The Court of International Trade has ruled that Rack Room Shoes, SKIZ Imports LLC, and Forever 21, Inc., which had challenged the constitutionality of certain tariff provisions of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) on the grounds that the tariffs unconstitutionally discriminate by gender and age, did not plausibly demonstrate government intent to discriminate, dismissing the case with prejudice.
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.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a proposed rule to make various changes to the in-bond regulations to enhance CBP's ability to regulate and track in-bond merchandise and to ensure that the in-bond merchandise is properly entered and duties are paid or that the in-bond merchandise is exported. Comments must be received on or before April 23, 2012.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is soliciting proposals on appropriate changes it should consider for modifying the rules of origin for non-textile and non-apparel products under the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). Comments are due by April 17, 2012.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that it will conduct the next Customs Broker License Examination on Monday, April 2, 2012.
On February 7, 2012 the following trade-related bills were introduced:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1202 on changes to the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. This update contains 606 ABI records and 158 harmonized tariff records. Adjustments required by the authentication of the 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are included. The modified records are currently available to all ABI participants and can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. For further information about this process, please contact your client representative. Contact Jennifer Keeling via email at Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov for all other questions.
The International Trade Administration is announcing that its Environmental Technologies Trade Advisory Committee's February 24, 2012 meeting will cover two additional topics: (1) presentation of, and deliberation on, a list of harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) codes the ETTAC considers relevant to the U.S. environmental industry and (2) recommendations regarding U.S. government approaches to environmental export promotion. (FR Pub 02/10/12).
A compiler’s note in the February 3, 2012 Harmonized Tariff Schedule states that the HTS rules of origin provisions for only five free trade agreements -- the NAFTA, SFTA, AFTA, CFTA, and BFTA1 -- have been updated for the WCO-recommended tariff changes that took effect in 2007, and none of the HTS FTA rules of origin have been updated for the WCO-recommended tariff changes that took effect on February 3. Such updates must be negotiated with the FTA partner country and then implemented for the U.S. HTS by proclamation.
The Census Bureau has issued an AES Broadcast stating that effective immediately, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule tables in the Automated Export System have been updated to accept the changes to the 2012 codes, which largely result from World Customs Organization (WCO)-recommended changes that became effective in the HTS on February 3, 2012.
The February 3, 2012 U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which contains hundreds of World Customs Organization-recommended as well as other tariff changes, is now in effect. The print copy of this version is also available from the Government Printing Office (GPO).