Bill to Make Certain Footwear Duty-Free Reintroduced in Senate
On January 25, 2011, Senator Ensign (R) introduced S. 108, the Affordable Footwear Act of 2011, to among other things, eliminate the duties on certain imported footwear articles that would provide significant benefits to U.S. consumers.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
(S. 108 has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee and no further action has been taken.)
Similar Legislation Introduced in Previous Congresses
In the 111th Congress, Senator Ensign introduced a virtually identical bill (S. 730) in March 2009 and Representative Crowley introduced a House version of the Affordable Footwear Act (H.R. 4316) in December 2009. Similar legislation (H.R. 3934 and S. 2372) was also introduced in the 110th Congress.
Would Make Certain Footwear Duty-Free, Define Footwear by Gender, Etc.
S. 108 contains would provide duty-free treatment to certain footwear by amending existing Harmonized Tariff Schedule HTS subheadings or by adding new ones. The measure would also amend HTS Chapter 64 Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 1 by adding definitions for “footwear for men” and “footwear for women;” and create new AUSNs 5, 6, 7, and 8 for work footwear, house slippers, outer soles of rubber or plastics, and certain dollar amounts for footwear.
Would Provide DR-CAFTA Treatment to Certain Haitian Footwear
The bill would also amend 19 USC 2703a by adding a special rule for footwear. Under that special rule, footwear that is the product or manufacture of Haiti and is imported directly from Haiti into the customs territory of the U.S. would be accorded tariff treatment identical to the tariff treatment that is accorded under the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) to footwear described in the same 8-digit subheading of the HTS. Footwear would qualify for such treatment if it satisfies the applicable rule of origin set out in DR-CAFTA Article 4.1.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 11/15/10 news, 10111506, for BP summary on the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA) urging Congress to pass the Affordable Footwear Act in 2010.
See ITT’s Online Archives or 12/17/09 news, 09121750, for BP summary of AAFA’s strong support of this legislation in 2009.)