Harmonized Tariff Schedule

Changes to the textile and apparel rules of origin in Morocco under the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement, first contemplated in 2015, will take effect April 1, according to a notice scheduled to be published in the March 22 Federal Register. Some Moroccan garments under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States subheadings 6204.44.40, 6204.59.30, 6206.40.30, 6204.29.20, 6204.52, 6204.63.35, 6204.69.25, 6204.69.90 and 6211.43.00 will now meet rules of origin, even if the rayon, or rayon blends, or polyester blends do not originate in Morocco or in the U.S. (see 1609120033).

The latest batch of Section 301 exclusions (see 1903200067) only cover three 10-digit-level products in whole, while another 30 products are subsets of 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes.

CBP posted a draft version of the CBP and Trade Automated Interface Requirements that includes the coming Entry Type 86 that will be used for Section 321 shipments under the de minimis value threshold. "The Entry Type 86 (Section 321) CATAIR will be available for testing in the CERTIFICATION environment starting in June 2019," CBP said in a CSMS message. The new entry type will require a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, and will give filers of low value entries a way to comply with partner government agency requirements (see 1802130035).

Plastic Apple iPad 2 “Smart Cover” cases are classifiable in the tariff schedule as articles of plastic, not as accessories for automatic data processing machines, the Court of International Trade said in a decision released to the public March 19. Apple had argued for its classification as an accessory because it also functions as a stand, but CIT agreed with a CBP ruling that found the cases are explicitly excluded from classification in Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States heading 8473.

The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on carbon and alloy steel threaded rod from India, Taiwan, Thailand and China (A-533-887, A-583-865, A-549-840, A-570-104), and countervailing duty investigations on carbon and alloy steel wire rod from India and China (C-533-888, C-570-105).

The Commerce Department issued a notice in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on acetone from Belgium, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and Spain (A-423-814, A-580-899, A-517-805, A-559-808, A-791-824, A-469-819).

Importers can use the temporary import provisions with goods subject to Section 301 tariffs in order to pay the tariffs at current levels and avoid potential increases, CBP said in a Feb. 21 ruling, HQ H302203. Alex Romero of A.F. Romero & Co. Customs Brokers requested CBP's ruling on behalf Panacea Products Corp. Several of Panacea's products are subject to the third list of Section 301 tariffs, which were originally slated to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent on Jan. 1. That increase has since been delayed "until further notice" while the U.S. and China negotiate (see 1903010036).

The International Trade Commission is proposing to remove a requirement for miscellaneous tariff bill petitions that the descriptions be “sufficiently clear as to be administrable by CBP,” the agency said in a notice. Instead, "the Commission would substitute more specific wording that requires the petition to describe the article based on the existing Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) category’s description (at the 8- or 10-digit level) in HTS chapters 1 through 97, or to delineate an article representing a subset of the coverage of the applicable HTS category using terminology already included in the HTS or interpreted in pertinent CBP rulings," the ITC said. The ITC also proposes that petitioners also include “the names of any domestic producers of the article, if available” and "an estimate of the share of total imports represented by the petitioner’s imports of the subject article." The proposal also includes some smaller language changes. Comments on the proposal are due by April 15. The agency adopted interim MTB procedures last year, while noting some changes were likely to come (see 1812260043).

Supply chain location changes are difficult and take time, so companies are turning to other ways to avoid or reduce Sections 301 and 232 tariffs, experts said at a March 7 Georgetown Law International Trade Update (see 1903070033) panel on the Trump administration and the supply chain. For steel and aluminum imports, there's been "a big uptake in foreign-trade zones," said Lynlee Brown, a senior manager at Ernst & Young. With Section 301, companies are using drawback, and after a recent CMS message, they may be taking advantage more often of substitution drawback. But the best bang for the buck, Brown said, is in customs valuation. Companies are making changes there not only because of Section 301, but also because of the administration's tax reform.

CBP plans to make its next unit of quantity changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States on Jan. 1, 2020, CBP said in a March 8 notice. The changes are necessary under the drawback provisions in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which require CBP to be able to "identify a standard 'per unit' quantity" at the HTSUS level, CBP said in a fact sheet. "To meet the Drawback requirements stipulated by TFTEA, CBP will be changing all the statistical suffixes with a unit of quantity (UOQ) of 'X' to a standardized unit of measurement such as kilograms ('kg') or number ('No.')," the agency said. "A UOQ of X indicates importers do not report a quantity, other than gross weight, which conflicts with the Drawback data collection requirements outlined by TFTEA."