Limitations of Duty- and Quota-Free Imports of Apparel Articles Assembled in Beneficiary Sub-Saharan African Countries From Regional and Third-Country Fabric

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act ("AGOA") provides for duty-free entry of apparel assembled in the AGOA region of fabric formed in the U.S. of yarn formed in the U.S. It also provided for a Tariff Preference Level ("TPL") equal to seven percent of all U.S. apparel imports for apparel assembled in the AGOA region of fabric from the AGOA region. The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements ("CITA"), today, announce the TPL for the period October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014 will be 1,784,195,681 square meter equivalents ("SME"). There is also a TPL for Lesser Developed Countries ("LDCs") in the AGOA region for apparel assembled in an AGOA LDC of third-country fabric. The TPL is set at 3.5 percent of all U.S. apparel imports. Today CITA announced the TPL for the 12-month period starting tomorrow will be 892,097,841 SME.