The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC or Commission) announced its determination in connection with its investigation Denim Fabric: Use in AGOA Countries During Fiscal Year 2007, Inv. No. AGOA-002. The determination is required under amendments to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that the President signed into law in December 2006.
All six Commissioners determined that 21,120,000 square meter equivalents (SMEs) of qualifying denim fabric produced in beneficiary Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries was used in lesser developed beneficiary (LDB) SSA countries to produce apparel exported to the United States that received preferential treatment under the AGOA during fiscal year (FY) 2007.
When it passed the amendments to the AGOA, the Congress deemed such denim fabric to be available in the amount of 30 million SMEs during FY 2007 (October 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007). Under the statute, the Commission must add the 8,880,000 SME difference between the amount of denim fabric deemed to be available for FY 2007 and the amount found to have been used during FY 2007 to the amount of regional SSA denim fabric that the Commission determined will be available during fiscal year 2008 (October 1, 2007, to September 30, 2008) for use in LDB SSA countries in the production of denim apparel receiving U.S. duty free treatment. In September 2007, the Commission found that the amount available for FY 2008 will be 21,303,613 SMEs.
The AGOA statute sets forth circumstances when the President may or must remove duty-free treatment for apparel made from third-country fabric when regional fabric is found to be available to make the apparel, but is not used for such production. The Commission's determinations are made in the context of a statutory provision that allows apparel made in LDB SSA countries from third-country fabric to enter the United States duty free.
The Commission's public report, Denim Fabric: Use in AGOA Countries During Fiscal Year 2007 (Inv. No. AGOA-002, USITC Publication 4021, July 2008) will contain the views of the Commission and information developed during the investigation.
The report will be available by July 11, 2008, and will be posted on the ITC web site.
United States International Trade Commission
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