GSP renewal language included in omnibus spending bill

An over 2,000-page bill to keep the government funded through Sept. 30 included language to renew the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which lapsed Dec. 31, 2017.    An extension of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) through 2020 is outlined in the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending legislation unveiled Wednesday that would keep the government open through Sept. 30.
   The language would provide retroactive benefits for any goods normally eligible for GSP entered into U.S. commerce during the ongoing lapse in coverage, including goods withdrawn from warehouses for consumption during the time frame.
   Per the measure, the U.S. government would have to pay all amounts owed to stakeholders no later than 90 days after the date of liquidation or re-liquidation.
   The legislation would also require the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to submit to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees an annual report on enforcement of GSP eligibility criteria for beneficiary countries, starting no later than one year after the bill’s enactment and ending on Dec. 31, 2020.
   Similar to a standalone GSP renewal bill passed by the House last month, the omnibus also includes provisions that would peg approvals for GSP’s “504(d) waivers” to present-day production statistics.
   Under that specific waiver process, product exclusions from competitive need limitations (CNLs) are automatically granted for a list of products not made in the U.S. as of Jan. 1, 1995, but only if a CNL would be based solely on imports of a good from a specific country exceeding 50 percent of the value of total imports of that good into the U.S. during any calendar year after 1995.
   CNLs are a GSP mechanism by which duty-free treatment under the program is terminated for goods whose imports exceed certain statutorily outlined amounts.
   The legislation would strike language pegging 504(d) waivers to 1995 production statistics, and instead make the waivers based on U.S. production in the three years preceding any applications for those waivers.
   The House is set to vote on the 2,232-page omnibus bill, after which the Senate would have to pass it by midnight Saturday to stave off a government shutdown, absent a stopgap measure to keep the government temporarily open.