On June 29, 2015, President Obama signed the Trade Preferences Act of 2015, renewing the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade program, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the Haiti preference programs. GSP, which previously expired on July 31, 2013, impacts US imports from many countries; the program promotes economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries and territories.

As in past circumstances, GSP was reauthorized with retroactive effect. Importers of GSP-eligible products may seek reimbursement for tariffs paid since its expiration in July 2013. Importers who paid duty on GSP-eligible goods, and filed their entries electronically using the appropriate GSP indicator (“A”, “A*”, “A+”), should be automatically refunded. The refund, however, should be monitored to ensure liquidation or re-liquidation. If no liquidation/re-liquidation is initiated by November 1, 2015, importers should file a formal refund request by the December 28, 2015, deadline.

Importers with entries made without using the GSP program indicator should contact the port where the goods entered and request their GSP status from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The deadline for retroactive refund requests on entries without the GSP indicator must be claimed by the December 28, 2015, deadline with sufficient detail.

For additional information about the Generalized System of Preferences reauthorization and reimbursement questions, please send an email to Deringer’s Compliance Department.