The following petitions remain under review: Uganda (worker rights); Lebanon and Uzbekistan (protection of intellectual property rights); and Bulgaria and Romania (preferential tariff treatment). Regarding the Russia IPR petition, the Bush Administration is continuing to seek commitments from the Russian government in the ongoing WTO negotiations for better IPR enforcement and other improvements in IPR protection.
In consultation with Members of Congress, the Administration will initiate a review of the eligibility of the major GSP beneficiaries and the current use of competitive need limitation waivers.
The GSP program was created by the Trade Act of 1974. Under the program, 136 beneficiary developing countries currently export approximately 5,000 different products duty-free to the United States.
The GSP program is designed to promote economic development. Each year, the United States conducts an annual review to determine if there are certain imports currently eligible for GSP benefits that could compete effectively in the U.S. market if imported at normal tariff rates.
Under the GSP statute, if U.S. imports of a certain product from a specific country exceeded $120 million in 2005, or if imports of a certain product from a specific country were more than 50 percent of total imports of that product from all countries, imports of that product from that country lose their eligibility under the GSP program.
In making decisions on product eligibility, the Administration considers petitions to continue duty-free treatment, holds public hearings, and reviews analyses prepared by the U.S. International Trade Commission of the economic impact of eligibility decisions on domestic industries.
In addition to the changes to the GSP program that were made by the President's proclamation, USTR will publish further details on the results of the annual review in the Federal Register.
United States Trade Representative
marketing@alchempro.com
