On October 30, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued guidance on the recent changes made to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) announced in Presidential Proclamation to Modify Duty-Free Treatment Under the Generalized System of Preferences and for Other Purposes.
The changes include:
- Revoked GSP benefits: Effective on December 30, 2020, 12:01 am, a list of certain products imported from Thailand under GSP preferential treatment (approximate one-sixth of Thailand’s GSP trade) will be removed from the GSP eligibility list and no longer will be treated as duty-free. The full list of the revoked products can be found in the Annex I attachment.
- Removed GSP benefits: Effective November 1, 2020, 12:01 am, parboiled rice (HTS 1006.30.10) is removed from the GSP eligible product list for all GSP beneficiary developing countries (BDCs) and can be found in the Annex II attachment.
- Added GSP benefits: Effective November 1, 2020, 12:01 am, Fresh-cut roses (HTS 0603.11.00) is added to the GSP eligible products for all GSP beneficiary developing countries (BDCs and can be found in the Annex II attachment.
- De Minimis CNL waiver decision: Effective November 1, 2020, 12:01 am, the President waived Competitive Need Limitations (CNLs) for products in which total imports of the article did not exceed $24.5 million. The detailed list can be found in the Annex III attachment.
- CNL removal decision: Effective November 1, 2020, The President removed six products from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, and Indonesia that exceeded the $190 million CNL threshold for imports from a single country from GSP eligibility. The detailed list can be found in the Annex II attachment.
- Continued GSP benefits: The country of Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia will continue to receive GSP preferential treatment.
The proclamation also states that Georgia, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia will continue to receive preferential treatment under GSP.
The complete list of changes, as well as the differing effective dates, can be found in the proclamation here:
CSMS #44639601 can be found here: