Importing into the United States - Indo-American Chamber Of ...

country’s procedures to protect against
unlawful transshipments (including an effective
visa system) and the implementation of
procedures and requirements similar in all
material respects to the relevant procedures
and requirements under Chapter 5 of the
NAFTA. The United States Trade Representative
will publish a Federal Register notice when
it designates a country as eligible for preferential
treatment. This information will be available
on the Internet at www.ustr.gov and at
www.agoa.gov.
ELIGIBLE ITEMS
Expanded GSP Treatment
AGOA expands benefits available under
the GSP program by offering duty-free treatment
to a broader range of products. The President
is permitted to extend duty-free treatment
to imports of essentially all products
except textiles and apparel as long as the products
are the “growth, product or manufacture”
of: (a) a beneficiary sub-Saharan African
country; (b) are imported directly from a beneficiary
sub-Saharan African country into the
customs territory of the U.S.; (c) meet a valueadded
requirement; and (d) the President
determines that the products are not importsensitive
in the context of imports from beneficiary
sub-Saharan African countries. Sub-
Saharan African beneficiary countries are also
exempted from competitive-need limitations.
Approximately 1835 products have been
designated as eligible for duty-free treatment
under the GSP program for beneficiary sub-
Saharan African countries. These articles will
be designated by inserting the symbol “D” in
the “Rates of Duty 1-Special” column of the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United
States for subheadings covering such articles.
A list of products eligible for duty-free treatment
under the AGOA has been published in
the Federal Register and is available on the
Internet at www.agoa.gov.
Preferential Treatment for Certain Textile
and Apparel Articles
AGOA provides duty-free and quota-free
benefits to imports of certain textile and
apparel articles produced in eligible sub-
Saharan African countries. In most instances,
these benefits are available regardless of the
total volume of apparel exported from eligible
countries to the United States. The six broad
categories of textile and apparel articles that
may receive preferential treatment are:
1. Apparel articles assembled in beneficiary
sub-Saharan African countries from
fabric wholly formed and cut in the
United States (from yarns wholly formed
in the United States).
2. Apparel articles cut in beneficiary sub-
Saharan African countries from fabric
wholly formed in the United States (from
yarns wholly formed in the United States),
if those articles are assembled in one or
more beneficiary countries with sewing
thread formed in the United States.
3. Apparel assembled from regional and
other fabric.
This category generally covers apparel
articles wholly assembled in one or
more beneficiary sub-Saharan African
countries from fabric wholly formed in
one or more beneficiary sub-Saharan
African countries from yarn originating
either in the United States or one or
more beneficiary sub-Saharan African
countries. However, preferential treatment
will be allowed through September
30, 2004, for apparel articles
wholly assembled in one or more lesser
developed beneficiary sub-Saharan
African countries regardless of the
country of origin of the fabric used to
make such articles.
Preferential treatment of apparel articles
in this category is subject to a cap of 1.5
percent of overall U.S. apparel imports,
growing to 3.5 percent of overall
imports over an eight-year period. The
cap is denominated in square meter
equivalents (SMEs). The first year cap,
applicable for the 12-month period
beginning October 1, 2000, is
246,500,393 SMEs.
4. Sweaters, in chief weight of cashmere or
containing 50 percent or more by weight
of wool measuring 18.5 microns in diam-
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