Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 30 October 2020, the Trade Representative of the US Presidential Administration (USTR) R Robert Lighthizer sent a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the decision to terminate the procedures for revising the application of the General System of Preferences (SHG) in relation to Uzbekistan on the criterion of ensuring workers’ rights. 

By this decision, the US Trade Representative retained Uzbekistan’s right to use the duty-free trade regime with the United States, thereby closing the 12-year forced labor case against the Republic.

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

The letter from the US Trade Representative noted that the key factors for making this decision were the measures taken by the Government of Uzbekistan to improve the protection of workers’ rights. In particular, with reference to the results of monitoring by the International Labor Organization, the elimination of the systematic use of child labor in Uzbekistan and a significant reduction in forced labor for the fifth year in a row as a result of measures taken by the government and legislative changes are recognized. 

Among other significant achievements of Uzbekistan, the US Trade Representative attributed the abolition of mandatory volumes for cotton picking and a significant increase in the level of pay for cotton pickers, which ultimately creates conditions for ending forced labor.

In October 2019, the Office of the US Trade Representative made a decision to terminate the practice with respect to Uzbekistan, which began in 1999, based on the criterion of ensuring the protection of intellectual property rights.

On 3 November 2020, an official statement was published on the official website of the Trade Representative of the US Presidential Administration with information about the decision to stop the procedure for reviewing the application of SHGs in relation to a number of countries, including Uzbekistan.