Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act

OBS: The Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CRERA), which was enacted on August 5, 1983 (Public Law 98-67, title II), contains the trade component of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) that was launched in 1983 to expand private sector opportunities and investment in nontraditional sectors of the Caribbean Basin Beneficiaries as a way to help them diversify their economies and expand their exports. The CBERA authorized the President to proclaim duty-free treatment to eligible articles from designated beneficiary Caribbean Basin countries and dependent territories. The first proclamations and designations under the Act took effect on January 1, 1984. The Act was scheduled to remain in effect until September 30, 1995, but was expanded in 1990 by the Basin Economic Recovery Expansion Act (Public Law 101-382, title II) with no statutory expiration date. The primary goal of CBERA is to promote export-oriented growth in the Caribbean Basin countries and to diversify their economies away from such traditional agricultural products and raw materials as aluminum, bananas, coffee, petroleum, and sugar.