With the President signing into law H.R. 1625 on March 23, 2018, GSP has now been extended retroactively from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020.  The effective date of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018” is April 22, 2018, when programming will be updated to reflect the GSP duty status of approximately 5000 tariff items. 

Importers and their brokers should continue to claim GSP on all appropriate lines with the SPI “A”.  The normal column 1 duty will calculate and must be paid until April 22, at which time the duty free status will be reinstated and Customs will begin to process refunds of GSP duty paid during the lapse period.

Importers can submit a duty refund request for entry summaries submitted during the GSP lapse period on which the SPI “A” was not transmitted.  These requests may be submitted as letters, Post Summary Corrections or Protests.  Should a formal request be necessary, please provide the following information:

• Entry number
• Line number
• HTSUS number
• Estimated total refund
• Signed statement that the goods are eligible for GSP
• Point of contact name, phone number and email address

All claims must be received by CBP prior to September 19, 2018.

What if I have further questions about GSP?

Please contact the Compliance team at Ascent Global Logistics or speak with your account manager directly. Also, feel free to read more from U.S. Customs and Border Protection about additional guidelines.