U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a final rule adopting, without change, interim amendments to CBP regulations that were published in January 2011 on the preferential tariff treatment and other customs-related provisions of the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA). The final rule is effective November 21, 2011.
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 International Trade Administration has issued its final affirmative determination that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of multilayered wood flooring from China (C-570-971). The countervailing duty rates for affected companies have been reduced for all firms but two, the China-wide rate has been revised, and 14 tariff numbers have been dropped from the scope of the investigation. Although this final CV determination takes effect October 18, 2011, ITA will only require CV cash deposits of estimated CV duties if it issues a CV duty order.
The International Trade Administration has issued its final affirmative antidumping duty determination on multilayered wood flooring from China (A-570-970), which reduces the AD rates for all firms but two and revises the rate for the China-wide entity. The ITA has also dropped 14 tariff numbers from the scope of the investigation. This final determination, which is effective October 18, 2011, is expected to be implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection soon.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued a final rule, effective October 13, 2011, that revises the appendices to its Dairy Tariff-Rate Import Quota Licensing Regulation for the 2011 tariff-rate quota year 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.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a final determination that Turkey is the country of origin of certain surgical masks with protective eye shields for purposes of U.S. government procurement. The surgical masks are made in Turkey mostly of Turkey-origin fabric and certain U.S.-origin fabric. They are then imported into the U.S. where a U.S.-made eye shield is permanently attached to the mask, accounting for most of the value of the product.
In the October 5, 2011 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 45, No. 41), CBP published a notice that proposes to modify a ruling and similar treatment relating to the duty rate of Acetyl L-Carnitine Hydrochloride.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a Court of International Trade decision to uphold Custom's classification of LeMans Corporation's motocross jerseys and pants, and motorcycle jackets as apparel under Chapters 61 and 62 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The CAFC stated that the articles are not classifiable as sports equipment in Chapter 95 as they are designed for comfort, worn on the body, and because specialization doesn't exclude articles from being classified as apparel.
The International Trade Data System has issued a draft report for trade comment by November 15, 2011, on the results of three pilot studies conducted to validate the business case for using e-commerce data, such as global product numbers/codes and electronic product catalogs, to improve product visibility at international borders. The report shows that the three product sets on which the pilots focused - toys, cut flowers, and meat and poultry1 -- all benefited from the use of such data and could save importers millions of dollars. The report also states that a new ACE PGA Message Set will be implemented in 2012 to pass e-commerce data to participating government agencies (PGAs).
This is a reminder that the Agricultural Marketing Service’s August 2011 final rule amending the Cotton Board Rules and Regulations to increase the supplemental assessment rate for imported cotton takes effect September 30, 2011. The final rule also revises the textile trade conversion factors used to determine the raw fiber equivalents of imported cotton-containing products and triples the number of HTS numbers subject to assessment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1106. This update contains 1,642 Automated Broker Interface records and 371 harmonized tariff records.