U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement to Take Effect on February 1, 2009

The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement (officially known as the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement) will go into effect on February 1, 2009.

In Washington, DC, President Bush yesterday issued a proclamation to implement the free trade agreement and in Lima, Peruvian President Alan Garcia and Mercedes Aráoz Fernandez, Peru's Minister of Trade and Tourism, also signed the required proclamation to formally implement the free trade agreement.

In order to receive preferential treatment under the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, U.S. and Peruvian goods must qualify as originating as prescribed under the Rules of Origin section of the Agreement (Annex 4.1). The Rules of Origin for the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement are similar, but not identical, to rules of origin found in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement and the Central American-Dominican Republic-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR).

The Rules of Origin for the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement can be found here (pdf) and will soon be published in the General Notes of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Annotated and the appropriate changes will be made to the HTSUS in order to reflect the preferential duty rates for qualifying Peruvian products.

The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement was signed on April 12, 2006. It was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on November 8, 2007 and by the U.S. Senate on December 4, 2007. President Bush signed the legislation implementing the Agreement on December 14, 2007.

Peru’s Congress passed this week modifications to earlier legislation on trade, health and the environment, in order to conform to and implement the terms of the free trade agreement.