The Trade Agreements Act (19 U.S.C. &2501-2581) of 1979 was passed to promote fair and open international trade, but more importantly, it implements the requirement that the U.S. government can only purchase finished products manufactured or designated in the United States. This means, among other things, that GSA can only acquire products manufactured and/or TAA compliant in the United States, even though they are executed under a MAS program. This requirement has again baffled many MAS contractors as to their true meaning. The Trade Agreements Act (TAA) was created to promote fair international trade with certain designated countries. Companies that work with foreign-made products or services need to know which companies are limited to comply with the TAA and GSA. The U.S. government was required to procure only products and services manufactured in the United States or finished products from TAA-dependent countries. Where the TAA applies, the law and enforcement procedures prohibit authorities from purchasing goods or services that do not originate in the United States or a “designated country” that has a free trade agreement with the United States. While the list of “designated countries” includes a wide range of countries that are parties to different free trade agreements – including the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and some bilateral trade agreements between the United States and some countries – there are a number of countries (including China and India as two notable examples) that do not have “designated countries” for the TAA objectives. are. Indeed, a number of recent False Claims Act cases involving the TAA illustrate the risks and serious consequences for contractors who do not meet these requirements.
Therefore, all schedule holders and other public contractors subject to the TAA should take this opportunity to ensure that they have the appropriate controls in place to ensure that products and services sold to the government are compliant with the TAA. According to the cd&F, these products can be manufactured in any country, including China, with the exception of the products listed in subsection 25.7 of the FAR (Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Burma and North Korea).