[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 184 (Friday, September 20, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49528-49529]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-24119]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Customs Service


Delayed Processing of Renewed Generalized System of Preferences 
Duty-Free Claims

AGENCY: Customs Service, Treasury.

ACTION: General notice.

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SUMMARY: The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a renewable 
preferential trade program that allows the eligible products of 
designated developing countries to directly enter the United States 
free of duty. The provisions of the GSP program expired at midnight on 
July 31, 1995; however, the provisions were recently renewed--beginning 
October 1, 1996, with retroactive effect to August 1, 1995--by the GSP 
Renewal Act of 1996 (the 1996 Act). This document provides notice to 
importers that claims for duty-free treatment under the GSP will be 
accepted for articles entered on or after October 1, 1996, and sets 
forth a duty refund procedure for merchandise entered between July 31, 
1995, and September 30, 1996, that became eligible for GSP treatment 
under the retroactive provisions of the 1996 Act. This document also 
advises the public that certain designated products from Pakistan, for 
which the U.S. Tade Representative has recommended to the President 
that GSP eligibility be suspended, will not be entitled to duty-free 
treatment if entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on 
or after July 1, 1996, notwithstanding the retroactive provisions of 
the 1996 Act.

DATES: The plan for delayed payment of refunds with interest set forth 
in this document will become effective as of October 1, 1996. Customs 
expects the processing of refunds to take from four to eight weeks for 
certain, formal Automated Broker Interface (ABI) entries.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general operational questions:

Formal entries
    Carol Argentine, 202-927-0021
Informal entries
    Mike Craig, 202-927-0156
Mail entries
    Dan Norman, 202-927-0542
Passenger claims
    Robert Jacksta, 202-927-1311

    For specific questions relating to the Automated Commercial 
Systems: Irv Fisher, Office of Information and Technology, 202-927-
0241.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    Section 501 of the Trade Act of 1974 (the 1974 Act), as amended (19 
U.S.C. 2461), authorizes the President to establish a Generalized 
System of Preferences (GSP) to provide duty-free treatment for eligible 
articles imported directly from designated beneficiary countries for 
specific time periods. Sections 502(a) and 503(a) of the 1974 Act, as 
amended (19 U.S.C. 2462(a) and 2463(a)), authorize the President to 
designate beneficiary developing countries and articles eligible for 
duty-free treatment under the GSP by Executive Order or Presidential 
Proclamation. Pursuant to section 504 of the 1974 Act, as amended (19 
U.S.C. 2464), the President has authority, under certain circumstances, 
to withdraw, suspend, or limit the application of duty-free treatment 
under the GSP. Pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 2465(a), as amended by section 601 
of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, 19 U.S.C. 2465 note, Pub.L. 103-
465, 108 Stat. 4990 (1994), duty-free treatment under the GSP program 
expired on July 31, 1995.
    On August 20, 1996, the President signed the Small Business Job 
Protection Act of 1996 (Pub.L. 104-188, 110 Stat. 1755), Subtitle J of 
Title I of which contains provisions entitled the GSP Renewal Act of 
1996 (the 1996 Act, 110 Stat. 1917). The 1996 Act provides that GSP 
duty-free treatment will apply to eligible articles from designated 
beneficiary countries that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, 
for consumption on or after October 1, 1996, through May 31, 1997, and 
also that GSP duty-free treatment will have certain retroactive 
applications to articles entered after July 31, 1995, and before 
October 1, 1996, as follows:
    (1) Articles entered during the period August 1, 1995-December 31, 
1995, are eligible for duty-free treatment if the articles would have 
been eligible for GSP treatment if entered on July 31, 1995; and
    (2) Articles entered during the period January 1, 1996-September 
30, 1996, are eligible for duty-free treatment if the articles would 
have been eligible for GSP treatment if entered after September 30, 
1996.
    Regarding the retroactive provisions, the 1996 Act further provides 
that, not before October 1, 1996, Customs shall liquidate or 
reliquidate entries made during the period August 1, 1995-September 30, 
1996, and refund any duties collected with interest, provided that a 
request for liquidation or reliquidation is filed with Customs by 
February 16, 1997, i.e., within 180 days after the date of the 1996 
Act's enactment, that contains sufficient information to enable Customs 
to locate the entry or to reconstruct the entry if it cannot be 
located.
    Recognizing the impact that retroactive renewal and consequent 
numerous reliquidations will have on both importers and Customs, 
Customs has developed a mechanism to facilitate refunds that will be 
implemented on October 1, 1996.

