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.
On June 28, 2007, President Bush issued Proclamation 8157 to modify duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences, designate Mauritania as an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiary country1, and make technical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS).
On December 11, 2007, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3890, the Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2007, which would reinstate duty-free benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences for certain India and Thailand gold jewelry, amend the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (BFDA) of 2003 to impose import sanctions on Burmese mined or extracted jadeite and rubies, and articles of jewelry (jewelry/articles) containing same, etc.
The International Trade Commission has posted to its Web site the 2008 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., which is effective January 1, 2008.
The Census Bureau has issued an Automated Export System broadcast regarding the 2008 Schedule B and Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers update in AES.
According to International Trade Commission sources, the ITC is expected to soon post the January 1, 2008 version of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to its Web site.
On December 14, 2007, President Bush signed into law H.R. 3688, the U.S. - Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA1) Implementation Act.
On November 26, 2007, the International Trade Commission received a letter from the U.S. Trade Representative advising it of the withdrawal of petitions which had requested the addition of the three Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings to the list of articles eligible for duty-free treatment under of the Generalized System of Preferences program from all countries under the 2007 annual review.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of December 10, 2007. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, tobacco, certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly TRQ/TPL commodity report, dated 12/10/07, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements has issued a notice announcing the agreed textile apparel quotas levels for 2008 pursuant to the November 8, 2005 U.S.-China Textile Agreement (Agreement).
The Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a proposed rule regarding the establishment of an industry-funded promotion, research, and information program (Order) for sorghum.1