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AGOA Eligibility

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General Country Eligibility Provisions

It is the U.S. Government's intention that the largest possible number of Sub-Saharan African countries are able to take advantage of AGOA. President Clinton issued a proclamation on October 2, 2000 designating 34 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as eligible for the trade benefits of AGOA. The proclamation was the result of a public comment period and extensive interagency deliberations of each country's performance against the eligibility criteria established in the Act. On January 18, 2001, Swaziland was designated as the 35th AGOA eligible country and on May 16, 2002. Côte d'Ivoire was designated as the 36th AGOA eligible country. On January 1, 2003 The Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were designated as the 37th and 38th AGOA eligible countries. On January 1, 2004, Eritrea and the Central African Republuc were declared ineligible, and Angola was designated as AGOA eligible. On December 10, 2004, the President designated Burkina Faso as AGOA eligible. Effective January 1, 2005, the President removed Côte d'Ivoire from the list of eligible countries. Effective January 1, 2006, the President designated Burundi as AGOA eligible and removed Mauritania from the list of eligible countries. Effective December 29, 2006, the President designated Liberia as AGOA eligible. Effective December 23, 2009, the President again designated Mauritania as AGOA eligible. Effective April 17, 2008, the President designated Togo as AGOA eligible. Effective June 30, 2008, the President designated Comoros as AGOA eligible. Effective December 23, 2009, the President removed Guinea, Madagascar and Niger from the list of AGOA eligible countries while also restoring AGOA eligibility to Mauritania. The DRC lost AGOA eligibility on January 1, 2011. In October 2011, the President restored eligibility to Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Niger. Effective December 20, 2012, South Sudan was announced to be AGOA eligible and the President removed Mali and Guinea-Bissau from eligibility. Mali's AGOA benefits were restored 1/1/2014. Guinea Bissau's eligibility restored December 23, 2014. Madagascar's AGOA eligibility was restored 6/26/14. Swaziland, South Sudan, and the Gambia were declared ineligible January 1, 2015. Central African Republic was reinstated as eligible for AGOA benefits on December 15, 2016. Swaziland and The Gambia's eligibility status was restored December 22, 2017. The Seychelles graduated out of AGOA effective January 1, 2017. The U.S. Government will work with eligible ccountries to sustain their efforts to institute policy reforms, and with the remaining nine Sub-Saharan African countries to help them achieve eligibility.

The Act authorizes the President to designate countries as eligible to receive the benefits of AGOA if they are determined to have established, or are making continual progress toward establishing the following: market-based economies; the rule of law and political pluralism; elimination of barriers to U.S. trade and investment; protection of intellectual property; efforts to combat corruption; policies to reduce poverty, increasing availability of health care and educational opportunities; protection of human rights and worker rights; and elimination of certain child labor practices. These criteria have been embraced overwhelmingly by the vast majority of African nations, which are striving to achieve the objectives although none is expected to have fully implemented the entire list.

The eligibility criteria for GSP and AGOA substantially overlap, and countries must be GSP eligible in order to receive AGOA's trade benefits including both expanded GSP and the apparel provisions. Although GSP eligibility does not imply AGOA eligibility, 47 of the 48 Sub-Saharan African countries are currently GSP eligible.

Countries Eligible for AGOA Benefits

Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros; Republic of Congo; Cote d’Ivoire; Djibouti; Ethiopia; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea Bissau; Kenya; Lesotho; Liberia; Madagascar; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Sao Tome and Principe; Senegal; Sierra Leone; South Africa; Swaziland; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Zambia.

Below is a table listing AGOA eligible countries, the effective date of their eligibility, and the effective date of their eligibility for AGOA apparel benefits if applicable.

COUNTRY	DATE DECLARED AGOA ELIGIBLE	DATE DECLARED ELIGIBLE FOR APPAREL PROVISION	SPECIAL RULE FOR APPAREL
(Republic of) Angola	December 30, 2003
(Republic of) Benin	October 2, 2000	January 28, 2004	Yes
(Republic of) Botswana	October 2, 2000	August 27, 2001	Yes
Burkina Faso	December 10, 2004	August 4, 2006	Yes
(Republic of) Burundi	January 1, 2006
(Republic of) Cameroon	October 2, 2000	March 1, 2002	Yes
(Republic of) Cape Verde	October 2, 2000	August 28, 2002	Yes
Central African Republic	Declared ineligible on January 1, 2004 and reinstated December 15, 2016.
(Republic of) Chad	October 2, 2000	April 26, 2006	Yes
(Republic of) Cote d’Ivoire	Restored October 25, 2011
(Union of) Comoros	June 30 , 2008
(Republic of) Congo	October 2, 2000
(Democratic Republic of) Congo *	Declared ineligible January 1, 2011
(Republic of) Djibouti	October 2, 2000
Eriteria	Declared ineligible on January 1, 2004.
Ethiopia	October 2, 2000	August 2, 2001	Yes
Gabonese (Republic)	October 2, 2000		No
The Gambia	Declared ineligible in 2015, restored December 22,2017	April 28, 2008	Yes
(Republic of) Ghana	October 2, 2000	March 20, 2002	Yes
Guinea	Restored October 25, 2011
(Republic of) Guinea-Bissau	Eligibility restored in 2014
(Republic of) Kenya	October 2, 2000	January 18, 2001	Yes
(Kingdom of) Lesotho	October 2, 2000	April 23, 2001	Yes
(Republic of) Liberia	December 29 , 2006	January 24, 2011
(Republic of) Malawi	October 2, 2000	August 15, 2001	Yes
(Republic of) Madagascar	Eligibility restored in 2014
(Republic of) Mali	Restored on January 1, 2014
(Republic of) Mauritania	October 2, 2000 Restored December 23, 2009
(Republic of) Mauritius	October 2, 2000	January 18, 2001	Yes
(Republic of) Mozambique	October 2, 2000	February 8, 2002	Yes
(Republic of) Namibia	October 2, 2000	December 3, 2001	Yes
(Repulic of) Niger	Restored October 25, 2011
(Federal republic of) Nigeria	October 2, 2000	July 14, 2004	Yes
(Republic of) Rwanda	October 2, 2000	March 4, 2003	Yes
(Democratic Republic of) Sao Tome and Principe	October 2, 2000
(Republic of) Senegal	October 2, 2000	April 23, 2002	Yes
(Republic of) Seychelles	Graduated out of AGOA effective January 1, 2017		No
(Republic of) Sierra Leone	October 23, 2002	April 5, 2004	Yes
(Republic of) South Africa	October 2, 2000	March 7, 2001	No
(Republic of) South Sudan	Declared ineligible 2015
(Kingdom of) Swaziland	Declared ineligible on June 26, 2014, eligibility restored December 22, 2017
(United Republic of) Tanzania	October 2, 2000	February 4, 2002	Yes
(Republic of) Togo	April 17, 2008
(Republic of) Uganda	October 2, 2000	October 23, 2001	Yes
(Republic of) Zambia	October 2, 2000	December 17, 2001	Yes

* AGOA trade preferences granted on October 31, 2003.