi from Brazil (HTS 2922.41.00);
• Polyethylene terephthalate in primary forms (PET resin) from Indonesia (HTS 3907.60.00);
• Full grain unsplit bovine (not buffalo) and equine leather, not whole, w/o hair on, nesoi from Argentina (HTS 4107.91.80)
• Ferrochromium containing by weight more than 4 percent of carbon from India (HTS 7202.41.00);
• Calcium silicon ferroalloys from Argentina (HTS 7202.99.20); and
• Copper, stranded wire, not electrically insulated, not fitted with fittings and not made up into articles from Turkey (HTS 7413.00.10).

A public hearing concerning these petitions will be held on February 26, 2009.  Pre-hearing briefs or statements and/or requests to appear at the hearing may be submitted by February 13, 2009.  Post-hearing submissions are due on March 12, 2009.  

USTR is also reviewing requests to review country practice petitions from Iraq, Sri Lanka and the Republic of the Philippines, and is expected to announce by March 15, 2009 whether or not it will accept these petitions for review.