CBP Notice on Expiration of U.S. - Russia Export Agreement on Sixteen Steel Categories
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an Electronic Bulletin Board (CEBB) notice stating that the July 12, 1999 agreement between the U.S. and the Russian Federation (Russia) on certain steel products from Russia, which established export limits and licensing requirements for a five-year period, expired on July 12, 2004. (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/05/99 news, 99080473 for BP summary on the agreement.)
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(CBP and ITA sources state that the 1999 agreement established export limits for fifteen (later amended to include 16) categories of steel products from Russia not covered by antidumping (AD) or countervailing (CV) duty orders or suspension agreements. Four of the 16 categories were banned for the entire five-year period, as their export limits were zero (except for certain used rails).
In addition, CBP and ITA sources state that the agreement required the twelve non-zero categories of covered products to be accompanied by a valid (original stamped) export license issued by Russia).
Russia Export License Not Required for Exports on/after 07/12/04
As a result, CBP and ITA sources state that for subject steel shipments that are exported from Russia on or after July 12, 2004, entry release shall be permitted without regard to the expired agreement's export limits or licensing requirements.
(CBP and ITA sources note that shipments of the twelve non-zero categories of steel products that have a time of entry or are exported prior to July 12, 2004 still require the presentation of a valid export license for entry release.)
CBP further states that these instructions apply to shipments of merchandise covered by the agreement regardless of whether the merchandise was shipped directly from Russia or via one or more third countries, including merchandise covered by the agreement that are subject to minor processing in such third countries.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 09/21/99 news, 99092072 for BP summary of the initiation of the license requirements for certain Russian steel products.)
(CEBB notice, dated 07/13/04, available at http://www.cebb.customs.treas.gov/public/cgi/cebb.exe?mode=fi&area=14&name=A462809H.TXT)
BP Note
The CEBB notice states that the International Trade Administration (ITA) does not assign case numbers to agreements of this type; however, for CBP purposes this agreement was referred to using the case number A-462-809.