US maintains duty free import regime for Uzbekistan

The United States maintained a duty-free import regime for Uzbekistan. This is stated on the website of the US Trade Representative Office.

It should be recalled that earlier the regime of duty-free import of goods for Uzbekistan required abolition of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). The organization called on the United States to abolish trade preferences for Uzbekistan, indicating the lack of adequate intellectual property protection in the country. 

Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) is a duty-free regime for importing goods into the United States, established in accordance with the 1974 Trade Act in relation to imports from developing countries. Uzbekistan was granted the beneficiary status of GSP (the right to duty-free supplies to the United States) in August 1994.

As reported in the press service of the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, in November 2018, the Uzbek Embassy in the United States took part in the proceedings initiated by the US Trade Representative Office on petitions of two non-governmental organizations the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) and the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA). The petitions, citing violations of workers’ rights and the lack of adequate protection of intellectual property rights, required cessation of the GSP regime application in relation to Uzbekistan. 

The Uzbek MFA press service said that representatives of the US presidential administration recognized the increased political attention at the highest level to copyright protection issues, including supporting and assisting Uzbekistan in creating a working group on Central Asia in the field of intellectual property during a meeting of the Framework Agreement Council on trade and investment between the CA countries and the US, held in Tashkent in October 2018.

“We believe that these positive changes represent a critical turning point in terms of protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights in Uzbekistan. We would like to continue working with Uzbekistan in order to rely on these positive steps to support efforts that will ultimately improve the investment climate in Uzbekistan,” the US Trade Representative Office noted.