In one of its very last acts, the 109th Congress approved an extension of the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA). ATPA extension was included in a package of trade and tax provisions, H.R. 6111, which was approved late Thursday evening by a 212 to 184 vote in the House of Representatives, and early Saturday morning by a 79 to 9 vote in the Senate. The measure now goes to the President for his signature.
The bill provides for a straight-forward 6-months extension – to June 30, 2007 - of the ATPA for all four beneficiary countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru). The bill further provides for a second 6-months extension – to December 31, 2007 – of the ATPA for those beneficiary countries with respect to which free trade agreement implementation legislation has been approved by the respective countries by June 30. In effect, the second 6-months extension will potentially apply to only Colombia and Peru since the other two countries have not yet begun free trade agreement negotiations with the United States.
As a result of this legislation, duty-free treatment for eligible imports from the four ATPA countries will continue uninterrupted, without the necessity for “retroactive” treatment.
H.R. 6111 also contains a two-year extension of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), albeit with some modifications to the treatment of GSP-eligible imports that exceed the so-called competitive need limitation. The legislation also provides for permanent “most favored nation” treatment for imports from Vietnam, amends and extends certain provisions of the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), provides for preferential treatment for certain imports from Haiti, and contains an array of duty suspension and duty reduction provisions for a range of products.
The ATPA extension is a particular point of pride for AFI. This Association was one of the first groups to recognize that it was highly unlikely that either the Peru or the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreements would be implemented by the time that ATPA was scheduled to expire under current law, (i.e., by January 1, 2007). AFI formed and led a coalition of like-minded organizations and companies that first brought this issue to the attention of policymakers on Capitol Hill and in the Administration, and fought for a place on the crowded legislative calendar for consideration of ATPA extension. Credit must be extended to the Association’s leadership for getting in front of this issue, and for presenting a personal appeal to key officials. And further credit goes to the many Members that actively engaged in this fight, and participated in the political action program essential to this success.
Indeed, in 2006, the Association achieved an impressive “book end” of legislative accomplishments, having also been instrumental in the fight to repeal the “Byrd Amendment” back in January.
My sincere appreciation and congratulations go to this vital Association for this important victory.
