KORUS Proclamation and Annexes Published & Effective March 15
The President has published Proclamation 8783 in the Federal Register which amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement the U.S. - Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), effective for goods of Korea entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after March 15, 2012. The International Trade Commission has simultaneously posted the Annexes to the Proclamation which list all of the 2012 and later year amendments to the HTS for KORUS.
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Annex I adds a new General Note 33 to the HTS for KORUS. This General Note describes the requirements for goods of Korea to qualify as "originating" or otherwise qualify for KORUS preferential duty treatment, and is effective for such goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after March 15, 2012.
Annex II lists the tariff numbers for KORUS qualifying goods that have a zero (free) or reduced duty rate for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after March 15, 2012. Annex II also lists the tariff numbers that refer to various HTS Chapter 99 tariff numbers for their KORUS provisions, among other changes.
A table in Annex II lists each tariff number and its KORUS duty rates for years 2012 (beginning March 15) through 2021, as not all duty rates go to zero on March 15, but are reduced in stages over a number of years. For some tariff numbers, this staged reduction process is short and only last a few years until the duty rate is zero; for others, the staging process lasts until 2026.
(Note that for textiles and apparel, Proclamation 8783 also contains certain authorizations for the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) to take action on textiles and/or apparel regarding (i) fabrics, yarn or fiber not available in commercial quantities in a timely manner, (ii) the denial of entry or KORUS duty treatment, and (iii) the determination of whether certain imports are causing serious damage or threat thereof, to the domestic industry.)
The Proclamation's companion International Trade Commission publication (No. 4308) containing Annexes I and II is available here.
Proclamation (FR Pub 03/09/12)