The US has announced new rules for apparel imports from Sub-Saharan countries. The rules are a new 12-month cap on duty- and quota-free imports. They would be applicable for 12-month beginning October 1, 2015. The quantitative limitation for the 12-month period, will be an amount not exceeding seven per cent of the aggregate sq. mt. equivalents (SMEs) of all apparel articles imported into the US in the preceding 12-month period for which data are available.

Of this overall amount, apparel imported under the special rule for lesser-developed countries is limited to an amount not to exceed 3.5 per cent of all apparel articles imported into the US in the preceding 12-month period. These quantities were calculated using the aggregate SMEs of all apparel articles imported into the US. Apparel articles entered in excess of these quantities will be subject to otherwise applicable tariffs.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a nonreciprocal trade preference program that provides duty-free treatment to imports into the United States of certain products from eligible sub-Saharan African countries. AGOA came into force in 2000. It offers incentives to African countries to open their economies and build free markets.

trade.gov/agoa/