On October 31, 2019, the Federal Register published Presidential Proclamation 9955 of October 25, 2019 To Modify Duty-Free Treatment Under the Generalized System of Preferences and for Other Purposes. The Proclamation:
- terminates the suspension of Ukraine from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, effective 5 days after the date of the proclamation, and modifies general note 4(d) and pertinent subheadings of the HTS as set forth in Annex 1 to the proclamation;
- suspends the duty-free treatment accorded under the GSP to certain eligible articles that are the product of Thailand, effective 6 months after the date of the proclamation and modifies general note 4(d) and pertinent subheadings of the HTS as set forth in Annex 2;
- terminates the duty-free treatment for certain articles from GSP beneficiary developing countries that were exported in quantities exceeding the applicable competitive need limitations and modifies the Rates of Duty 1–Special subcolumn for the corresponding HTS subheadings and general note 4(d) to the HTS as set forth in section A and B of Annex 3 and Annex 7 to the proclamation;
- redesignates certain articles as eligible articles for purposes of the GSP, the Rates of Duty 1–Special subcolumn for the corresponding HTS subheadings and general note 4(d) to the HTS are modified as set forth in sections C, D, E, and F of Annex 3 and sections A and B of Annex 6 to the proclamation;
- waives the competitive need limitation with respect to the eligible articles in the HTS subheadings and to the beneficiary developing countries set forth in Annex 4 to the proclamation;
- waives competitive need limitations with respect to an article from a certain beneficiary developing country set forth in Annex 5 to this proclamation;
- determines that Mali satisfies the criterion for treatment as a “lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country” under AGOA and modifies note 2(d) to subchapter XIX of chapter 98 of the HTS inserting in alphabetical sequence in the list of lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries “Republic of Mali” with effect on the 30th day after publication;
- modifies general note 4(a) and Chapter 99, Subchapter III, U.S. notes 17(b)(2) and 18(b), to the HTS to reflect a change in the short-form name of “Macedonia” to “North Macedonia” as set forth in Annex 7;
The modifications to the HTS set forth in Annex 3, Annex 6, and Annex 7 of the proclamation shall be effective with respect to articles entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on November 1, 2019.