[[Page 49529]]

Duty-Free Entry Summaries

    Effective October 1, 1996, filers again will be entitled to file 
GSP eligible entry summaries without the payment of estimated duties. 
Up until that time, however, estimated duties at the most-favored-
nation rate must be deposited, or a claim may be made under another 
preferential program for which the merchandise qualifies (for example, 
the Andean Trade Preference Act, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, or the 
U.S.-Israel Free Trade Area Agreement).

Refunds With Interest

A. Formal Entries

    Customs will liquidate or reliquidate all affected entry summaries 
and refund any duties deposited for items denominated on the GSP line. 
Field locations shall not issue GSP refunds except as instructed to do 
so by Customs Headquarters.
    If an ABI entry summary was or will be filed with payment of 
estimated duties using the Special Program Indicator (SPI) for the GSP 
(the letter ``A'') as a prefix to the tariff number, no further action 
by the filer is required; filings with the SPI ``A'' will be treated as 
conforming requests for refunds.
    Non-ABI filers who either did or did not request a refund by using 
the SPI ``A'' must request a refund in writing from the Port Director 
at the port of entry by February 16, 1997. The letter may cover either 
single entry summaries or all entry summaries filed by an individual 
filer at a single port. To expedite refunds, Customs recommends the 
following information be included in each letter:
    1. A statement requesting a refund, as provided by section 1953 of 
the GSP Renewal Act of 1996;
    2. An enumeration of the entry numbers and line items for which 
refunds are requested; and
    3. The amount requested to be refunded for each line item and the 
total amount owed for all entry summaries.
    Interest on duties deposited will be paid, pursuant to section 505 
of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1505), based on the 
quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate 
interest on refunds of Customs duties as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Percent
------------------------------------------------------------------------
July 1, 1995-Mar. 31, 1996.....................................        8
Apr. 1, 1996-June 30, 1996.....................................        7
July 1, 1996-Dec. 31, 1996.....................................        8
------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. Informal Entries

    Refunds with interest on informal entries filed via ABI on a 
Customs Form 7501 with the SPI ``A'' will be processed in accordance 
with the procedures discussed above.

C. Mail Entries

    The addressees must request a refund of GSP duties and return it, 
along with a copy of the CF 3419A, to the appropriate International 
Mail Branch (address listed on bottom right hand corner of CF 3419A). 
It is essential that a copy of the CF 3419A be included, as this will 
be the only means of identifying whether GSP products have been entered 
and estimated duties and fees have been paid.

D. Baggage Declarations and Non-ABI Informals

    If travelers/importers wrote a statement directly on their Customs 
declarations (CF 6059B) or informal entries (CF 363 or CF 7501) 
requesting a refund, no further action by the traveler/importer will be 
required; the statement will be treated as a conforming request for 
refunds. Failure to request a refund in this manner does not preclude a 
traveler/importer from otherwise making a timely request in writing, as 
described above for non-ABI filers.

Retroactive Suspension of Certain GSP Benefits for Pakistan

    As indicated earlier in this document, pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 2464, 
the President has authority, under certain circumstances, to withdraw, 
suspend, or limit the application of duty-free treatment under the GSP. 
In a Federal Register notice published June 17, 1996 (61 FR 30646), the 
Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that 
it had recommended to the President the suspension of GSP eligibility 
for certain products from Pakistan, effective July 1, 1996. It is 
anticipated that on or about October 1, 1996, the President will 
exercise his authority under 19 U.S.C. 2464 and suspend GSP duty-free 
treatment for such products as recommended by the USTR. Accordingly, 
duties on the following list of products from Pakistan will not be 
refunded if the products were entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for 
consumption on or after July 1, 1996:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Item (Terms below are for    
                HTSUS                     descriptive purposes only)    
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03926.20.30.........................  Gloves designed for use in sports,
                                       of plastics.                     
4203.21.20..........................  Batting gloves.                   
4203.21.55..........................  Cross-country ski gloves, mittens 
                                       and mitts.                       
4203.21.60..........................  Ski or snowmobile gloves, mittens 
                                       and mitts.                       
4203.21.80..........................  Gloves, mittens, etc., of leather,
                                       specially designed for use in    
                                       sports.                          
5701.10.13..........................  Carpets.                          
5702.10.10..........................  Carpets.                          
5702.91.20..........................  Carpets.                          
5805.00.20..........................  Carpets.                          
6304.99.10..........................  Carpets.                          
6304.99.40..........................  Carpets.                          
9018.90.80..........................  Surgical instruments.             
9506.62.80..........................  Inflatable balls, excluding       
                                       footballs or soccer balls.       
9506.91.00..........................  Articles or equipment for         
                                       exercise.                        
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    Dated: September 16, 1996.
John B. McGowan,
Acting Assistant Commissioner, Field Operations.
[FR Doc. 96-24119 Filed 9-19-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4820-02-P