United States of America: Renewal of preferences for African LDCs
Description
The Finance Committee of the U.S. Senate approved on July 18, 2012 an untitled bill (designated as S.3326) authorizing the special third-country fabric textile provisions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act for least developed developing beneficiary countries through September 30, 2015. These provisions facilitate the importation of apparel produced in the poorest African countries. This bill, if enacted into law, would align this aspect of the program with the authorization for the AGOA as a whole. Without the legislation, the special provision is set to expire on September 30 of this year. The same bill includes provisions making technical corrections relating to the textile and apparel rules of origin for the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, and reauthorizing the import restrictions contained in the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act for three years (including a presidential waiver authority). The bill now awaits action in the full Senate as well as the House of Representatives.
Any Evidence-Based Deliberation:
| Question | Result |
|---|---|
| Is there anything in the public record to suggest that evidence of the effectiveness of the proposed measure was considered during official deliberations? | |
| Is there any evidence that alternatives to the proposed measure were considered? | |
| Is there anything in the public record that suggests that empirical evidence informed the comparison across the alternatives available to government? | |
| Was such evidence identified? | |
| Is such evidence publicly available? | |
| Did the official decision-maker in question provide an explanation as to why a chosen measure was favoured over alternatives? | |
| Is there any evidence to suggest that potentially affected trading partners were consulted before the measures were taken? | |
| Is there any evidence that safeguards have been put in place to ensure that implementation of the initiative is transparent and non-discriminatory? | |
| Did the government state its intention to review the measure within one year of implementation? |
Date Discovered:
Implemented: No
Date of inception:
GTA Evaluation: Green
Source:
See the hyperlinked material in the description.
Government Response:
- 389 reads
