Legal Documents

Official Title: To extend certain trade preference programs, and for other purposes. Aims to promote sustainable development and economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in three ways: by extending the GSP for one year, by amending the AGOA, and by expanding duty-free access for agricultural goods and assistance to SSA agribusiness.

Presidential Proclamation dated 22 December 2005 indicating the removal of Mauritiana from the list of AGOA beneficiaries and addition of Burundi with effect of 01-01-2006.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in November 2005 between the governments of the United States and China concerning trade in textile and apparel products. These consultations took place under Paragraph 242 of the "Report of the Working Party for the Accession of China to the WTO", and cover trade in 22 categories for the period 2006 to 2008.

Legal text of HR-1047, which proposes certain ammendments to US legislation, including the re-designation of Mauritius as a LDC country.

This alphabetic guide provides a useful overview on a product-by-product basis to the US Harmonised tariff System (HTS) nomenclature.

The AGOA Acceleration Act, HR 4103, is closely modelled after the proposed "AGOA III Act" but is specifically designed to smoothly pass the Congress soon after April 2004.

This Bill, commonly referred to as “AGOA III”, was introduced to the Senate of the United States and House of Representatives on November 21 and 22, 2003, respectively. Proposed changes included an overall extension of AGOA to 2015 (from 2008 presently), an extension of the apparel rule applying to lesser developed countries by a further 4 years to 2008 as well as various support measures relating mainly to the agricultural sector. The Bill was not passed in its current form, but subsequently made it through Congress following various ammendments. See the final version of AGOA 3 -HR4103- below.

This document presents the findings and a binding ruling issued by the US Customs Department following an enquiry by a potential apparel exporter from Ghana. Ghana qualifies for apparel exports under AGOA, and is in addition also classified as a “Lesser Developed Beneficiary Country”. The exporter seeks clarification regarding the AGOA-eligibility (and thus duty-free access to the US) of a garment which will be assembled in Ghana, but where certain input materials will be sourced from a region that does not qualify for AGOA benefits (Asia).

(EXPIRED) This is a copy of the AGOA Textile Certificate of Origin. An exporter of apparel/textiles wishing to obtain the preferential treatment available under AGOA (i.e. duty-free treatment) for specific apparel/textile products must complete the Certificate and provide it to the importer, which is importing the apparel/textiles to the United States. The Certificate must be available to U.S. Customs on request but does not accompany the actual shipment.   See http://agoa.info/downloads/2588.html

The legal text of AGOA, to be cited as the "Trade and Development Act of 2000". Also known as "Public Law 106-200" - May 18, 2000.

This document sets forth interim amendments to those provisions of the Customs Regulations that implement the trade benefits for sub-Saharan African countries contained in AGOA. The document provides technical detail and interpretation guidelines regarding a number of minor changes to AGOA, e.g. to the apparel provisions.

A bill to amend the African Growth and Opportunity Act to extend the third-country fabric rule, to add South Sudan to the list of countries eligible for designation under that Act, and for other purposes.

This document contains a list of products currently eligible for duty-free treatment if imported from a GSP beneficiary country. AGOA has extended duty-free treatment of the GSP products by a further 1,800+ products. (see in Section for listing of additional eligible products)

Document listing the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. The African Growth and Opportunity Act applies only to Sub-Saharan African countries having met certain conditions, meaning that while AGOA-eligible countries have to be from Sub-Saharan Africa, the reverse is not necessarily true.

The full legal text of the recent amendments to AGOA, known as 'AGOA II'.

This document outlines the recent (2002) amendments to AGOA. Included in these amendments is clarification regarding the duty-free treatment of knit-to-shape textiles, the re-classification of Namibia and Botswana as a "Lesser Developed Country" and other changes.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is extending through August 14, 2013 the period for public comment on the proposed extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act Certificate of Origin. For preferential treatment under AGOA, the exporter is required to prepare a certificate of origin and provide it to the importer. This certificate includes information such as contact information for the importer, exporter and producer; the basis for which preferential treatment is claimed; and a description of the imported merchandise. Importers are required to have the certificate in their possession at the time of the claim and to provide it to CBP upon request.

Presidential Proclamation 8741 of October 25, 2011, reinstating AGOA preferences for Niger, Guinea and Ivory Coast.    

United States CBP Customs Form 7501, for US importers, used for importing goods into the United States.