The following bulletin has been posted on the Customs Website:
 
"Barring congressional action, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication ACT (ATPDEA) are all due to expire for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse after midnight December 31, 2009." 
 
As background, multiple businesses, trade associations, and business organizations sent a letter to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees asking them to make the immediate renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences a priority. Many of the organizations have been actively engaged in the effort and will continue to work with Congress to improve U.S. preference programs for developing countries and U.S. users alike.
 
It is not realistic to expect that this effort will be completed before GSP expires on December 31, 2009. Therefore, the signatories ask that Congress move GSP renewal early in the fall, while also continuing in earnest the important discussions on preference improvements, with a goal of enacting preference improvement legislation next year.
 
U.S. customers using the preference programs to source goods from beneficiary countries, may need to prepare for duty increases if GSP is not renewed or consider shifting sourcing elsewhere.