November 4, 2019 – The President issued a Proclamation restoring duty free treatment to certain products from the Ukraine under the General System of Preferences (GSP), after progress was made in providing protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), effective October 31, 2019.
The Proclamation also designated the Republic of Mail as a lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), effective November 24, 2019.
The GSP country name ‘Macedonia’ has been changed to ‘North Macedonia’, in General Note 4(a).
GSP will be removed for certain products from Thailand, effective April 25, 2020, due to Thailand not taking steps in recognizing worker’s rights.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) also announced they are opening new GSP eligibility reviews for South Africa (due to IPR issues), and to Azerbaijan (based on worker’s rights).
The USTR also closed GSP eligibility reviews, without loss of GSP eligibility for three countries:
- Bolivia and Iraq (based on improvements in worker’s rights); and
- Uzbekistan (based on improvements in IPR protection).
Lastly, the USTR announced the President intends to terminate AGOA benefits for Cameroon, effective January 1, 2020, due to persistent violations of internationally recognized human rights. The U.S. will monitor these violations before a final decision is made.
If you have any questions regarding these changes to GSP and AGOA, Livingston can help! Please contact either your Livingston account manager or our regulatory affairs group at usregaffairs@livingstonintl.com