. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/C/W/527 
20 July 2005 
 (05-3237) 
Council for Trade in Goods Original:   English 
  
 
UNITED STATES -  REQUESTS FOR WAIVERS FOR THE  
CARIBBEAN BASIN ECONOMIC AND RECOVERY ACT (CBERA, AS AMENDED),  AND 
THE ANDEAN TRADE PREFERENCE ACT (ATPA, AS AMENDED) 
 
Comments and questions from Brazil
 
 
  The following communication, dated 14 July 2005, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Brazil.  
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Caribbean Basin Economic and R ecovery Act (CBERA, as amended)
 
1. Document G/C/W/508 (“Request for a Waiver”) st ates that the pr eferential treatment granted 
under the CBERA as amended will not alter benefits provided under the US Generalized System of 
Preferences (GSP). Document G/C/W/508/Add.1, states, however, that the program provides duty 
free access for some CBI exports which are not current ly covered by the US GSP, which may lead to 
the impression that GSP coverage was reduced in or der to offer greater access to CBI exports. Could 
the United States provide us with more informati on so as to demonstrate that the amended CBERA 
will not alter the benefits under GSP for third parties ?  
 
1. 2.  With regard to rules of origin, we have some doubts on the requirement laid down in 
Section 2703  (“Eligibles articles”) letter 'B' of  the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. The 
cited requirement conditions preferences for textil es and apparel products on the use of materials 
produced in the United States. As above-mentioned,  the CBERA as amended is presented as a scheme 
that does not alter the benefits that the Unite d States provide under its Generalized System of 
Preferences (GSP) program to other developing countries. We would like to express our concern on 
the possibility that the existence of two different dispositions on rules of origin –one for the GSP and 
other for the CBERA- may, in practice, cause nega tive impacts for exports from third countries.  
Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA, as amended)  
 
1.        Document G/C/W/510 of the United States indicates that one of the goals of the Specific 
Policy Objectives of the ATPDEA (ATPA as amended) is the promotion of export diversification and 
broad-based economic development in the And ean region, by providing sustainable economic 
alternatives to drug-crop production. The waiver from US obligations under paragraph 1 of GATT 
Article I was granted by the CONTRACTI NG PARTIES of the GATT 1947 on 19 March 1992 for 
the period from 4 December 1991 until 4 December  2001. Hence, the program was applied for 10 
years. Could the United States inform if there was an expansion or reduction of narcotics crops in 
those countries and to which extent? In case of reduc tion of the crops, would it be possible to relate 
this reduction to the ATPA program?  
 G/C/W/527 
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 2. We would like to receive information on what we re the criteria adopted in order to designate 
Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru and their su ccessor political entities as beneficiary countries 
under ATPDEA. Would it be possible for other La tin-American countries where narcotics are 
produced to request to be included in the program?  
3. As for the rules of origin adopted by the A TPDEA, we would like to express our concern for the 
possible negative impact that this provision may ha ve. We would like to receive further information 
on the impact that those provisions may have for the market access of Members who produce fabric 
and apparel articles. In this context, we would re iterate our concerns presente d above with regard to 
rules of origin in the CBERA.  
 
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