US Customs and Border Protection has just announced that, effective July 29, 2015, filers again are entitled to file GSP- eligible entry summaries without the payment of estimated duties.

Please be aware that the GSP reauthorization provides retroactive benefits only to goods from a country that is a beneficiary of the GSP program as of July 29, 2015. As such, this would exclude countries such as Bangladesh and Russia that lost eligibility between July 31, 2013 and July 29, 2015.

Entries submitted during the lapse period using the Special Program Indicator (SPI) for GSP (with the letter “A,” “A+,” or “A*”) as a prefix to the tariff number will be treated as confirming requests for refunds and no further action is required.

If an ABI entry summary was filed with payment of estimated duties without the use of the SPI “A,” “A+,” or “A*” as a prefix to the tariff number, a refund of duties deposited must be requested in writing.

Shapiro has made it a practice to continue filing formerly GSP-eligible classifications with the appropriate indicators.  If you would like us to provide you with a report of your entries pending GSP refund, please contact your Shapiro representative.

Shapiro will monitor the situation and keep you posted if any developments occur.