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Customs Alert - Extension of Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA) to December 31, 2008 Approved By House Ways And Means Committee

By Carl Soller

Feb. 20, 2008

The House Ways and Means Committee recently approved by voice vote a 10-month extension of the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA). If the bill is approved by Congress and signed by the President in its current form, the expiration of the program will be pushed back to December 31, 2008. This deadline is consistent with the time frames envisioned by the President’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2009, but falls significantly short of the 31-month extension (i.e., until September 30, 2010) initially sought by the Committee’s chairman, Charles Rangel (D-NY).

With Congress having left town at the end of last week for a week-long President’s Day recess, the extension bill will need to move quickly – first to the House floor, then to the Senate, and finally to the President for signature – if it is to be enacted prior to the scheduled February 29^th expiration of the ATPA. All indications are that this is likely to occur.

Chairman Rangel’s initial legislation, introduced on February 7, 2008 in the U.S. House of Representatives, would not only have extended the ATPA until September 30, 2010, but would also have extended the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to that same date. However, opposition from Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee and from several factions within the Senate forced Chairman Rangel to accept the short-term ATPA extension, for now.

We will continue to keep you advised.

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