BP Corrected Version : CBP Posts Guidance on AGOA Folklore Articles
(This BP summary is being reissued in order to correct the second listing of countries. The online version of the original BP summary 06041910 is similarly corrected.)
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted the descriptive list of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) textile folklore items that it provides to field Import Specialists as part of AGOA textile preferential rules of origin training.
"Folklore" articles have previously been described for purposes of the AGOA by the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA), as textile and apparel goods that are made in the designated AGOA country and ornamented in a characteristic or regional folk style of the designated AGOA country.
In addition, folklore articles may not: (1) include modern features such as zippers, elastic, elasticized fabrics, snaps, or hook-and-pile fasteners; (2) incorporate patterns that are not traditional or historical to the designated country, such as airplanes, buses, cowboys, or carton characters; and (3) incorporate designs referencing holidays or festivals not common to traditional [designated AGOA country] culture, such as Halloween and Thanksgiving.
AGOA Countries Currently Eligible for Duty-Free Treatment of Certain Folklore Articles
According to CBP, the following six USTR-listed AGOA countries are currently designated as eligible for duty-free treatment of listed country-specific folklore articles:
| Ethiopia | Mozambique | Sierra Leone |
| Ghana | Nigeria | Tanzania |
(See CBP's notice for a complete description of each of the folklore articles from the AGOA countries listed above.)
AGOA Countries Currently Eligible for Duty-Free Treatment of Handloomed Fabric, Handmade Articles of Handloomed Fabric, and/or Ethnic Printed Fabric
CBP's document also lists the following fourteen (six of which are also listed above) USTR-listed AGOA countries eligible for duty-free treatment for handloomed fabric, handmade articles of handloomed fabric, and/or ethnic printed fabric:
| Botswana | Kenya | Mozambique | Senegal |
| Ethiopia | Lesotho | Namibia | Sierra Leone |
| Ghana | Malawi | Nigeria | Swaziland |
Duty-free also includes quota-free treatment as well.
In a previous notice, CITA explained that the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III) added ethnic printed fabrics to the list of articles eligible for AGOA duty-free treatment. In addition, CITA states that Executive Order (EO) 13191 (dated 01/17/01) and Presidential Proclamation 7912 (dated 06/29/05) authorize CITA to consult with listed beneficiary countries and to determine which, if any, particular textile and apparel goods shall be treated as being handloomed, handmade, folklore articles, or ethnic printed fabrics.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 05/12/04 and 07/14/04 news, 04051220 and 04071405, for BP summaries on the new "ethnic printed fabrics" provision of H.R. 4103 (AGOA III) and President Bush's signing of AGOA III into law, respectively. See ITT's Online Archives or 09/16/04 news, 04091610, for BP summary of Proclamation 7808 which modified the HTS with respect to AGOA III, etc. See ITT's Online Archives or 07/28/05 news, 05072805, for final part of BP's summary on Proclamation 7912 which modified EO 13191 to reflect the addition of ethnic printed fabrics.)
CBP March 2006 AGOA folklore notice (posted 04/17/06) available at http://www.customs.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/fta_training/agoa_folklore.ctt/agoa_folklore.pdf