US GSP reauthorised with retrospective effect

President Barack Obama on Friday signed into law the reauthorisation of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). The GSP reauthorisation will become effective on Saturday, November 5 and will remain in effect through July 31, 2013.

The Bill also makes GSP benefits retroactive to January 1, 2011.

Sri Lankan exporters will be reimbursed for tariffs paid during the gap period as the GSP program was renewed retroactively. Exporters who filled their entries electronically used the appropriate Special Programs Indicator (SPI).

Exporters should request refunds of duties deposited, for entries made without using the SPI. Such requests should be made in writing to the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) within 180 days of the reauthorisation of the GSP program (ie, by Wednesday, April 18, 2012).

The GSP was instituted on January 1, 1976, by the Trade Act of 1974. The United States’ GSP is designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories, including Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka benefited from the GSP on approximately goods worth $147 million in 2010.

As part of the normal GSP process in the United States, the US Trade Representative’s office (USTR) receives petitions to withdraw or limit a country’s benefits on criteria including whether a country takes steps to afford internationally recognised standards for worker rights.