October 2000 : With the proclamation of this Act, 36 sub-Saharan African Countries are designated as beneficiary countries: Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Rep, Chad, Rep.of Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Swaziland.

The Act offers duty free and quota free US market access for essentially all products through the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) program and provides additional security for investors and traders in African countries by ensuring GSP benefits for eight years and eliminates the GSP competitive needs limitation for African countries. The Act expands the GSP program for Africa by adding more that 1800 new products to the standard list which includes footwear, luggage, handbags, flat goods, leather work gloves, leather and watches. Eligibility for preferential access : Goods exported from Mauritius on which value added operations (35%) have been carried out.

The Act allows apparel products (garments) to be shipped duty free and quota free from the AGOA Visa Certified countries under specific conditions primarily related to yarn and fabric rule of origin.