Apparel exports utilising the "Lesser Developed Country" rule (i.e. utilising third-country fabrics under the waiver from normal Rules of Origin) also count towards the quota limit, but are subject to a sub-quota which for the October 2003 - September 2004 period was set at 470,411,241 SME. For the period October 2004 – September 2005, this sub-quota is set at 535,938,914 SME.
NOTE: While the LDC waiver was extended by a further three years to 2007 under AGOA III, the applicable “quota within a quota” will be reduced by half in the final year (i.e. October 2006 –September 2007).
For the quota year 2005/2006, spanning 01 October 2005 to 30 September 2006, the quota level has been set at 1,344,476,567 SME. This represents an increase of 25% over the previous year, and with it an opportunity to grow quota-free apparel exports from African countries without de facto quantitative restrictions.
The current quota utilisation (for the 2-month period October to November 2005) stands at 4.18%.
This article has been sourced from www.AGOA.info
marketing@alchempro.com
