The United States has several trade tools which support strong copyright protection and enforcement abroad. Among these are the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA, also known as the Caribbean Basin Initiative or CBI)/Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA)/Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), and the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC).
The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program of the United States was created by the Trade Act of 1974 for the purpose of providing unilateral, non-reciprocal, preferential duty-free entry for thousands of products from beneficiary developing countries for the purpose of aiding their economic development through preferential market access.
The Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) was adopted in 1983 through the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) to provide unilateral duty-free access for most goods to the U.S. market for select beneficiary countries in Central America and the Caribbean. It was expanded in the year 2000 with the U.S.-Caribbean Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA) to offer more duty-free products and market access opportunities for CBPTA-eligible countries.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is an initiative designed to provide a legal framework for countries committed to strong intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and enforcement of IPR practices in order to more effectively combat the serious problems of infringement, particularly copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting globally.
The Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA), adopted in 1991, provides duty-free access to U.S. markets for some 5,600 products from the four eligible countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The Trade Act of 2002 renewed the ATPA program and extended new benefits to 700 additional products under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA). The ATPDEA requires that each country must meet all of the ATPA intellectual property rights criteria as well as the ATPDEA’s explicit TRIPS-or-greater criteria and willingness to participate in FTAA negotiations in order to be designated an ATPDEA eligible country.
The African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) was signed into law in October 2000. It authorized the President to designate certain sub-Saharan African countries as eligible for duty-free tariff treatment for certain products under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade program. As of 2014, 44 sub-Saharan African countries are eligible for AGOA.
The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008, Public Law 110–403 (Oct. 13, 2008) (also known as the "PRO IP Act’’) created, within the Executive Office of the President, the position of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC). The PRO-IP Act requires the IPEC to chair an interagency intellectual property enforcement advisory committee in order to develop an Administration strategy for enforcement against intellectual property infringement.