The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it determined the amount of the trade surplus in certain sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products from Chile, Morocco, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, Colombia, and Panama, in accordance with the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The determination is effective Jan. 1. The determination relates to the quantity of sugar and syrup goods and sugar-containing products for which the U.S. grants preferential tariff treatment under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, and the U.S.-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement. Further information: Ann Heilman-Dahl, 202-395-6127. Its decisions include:
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.
The Court of International Trade’s November decision in International Customs Products v. U.S. marked the culmination of an unusually contentious case, and a difficult one for the court to decide, industry lawyers said. In its ruling, CIT said a Notice of Action that reclassified International Custom Product’s entries of white sauce was an “interpretive ruling or decision” that improperly revoked an earlier ruling letter, without the notice and comment period required by 19 USC 1625. About $300 million dollars in duties were at stake, as well as CBP’s flexibility to rate advance entries through Notices of Action. The outcome could impose burdens on both CBP and importers, said a former CBP lawyer now in private practice.
CBP issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1210 on changes to the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. This update contains 39,623 ABI records and 6,726 harmonized tariff records. The modifications, effective Jan. 1, include the annual special program staged rate reductions, it said. The changes were made as a result of the 484(f) Committee, the Committee for Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are also included. The modified records are currently available to all ABI participants and can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Contact Jennifer Keeling via email at Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov for all other questions.
Del Monte appealed the Court of International Trade’s Oct. 12 ruling that its tuna is correctly classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule as packed in oil, despite being packaged in marinade consisting of only 2.48 percent oil. The company had argued its tuna should be classified in one of two subheadings for fish not in oil, dutiable at 6 or 12.5 percent, respectively. CIT’s decision means the tuna is dutiable at 35 percent. In arriving at its decision, CIT relied on a U.S. Note and century-old case law to say that any oil content whatsoever means the fish is packed in oil.
The International Trade Administration issued a Federal Register notice on its recently initiated antidumping investigation of silica bricks and shapes from China (A-570-988). The ITA will determine whether imports of silica bricks and shapes from China are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.
CBP is extending the comment period to Jan. 10 for an existing information collection concerning CBP protest forms. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the burden hours or to the information collected.
CBP is extending the comment period to Jan. 7 for an existing information collection on foreign assembler declarations with endorsement by the importer. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with a change to the burden hours but not the information collected, it said in a notice scheduled for the Federal Register Dec. 7.
CBP issued a final rule to increase the informal entry limit from $2,000 to its maximum statutory limit of $2,500 due to inflation. CBP is also eliminating the formal entry requirement for certain textile and other articles valued over $250, as there are no longer absolute quotas and/or visa requirements for such goods. As a result, these textiles and other articles will also have a informal entry limit of $2,500. The rule is effective Jan. 7
The Court of International Trade denied Samsung’s challenge to CBP’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of parts used in its plasma screen televisions, saying that CBP correctly found the parts at issue to be flat panel screen assemblies. CBP’s classification had resulted in denial of NAFTA duty free treatment for the televisions, because no tariff-shift rule of origin applies to the flat panel screen assemblies, which were manufactured in Korea. The issues before CBP were similar to those of the protests underlying the Hitachi protest time limit case, currently awaiting a decision on whether the Supreme Court will hear the case. CBP also went over its statutory two-year time limit for Samsung’s protests, but Samsung filed for accelerated disposition rather than challenge CBP on the time limit, and had its protest deemed denied.
CBP posted documents on changes to the ACE ABI Customs and Trade Interface Requirements (CATAIR).