The CBI was launched in 1983 through the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), and substantially expanded in 2000 through the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), the CBI currently provides 19 beneficiary countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for most goods. CBTPA entered into force on October 1, 2000 and continues in effect until September 30, 2010 or the date, if sooner, on which the FTAA or another free trade agreement as described in legislation enters into force between the United States and a CBTPA beneficiary country. There are currently eighteen countries/territories that benefit from the CBI program and, therefore, may potentially benefit from CBTPA. These countries are: Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. On March 24, 2009, the WTO Council for Trade in Goods extended the CBERA waiver through December 31, 2014, and broadened it to waive U.S. obligations under paragraph 1 of Article I and paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article XIII of GATT 1994 to the extent necessary to permit the United States to provide preferential tariff treatment to eligible products originating in beneficiary countries designated pursuant to the provisions of the CBERA, as amended by the United States-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2006, and the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act of 2008 (“HOPE II”) (“CBERA as amended”). For more information follow this link
WTO document
|
Caribbean Basin Initiative Act
(2009)
