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AGOA's 'Wearing Apparel' Rules of Origin
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Apparel and textiles are not included under the General System of Preferences (GSP) program, on which AGOA is based. However, AGOA nevertheless provides beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for apparel, subject to specific rules of origin and other administrative requirements.
The following are the main features of AGOA's 'wearing apparel' provisions:
AGOA-eligible Sub-Saharan African countries wishing to export apparel duty-free into the U.S. under AGOA must first be certified as having complied for the 'Wearing Apparel' provisions (see Country Eligibility in ABOUT AGOA menu). This entails having taken adequate steps to "establish effective product visa systems to prevent illegal transshipment and the use of counterfeit documentation, as well as having instituted required enforcement and verification procedures";
Apparel made in qualifying Sub-Saharan African countries from U.S. fabric, yarn, and thread is provided with duty-free and quota-free access to the U.S. market without limitations. Such apparel may also have been "embroidered or subject to stone-washing, enzyme-washing...screen-printing or other similar processes" (see page 9 of original AGOA legislation in DOWNLOADS Section);
Apparel made in qualifying Sub-Saharan African countries from domestically produced fabric and yarns, or from fabrics and yarns produced in AGOA-beneficiary countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Such market access into the U.S. is subject to a cap of 1.5% of overall U.S. apparel imports, growing in equal yearly increments to 3.5% of overall imports by 2008. For the period 2008 to 2015, the quota will remain unchanged (as per AGOA III legislation). Amendments to AGOA ("AGOA II") doubled the applicable percentages of this cap. The cap is measured in Square Meter Equivalents (SMEs), and has no dollar equivalent. Rather, it is based on the aggregate SMEs of all apparel articles imported into the U.S. in the preceeding 12-month period for which data is available;
Apparel otherwise eligible for preferential treatment under AGOA shall not be ineligible for the duty-free benefits simply because the article contains certain interlinings of foreign origin, as long as the value of such interlinings (and any findings and trim-mings) does not exceed 25 percent of the cost of the components of the assembled apparel article.
"De Minimis Rule" (see page 13 of AGOA Act in Downloads Section): Apparel otherwise eligible for preferential treatment under AGOA shall not be ineligible for such treatment simply because the article contains fibers or yarns not wholly formed in the U.S. or in one or more AGOA-beneficiary SSA countries if the total weight of all such fibers and yarns is not more than 10 percent of the total weight of the article.
A special rule for 'Lesser Developed Countries' (LDCs, classified as such by their GNP per capita being less than $ 1,500 in 1998 as measured by the World Bank), which initially allowed such countries duty-free access for apparel made from non-originating fabric for a 4-year period until September 30, 2004 (see pages 9-10 in AGOA Act under Downloads). AGOA III extended this provision by a further three years to September 2007, but halves the quota level applicable to this category in the final year of extension. Only South Africa, Gabon, Mauritius and the Seychelles are not designated as LDCs and therefore do not benefit from this waiver from normal rules of origin.
Manufacturers of apparel wishing to export duty-free to the U.S. under AGOA are required to "maintain complete records of the production and the export of covered articles,including materials used in the production, for at least 2 years after the production or export" (see page 14 of AGOA Legislation in Downloads Section). For this purpose, manufacturers are required to draw up and sign a "Certificate of Origin", a sample of which can be accessed in the Downloads Section.
By May 2007, 26 of the 37 AGOA-beneficiary countries had fulfilled the provisions of the wearing apparel 'Special Rule' and were thus eligible to export apparel duty-free to the U.S.
The value and volume (in Square Meter Equivalent) of apparel exports from AGOA beneficiaries to the U.S. can be found in the AGOA Apparel Trade section of the TRADE DATA Menu. Apparel quotas, and the extent to which the apparel quotas have been utilised, are provided under AGOA Apparel Quotas, also in the TRADE DATA Menu.
Treatment of traditional fabrics
Preferential treatment for handloomed fabric and handmade articles made from such handloomed fabric is avalaible to the following countries (as at February 2007):
Kenya, Lesotho, Botswana, Malawi, Swaziland, Namibia, Zambia, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
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Some Relevant Definitions:
"Wholly formed" – when used with reference to yarns or thread, means that all of the production processes, starting with the extrusion of filament or the spinning of all fibers into yarn or both and ending with a yarn or plied yarn, took place in a single country, and when used with reference to fabrics, means that all of the production processes, starting with polymers, fibers, filaments, textile strips, yarns, twine, cordage, rope, or strips of fabric and ending with a fabric by a weaving, knitting, needling, tufting, felting, entangling or other process, took place in a single country.
"Knit to shape" – applies to any apparel article of which 50 percent or more of the exterior surface area is formed by major parts that have been knitted or crocheted directly to the shape used in the apparel article, with no consideration being given to patch pockets, appliques, or the like. Minor cutting, trimming, or sewing of those major parts will not effect the determination of whether an apparel article is “knit-to-shape”.
The use of non AGOA-originating collars, cuffs, drawstrings, padding / shoulder pads, waistbands, belts attached to garments, straps with elastic and elbow patches is permitted without compromising the AGOA-status of the garment. This is an amendment under AGOA III. Note that according to H.R. 1047,
the "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004" from 8 October 2004, duty-free status to collars and cuffs is to be provided retrospectively from 1 October, 2000. However, this Bill was not passed as expected and it is hoped that the ammendments will be passed in November 2004.
"Findings And Trimmings General Rule": An article otherwise eligible for preferential treatment shall not be ineligible for such treatment because the article contains findings or trimmings of foreign origin, if the value of such findings and trimmings does not exceed 25 percent of the cost of the components of the assembled article. Examples of findings and trimmings are sewing thread (except if the thread is under 9819.11.06), hooks and eyes, snaps, buttons, `bow buds', decorative lace trim, elastic strips, and zippers, including zipper tapes, and labels. Elastic strips are considered findings or trimmings only if they are each less than 1 inch in width and used in the production of brassieres.
"Certain Interlinings General Rule": An article otherwise eligible for preferential treatment shall not be ineligible for such treatment because the article contains certain interlinings of foreign origin, if the value of such interlinings (and any findings and trimmings) does not exceed 25 percent of the cost of the components of the assembled article. Interlinings eligible for the treatment described above include only a chest type plate, a `hymo' piece, or `sleeve header', of woven or weft-inserted warp knit construction and of coarse animal hair or man-made filaments.
"De Minimis Rule": An article otherwise eligible for preferential treatment shall not be ineligible for such treatment because the article contains fibers or yarns not wholly formed in the United States or one or more beneficiary Sub-Saharan African countries if the total weight of all such fibers and yarns is not more than 10 percent (increased under AGOA III from 7 percent) of the total weight of the article.
(Source: Based on AGOA legislation and "AGOA Directive to Port Directors, Assistant Port Directors, Import Specialists, Inspectors, Entry Specialists, Brokers, Importers and Other Interested Parties" by U.S. Executive Director, Trade Programs).
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Latest Updates
 
MAY 2010: All data has been updated to include March 2010 data.
December 2009: Madagascar, Niger and Guinea lose AGOA eligibility end 2009; Mauritania regains AGOA status.
News story at this link
ITC investigation of textiles and apparel: Further details at this link
AGOA IV – Changes to AGOA explained
For disaggregated trade data covering each AGOA country, follow the relevant link in the Country Sections (left column) or click here.
 For detailed AGOA maps click here
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