On June 29, 2015, President Obama signed into law a bill (H.R. 1295), that reauthorizes the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) (which expired on July 31, 2013) through Dec. 31, 2017. Under the new law, duty reductions under the GSP program will begin 30 days after the law is enacted, which is effective July 29, 2015. H.R. 1295 also extends duty reductions retroactively for any goods entered in between July 31, 2013, and the effective date. This excludes goods that entered from Russia, which formally graduated from the GSP program on Oct. 4, 2014, and any other countries that are no longer eligible for GSP benefits, such as Bangladesh.
Accordingly, filers shall be entitled to file GSP-eligible entry summaries, utilizing the Special Program Indicator (SPI) "A," "A+," or "A*," without the payment of duty for shipments entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption effective July 29, 2015.
Goods entered between July 31, 2013 and July 29, 2015 "shall be liquidated or re-liquidated" as though they had entered before the program expired. A process is in place by which importers can claim their duty refunds by filing a request for liquidation or re-liquidation with CBP within 180 days of enactment (by December 28, 2015). Then CBP would refund the duties not later than 90 days after liquidation or re-liquidation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will begin processing for entries filed via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) with the Special Program Indicator (SPI) "A," "A+," or "A*" for duties deposited on GSP-eligible goods during the lapse period from August 1, 2013 through July 28, 2015. Therefore, no action is required for such entries filed with SPIs "A," "A+," or "A*" during the lapse period described above.
For un-liquated ACE entry summaries where no SPI was transmitted, retroactive GSP claims must be made via post-summary correction, where applicable, i.e., if the entry meets the time requirements for PSC filing and the Congressional December 28, 2015 deadline.
All other requests for refunds must be made in writing by December 28, 2015 and must contain sufficient information to enable CBP to locate the entry. To expedite the refund, CBP recommends that the request indicate the entry number, line number, and requested refund amount. Any amounts owed by the United States pursuant to the liquidation or re-liquidation of an entry will be paid, without interest.
Questions regarding this guidance, with respect to the GSP program, should be directed to the Trade Agreements Branch at FTA@dhs.gov. Entry summary and refund processing questions should be directed to the Entry Process Branch at OTENTRYSUMMARY@CBP.DHS.GOV.
For further information please refer to the FAQ - GSP Reauthorization page.