The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation last week to extend by one year the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) programs. It is now up to the Senate to pass the legislation before both expire Dec. 31.
Under the basic GSP scheme, 132 developing countries are eligible to export approximately 3,400 types of products duty-free to the United States. The GSP program also provides additional benefits to the 44 GSP countries that are designated “least developed” under the program. These countries may export an additional 1,400 types of products.
The Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) was enacted in December 1991, to help Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru develop economic alternatives to drug production and trafficking. ATPA provides benefits beyond those under GSP, including additional product coverage. On June 30, 2009, the President terminated Bolivia’s benefits under the program for failure to meet eligibility criteria related to counternarcotics cooperation as required in a 2002 amendment to the act.
