The International Trade Commission recently posted the first changes to the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Revision 1 to the 2014 HTS implements changes in AGOA eligibility and clarifies a list of exemptions to the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) that was added in January (see 14010221). It also adds new statistical suffixes for golf cart and all-terrain vehicle tires, gas stoves, refrigerator-freezers, ribbon cable connectors, magnets, and wheels and tires for various equipment and machinery, among other products. A record of the changes is (here). All of the changes in Revision 1 took effect July 1.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
Locking pliers are correctly classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule as wrenches, said CBP in an internal advice decision that confirmed that a two decade-old customs ruling and a 30-year old Court of International Trade opinion still apply. Cooper Tools argued that the classification of locking wrenches as pliers is incorrect and outdated, and said they should instead be classified as pliers. But in customs ruling HQ 166799 issued on April 16, CBP found that it is bound by the court decision, and nothing has changed that would warrant changing its interpretation.
CBP said its Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1404 was created June 30, containing 361 ABI records and 93 harmonized tariff records. The update contains modifications mandated by the 484(f) committee for statistical annotation of the tariff schedules. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are also included, CBP said in a CSMS message. These changes are effective July 1, 2014. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.
Recent trade-related bills introduced in Congress include:
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on steel nails from India, South Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Taiwan, Turkey, and Vietnam (A-533-859/C-533-860, A-580-874/C-580-875, A-557-816/C-557-817, A-523-808/C-523-809, A-583-854/C-583/855, A-489-820/C-489-821, A-552-818/C-552-819). The agency will determine whether imports of steel from these seven countries are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value, and whether imports from these countries are being illegally subsidized.
“Sports equipment” does not include clothing, confirmed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit June 20 as it upheld a lower court ruling that football uniforms imported by Riddell should be classified as apparel. Regardless of whether it is for exclusive use in a sport, apparel should be classified as apparel in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule unless it contains a “character-transforming” amount of protection, said CAFC. Riddell’s football uniforms, imported without pads, do not, it said.
A U.S. yarn manufacturer on June 11 asked the Commerce Department’s Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA) to remove a type of yarn from the short supply list under the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Buhler Quality Yarns Corp. requested the removal of certain ring spun single yarns of English yarn number 30 and higher of 0.9 denier or finer micro modal fibers. It says the company that originally requested that the yarn be put on the short supply list also supports the yarn’s removal.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture revised the appendices to its Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation for the 2014 tariff-rate quota year, in a final rule that takes effect June 16. USDA is making the changes to reflect the cumulative annual transfers from Appendix 1 to Appendix 2 for certain dairy product import licenses permanently surrendered by licensees or revoked by the Foreign Agricultural Service.
The Foreign Agricultural Service will charge a fee of $250 for the 2015 tariff-rate quota (TRQ) year for each license issued to a person or firm by the U.S. Department of Agriculture authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles which are subject to tariff-rate quotas set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS). That represents an increase of $50 on top of the $200 fee currently in place for 2014 TRQ licenses (see 13073115).
House lawmaker Diane Black, R-Tenn., introduced legislation on May 28 that would remove tariffs on a raft of electronic learning devices for children. The bill, the Elimination of Tariffs on Education for Children’s Act, would insert subheading 8543.70.94 into the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to provide for duty-free import of the learning devices. The legislation would replicate the duty-free status of 8543.70.92, a subheading that addresses electrical machines with translation or dictionary functions, flat panel displays and other goods. The bill would make the tariff removal on the products permanent, said Black, according to a spokesman. “Electronic learning devices have been used in hundreds of thousands of classrooms and households,” said Black. “Congress has already recognized the importance of eliminating duties on electronic educational devices and has approved three temporary tariff reductions under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bills since 2004.” Congress remains unable to find a trade legislation vehicle (see 14032429). The Black legislation has four co-sponsors.