U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted Amendment 24, dated May 2008, to the Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) document.
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 National Marine Fisheries Service has issued a final rule, effective July 2, 2008, which modifies the permitting and reporting requirements for the Highly Migratory Species (HMS) International Trade Permit (ITP) program to:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message advising the trade that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) information displayed in the ACE Secure Data Portal is out of date, and will not be updated. The version listed is from July 2007. To obtain the most current HTS data, CBP directs the trade to the International Trade Commission's Web site: http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/. (CSMS 08-000093, dated 05/29/08, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17101&page=&srch_argv=&srchtype=&btype=&sortby=&sby)
The Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a final rule, effective May 22, 2008, which establishes the Honey Packers and Importers Research, Promotion, Consumer Education and Industry Information Order (New Honey Order).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted four textile and apparel informed compliance publications that were reviewed in May 2008 with no change.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control has issued a final rule, effective May 21, 2008, which adds two requirements designed to enhance the collection of statistics related to importations and exportations of rough diamonds subject to the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).1
In April 2008, the leadership of the House Ways and Means Committee's Trade Subcommittee requested written comments for the record from interested parties on 11 additional miscellaneous tariff and duty suspension bills that were inadvertently omitted from the Subcommittee's February 2008 request for comments on such bills.
The Census Bureau has posted to its Web site a list of 179 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) numbers that are invalid for use in reporting exports (either via the Automated Export System (AES) or on a paper Shipper's Export Declaration (SED)) as of May 1, 2008.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice announcing its modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to reflect the application of a DR-CAFTA1 safeguard duty on imports of certain Honduran origin cotton socks.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has posted its monthly monitoring data for certain apparel products imported from Vietnam for March 2008.