AGOA
The
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) builds
on the existing Generalised System of Preferences
(GSP) scheme and offers duty-free and quota-free
market access to the United States for approximately
7000 products.
List
of AGOA Beneficiary Countries
List
of Eligible products
The AGOA/GSP program stands at approximately 7,000
product tariff lines, including the roughly 1,800
product tariff lines that were added to the GSP
by the AGOA legislation. These include items such
as apparel and footwear, wine, certain motor vehicle
components, a variety of agricultural products,
chemicals, steel and others.
List
of products eligible under AGOA
Facts
and Figures for USA (2010):
| Area (km²) |
Population |
Total GDP |
Per Capita |
US Imports |
US Exports |
| 9.8 million |
+306 million |
US $ 14.3 trillion |
US $ 46, 800 |
US $ 2, 115 trillion |
US $ 1, 283 trillion |
GSP Rules of Origin
General Rules of Origin (Non-textile
and apparel)
In order to qualify for duty-free access to the
US under GSP, the Rules of Origin require that
the following rules be met:
• Products must be imported directly from the
beneficiary country into the United States;
• Products must be "grown, produced or manufactured" of one or more of the beneficiary countries;
• Products may incorporate materials sourced from
non-beneficiary countries provided that the sum
of the direct cost or value (i.e. the transaction
value) of the materials produced in the beneficiary
countries, plus the "direct costs of processing" undertaken in the beneficiary countries, equal
at least 35% of the product's appraised value
at the U.S. port of entry.
Rules
of origin under GSP
Rules of Origin for textile and apparel
Apparel and textiles are not included under the
General System of Preferences (GSP) program, on
which AGOA is based. However, AGOA provides beneficiary
Sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access
to the U.S. market for apparel, subject to specific
rules of origin and other administrative requirements.
AGOA
Rules of origin for Textile and Apparel
Qualifying
Textile and Apparel Articles
Export
Procedures for Textiles and Apparel products under
AGOA
Registration
Any person or company willing to export under
the provision of AGOA has to register with the Commerce Division of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Consumer Protection by filling a registration
form available at the Ministry, 4th Floor, Anglo-Mauritius
Building, Intendance Street, Port-Louis.
AGOA Visa Certificate
Each consignment of goods to be exported to the
USA under the AGOA scheme should be accompanied
by an AGOA Visa Certificate delivered by the:
Commerce Division
4th Floor, Anglo Mauritius Building
Intendence Street
Port Louis
Tel: (230)
208 7170
Fax: (230) 208 5250
Email: mcom@mail.gov.mu
Website:
http://enterbusiness.gov.mu
Application for an AGOA visa must be accompanied by the following documents:
• the original commercial invoices together with
2 copies;
• the AGOA Textile Certificate of Origin in triplicate
obtainable from the Mauritius Export Association
( MEXA)
• the Export Declaration Form obtainable from
the Mauritius Export Association (MEXA)
• Copy of the Export Permit duly approved by the
Ministry
• Customs Declaration (Import and Export )
• Costing ( where applicable)
• Affidavit , Import Invoice ( where applicable)
• Receipt from the Accountant General Office in
respect of the fee paid for export under the Third
Country Fabric Provision.
• Any other documents as may be required by the
Foreign Trade Division
Useful Web sites:
AGOA
website
USITC
US
Department of Agriculture
United
States Chamber of Commerce
African
Coalition for Trade
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