Newsletter No. 9 1 April 2016
The Foschini Group acquires Whistles By MyNewsroom Cape Town – TFG (The Foschini Group) has acquired, through its United Kingdom (UK) subsidiary, Phase-Eight, the entire share capital of Whistles, a British contemporary fashion brand for men and women. Whistles currently has 46 standalone stores in the UK and is stocked in selected departmental stores across the world including Bloomingdales in the United States of America and Harrods in the UK. It also sells its merchandise online. The addition of Whistles to TFG’s existing portfolio of brands will further position TFG as a leading fashion retailer not only in South Africa, but internationally, and will enhance its online presence “We very much look forward to working with the TFG team to continue to build on the success of Whistles and take it to the next stage of its evolution” says Jane Shepherdson, CEO of Whistles. “Whistles is a brand that we have long admired, for which we believe there is a significant opportunity for growth. We look forward to working with the team to further develop the brand” says Doug Murray, TFG CEO. New Technology and Innovations take over Techtextil North Americas Symposium Visitors to take advantage of Bonus Symposium Opportunities The start of 2016 has proved to be full of new technologies and innovations in the technical textile industry. Techtextil North America, held May 3-5, 2016 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta is to host over 30 hand selected industry experts from around the world that plan to reveal advanced technologies at the premier symposium held concurrently with the show floor. Techtextil North America is co-located with Texprocess Americas and JEC Americas. The trifecta of these shows brings together the full spectrum of technical textiles, nonwovens, sewn products and equipment, technology and composites into one central location. During the 3 day technical textile event visitors are able participate in 10 hot topic sessions plus two bonus sessions put on by IAF and a joint session hosted by Techtextil North America, Texprocess Americas and JEC Americas. Visitors can expect to connect with potential new partners, learn about exciting new technologies and discover how they can grow their business while partaking in the Techtextil North America Symposium. For the full list of speakers and to Pre-Register for Techtextil North America 2016, please visit www.techtextilNA.com
AGOA TO: ACT Members FROM: Paul Ryberg RE: AGOA Update DATE: March 16, 2016 South Africa’s AGOA Benefits Restored President Obama yesterday issued the attached presidential proclamation determining that South Africa has brought itself back into compliance with the AGOA conditions of eligibility and removing the suspension of duty-free status for agricultural products from South Africa, which had been imposed as a sanction for South Africa’s failure to resolve the long-running poultry dispute. Imports under the 2015-16 AGOA Apparel TRQ The 2015-16 AGOA tariff rate quota (TRQ) on apparel was set at 1,935,096,830 square meter equivalents (sme). The portion of the TRQ reserved for apparel made in LDCs from third-country fabric is 967,548,415 sme. The remainder of the TRQ is available for apparel made from regional fabric. The 2015-16 TRQ opened on October 1, 2015, and will close on September 30, 2016. As of March 14, 2016, a total of 111,173,446 sme’s of apparel had entered duty-free under the TRQ, representing 5.75% of the total TRQ.  Ninety-nine percent of these duty-free imports to date, 110,590,662 sme’s, consisted of apparel imported from LDCs, which imports were charged against the special sublimit of the AGOA TRQ applicable to third-country fabric apparel imported from LDCs and equal 11.43% of that sub-TRQ. Trade Report Available on ACT Website The latest edition of the Trade Report is available on ACT’s website at www.acttrade.org. Please contact ACT if you have any difficulty accessing the Trade Report or if you have forgotten your password.
– – – – – – – THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 14, 2016 TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS UNDER THE AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT – – – – – – – BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION 1. In Proclamation 7350 of October 2, 2000, the President designated the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for purposes of section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974 (the “1974 Act”) (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1)), as added by section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (title I of Public Law 106-200) (AGOA). 2. Sections 506A(d)(4)(C) (19 U.S.C. 2466a(d)(4)(C)) and 506A(c)(1) (19 U.S.C. 2466a(c)(1)) of the 1974 Act authorize the President to suspend the application of duty-free treatment provided for any article described in section 506A(b)(1) of the 1974 Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(b)(1)) or 19 U.S.C. 3721 with respect to a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country if he determines that the beneficiary country is not meeting the requirements described in section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act and that suspending such duty-free treatment would be more effective in promoting compliance by the country with those requirements than terminating the designation of the country as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for purposes of section 506A of the 1974 Act. 3. In Proclamation 9388 of January 11, 2016, pursuant to section 506A(c)(1) of the 1974 Act, I determined that South Africa was not meeting the requirements described in section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act and that suspending the application of duty-free treatment to certain goods would be more effective in promoting compliance by South Africa with such requirements than terminating the designation of South Africa as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country. Thus, pursuant to section 506A(c)(1) of the 1974 Act, I suspended the application of duty-free treatment for all AGOA-eligible goods in the agricultural sector from South Africa for purposes of section 506A of the 1974 Act, effective on March 15, 2016. 4. Pursuant to section 506A of the 1974 Act, based on actions that the Government of South Africa has taken to come into compliance with the requirements described in section 506A(a)(1) of the 1974 Act, I have determined that suspending the application of duty-free treatment to certain goods is no longer necessary to promote compliance by South Africa with such requirements. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including but not limited to sections 506A(d)(4)(C) and 506A(c)(1) of the 1974 Act, do proclaim that: 1.Proclamation 9388 of January 11, 2016, is hereby revoked. 2. Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive Orders that are inconsistent with the actions taken in this proclamation are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fortieth. BARACK OBAMA # # # ***************************************************************************************************
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