FTA's Signed, But More Work Needed Before FTA's Are Entered Into Force...

The three bills implementing Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Colombia (H.R. 3078), Panama (H.R. 3079) and Korea (H.R. 3080) were passed by the House and Senate on October 12, 2011. President Obama signed all three FTA's into public law on Friday, October 21, 2011. At the same time, the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program was revised, the Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP) was retroactively renewed and the Merchandise Processing fee (MPF) was increased.

Unfortunately, when President Obama signed the three FTA Bills on October 21, 2011 all three FTA's were not entered into force. The actual date that the agreements will enter into force will depend on how quickly each country comes into compliance with the obligations set forth in their respective agreements.

After signing the legislation implementing the Colombia and Panama Trade Promotion Agreements (FTAs), President Obama called President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia and President Ricardo Martinelli of Panama to congratulate them.   President Obama emphasized the importance of meeting the obligations of the agreements, specifically continued progress towards implementation of the Colombia Labor Action Plan.  The Presidents were optimistic about the progress of the FTAs.  

GSP Refund Process

We have just received notification from US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that shipments qualifying for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) will be able to be submitted without the payment of duty beginning November 5, 2011. Hence, starting November 5, 2011 any shipment that qualifies for GSP will be submitted and processed by CBP with a duty rate of free.

Any shipments before November 5, 2011 will be refunded retroactively by CBP for those shipments that occurred between January 1, 2011 and November 4, 2011. If your shipment was eligible for GSP we [Liberty International] indicated this with CBP when performing the entry process by flagging the entry with the Special Program Indicator (SPI) of "A". This flag allows CBP to process your refund automatically as noted in the below official notification from CPB.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin processing refunds immediately for entries filed via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) with the Special Program Indicator (SPI) "A," for duties deposited on GSP-eligible goods during the period from January 1, 2011 through November 4, 2011. Importers are advised to contact the appropriate port of entry for inquiries about the status of their refunds.

There is a 180 day window for refund requests that result from a Customs entry correction. Given that the GSP program was signed into law on October 21, 2011, means that all Customs entries requesting a refund as the result of a Customs entry correction must be submitted by approximately April 18, 2012.