The U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world, provides preferential duty-free entry for more than 4,650 products from 144 designated beneficiary countries and territories. The GSP program was instituted on Jan. 1, 1976, and authorized under the Trade Act of 1974 for a 10-year period. It has been renewed periodically since then, most recently in 2002, when President George Bush signed legislation that reauthorized the GSP program through 2006.

The following Guidebook and other information sources are provided to encourage the use of GSP duty-free treatment for fostering economic growth through the expansion of trade between the United States and the developing GSP beneficiaries.