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Mali obtains third-country-fabric eligibility under AGOA's apparel provisions

Published date:
Tuesday, 05 November 2019

The US has designated West African country Mali as a lesser-developed beneficiary country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

The decision was included in a presidential proclamation outlining a number of changes to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) following regular eligibility reviews, product reviews, and beneficiary developing country assessments.

As a result, 30 days after the proclamation is published in the Federal Register, Mali will become eligible for AGOA's third-country fabric provision, which provides preferential treatment for apparel articles assembled in Mali regardless of the country of origin of the fabric used.

Mali was reinstated as eligible for benefits under AGOA in January 2014, a year after being suspended from the programme due to a government coup.

In July 2013, Mali inaugurated a democratically-elected president. The new government of President Keita focused on implementing market-based reforms, investing in infrastructure and human capital and pledged to address public sector corruption, combat human rights abuses, and strengthen rule of law.

Also as part of the US's annual AGOA eligibility review, President Donald Trump also announced his intention to strip the Central African country of Cameroon of its benefits under AGOA over "persistent gross violations of internationally recognised human rights".

 

Excerpt from Federal Register announcement (see relevant download link above)

  1. In Proclamation 9072 of December 23, 2013, the President designated Mali as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country pursuant to section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1)), as added by section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Title I, Public Law 106-200) (AGOA).
  2. Section 112(c) of the AGOA, as amended in section 6002 of the Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006 (Division D, Title VI, Public Law 109-432(19 U.S.C. 3721(c))), provides special rules for certain apparel articles imported from “lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.”
  3. I have determined that Mali satisfies the criterion for treatment as a “lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country” under section 112(c) of the AGOA.

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