House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rangel has sent a letter to the International Trade Commission asking it to collect data on Chinese textile and apparel imports, and report this data back to the Committee on a regular basis.
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 final rule, effective September 30, 2008, which adopts, with some changes, CBP's interim rule on the duty-free provisions of the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE I) Act of 2006.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a notice to inform the public of the new Lacey Act provisions enacted by the 2008 Farm Bill, including the declaration required to be submitted at time of importation for certain plants and plant products that takes effect on December 15, 2008, and APHIS' plan for phasing-in and enforcing this requirement.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Dingell (D-MI) and the Chairman of its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Stupak, announced that the Committee is expanding its food safety investigation following the recent outbreak in China involving contaminated milk products. (Press release, dated 10/02/08, available at http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110nr361.shtml)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice detailing Phase I of its implementation of a certification scheme for the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008 (JADE Act) and announcing a 30-day grace period from enforcement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing recent changes to the 2008 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HS Update No. 0805), which include the following:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has published a notice containing its final determination (HQ H035776, issued September 22, 2008) that the U.S. is the country of origin for certain mesh dressing known as TegadermTM Ag Mesh Dressing for purposes of U.S. government procurement. As a result, the subject mesh dressing will be considered to be a product of the U.S. under an undesignated government procurement contract.
President Bush has issued Proclamation 8294 which amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement the prohibitions on certain jadeite and rubies mined or extracted from Burma (Myanmar) and other countries, and jewelry containing these gems ("covered articles"), imposed by the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE Act of 2008 (Act).
The International Trade Administration has issued a notice soliciting applications from persons1 who cut and sew men's and boys' cotton shirts in the U.S. for an allocation of the calendar year 2009 duty-free tariff rate quota (TRQ) for the importation of certain cotton shirting fabric containing 85% or more by weight of cotton as described in Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings 9902.52.08 through 9902.52.19.
Broker Power is able to provide quota prices (generally twice a month) for a limited number of textile and apparel categories from the People's Republic of China that are subject to "agreed quotas" and publicly traded. (These publicly traded quota prices have been provided by a Hong Kong quota broker.)