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Subject: Deadline for Filing GSP Retroactive Duty Refund Request - September 19, 2018
Deadline for Filing GSP Retroactive Duty Refund Request – September 19, 2018

On Friday, 
March 23, 2018, the President signed into law H.R.1625 (Public Law 115-141), the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018," which reauthorized the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020.  The new law, effective April 22, 2018, also provided for the retroactive refund of all duties, without interest; to the importer of record (IOR) of GSP-eligible goods entered during the January 1, 2018 through April 21, 2018 lapse period.  

Status - Phased GSP retroactive duty refund:
Phase I – CBP has completed the auto refund processing of importations entered during the lapse with special program indicator (SPI) “A” and checks are forthcoming.

Phase II – CBP will begin processing shortly the manual refunds of importations entered during the lapse with the SPI “A” that may be subject to additional review (i.e., AD/CVD, 232 remedy, reconciliation, etc.)

Phase III – Importers wishing to claim GSP preference on importations entered during the lapse period without the SPI “A” must input a Post Summary Correction (PSC) or protest (CBP will accept a protest, although not a true 19 USC § 1514)to the corresponding Port team or Center of Excellence and Expertise team requesting the GSP refund no later than September 19, 2018.

Phase III GSP Duty Refund PSC or Protest  
GSP refund requests may be submitted as either a PSC if the entry summary is not liquidated, or a protest if the entry summary has liquidated, in accordance with 19 CFR 174. CBP reserves the right to reject the duty refund request if the importer does not provide sufficient line-level data.

Request Deadline 
Per H.R. 1625 (Title V) (Public Law 115-141)(https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr1625/BILLS-115hr1625enr.pdf), CBP will deny all GSP duty refund requests received after September 19, 2018, unless the request is a re-submission of a previously submitted and improperly denied request.

Additional Information
CBP’s GSP page is available at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/trade-agreements/special-trade-legislation/generalized-system-preferences.

CSMS 18-000296, Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Reinstated Through December 31, 2020, of April 20, 2018, is available at https://csms.cbp.gov/viewmssg.asp?Recid=23495&page=&srch_argv="18-000296"&srchtype=&btype=&sortby=&sby=

For questions regarding the GSP Program, contact Lee Licata, Trade Agreements Branch, at [email protected] or at (202) 325-6541, and for refund processing questions, contact Jennelle Cray, Drawback and Revenue Branch, at [email protected] or (202) 325-6937.