A domestic steel manufacturer filed petitions on Feb. 20 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duty investigations on carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China, India, Taiwan and Thailand, and new countervailing duties on the same product from China and India. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on carbon and alloy steel threaded rod that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition was filed by Vulcan Steel Products.
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.
CBP is seeking comments by April 29 on an existing information collection for merchandise subject to actual use provisions, it said in a notice. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the information collected or to the estimated burden hours associated with the collection.
CBP is seeking comments by April 29 on an existing information collection for holders or containers that enter the U.S. duty free, it said in a notice. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the information collected or to the estimated burden hours associated with the collection.
The National Marine Fisheries Service and CBP will continue a period of "informed compliance" through April 1 for entries of shrimp and abalone required to include data for the NMFS Seafood Import Monitoring (SIM) Program, CBP said in a CSMS message. The agencies previously announced that enforcement of the requirements would begin March 1 (see 1812180017). A list of Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes that require SIM data "has recently been updated to incorporate revisions and additional HTS codes within the scope of SIM," CBP said. "NMFS has determined that this change and extension of the informed compliance period is appropriate to provide opportunity for more engagement with brokers and importers as a result of limitations to NMFS to conduct outreach in early 2019." The HTS "codes applicable to this mandate to file NMFS SIM program data will be updated with an NM8 flag for SIM," CBP said. "The list of 3 alpha codes will also be updated. These updates will be in CERT beginning February 26, 2019 and are expected to be completed by March 1, 2019. The updates will be in PROD beginning April 2, 2019 and will be completed no later than April 5, 2019."
Fiber optic telecommunications equipment that operates by pulses of infrared light is classifiable as “optical instruments” of Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9013, even though it doesn’t work by way of visible light, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a Feb. 19 decision that affirmed the classification set by CBP and upheld by the Court of International Trade.
A coalition of domestic manufacturers filed petitions Nov. 18 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission, asking for new antidumping duties on acetone from Belgium, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and Spain. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD duty investigations on acetone from these six countries. The subject merchandise is used as a solvent in the manufacture of coatings, plastics, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (including nail polish removers), as well as the production of other solvents and intermediates.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1901 on Feb. 11, containing 397 Automated Broker Interface records and 89 harmonized tariff records, it said in a CSMS message. The update includes changes mandated by Presidential Proclamation 9834 (see 1812270038), as well as adjustments required by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's announcement of new exemptions from Section 301 tariffs on China (see 1902110018). Modifications required by the verification of the 2019 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are included as well.
CBP on Feb. 10 added the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with exclusions from Section 301 duties, it said in a CSMS message issued two days earlier. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion should report the regular chapter 1-97 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9905.88.05 for products subject to Section 301 duties on products from China but that have been granted an exemption by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. “Do not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when HTS 9903.88.05 is submitted,” CBP said.
Drawback filers may “effective immediately” submit claims for refunds on Section 301 or Section 201 duties, CBP said in a Feb. 8 CSMS message. Filers will no longer receive error messages related to unit of measure (UOM) mismatches that had been occurring “because the underlying import did not have a UOM associated to a Chapter 99” tariff number or because they had left the mandatory UOM field blank, CBP said.
A domestic trade association filed petitions on Feb. 1 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping and countervailing duties on fabricated structural steel from Canada, Mexico and China. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations on fabricated structural steel that could eventually result in the assessment of AD/CV duties. The petition, filed by the American Institute of Steel Construction, targets steel mill products of various shapes that have been fabricated (and typically custom-manufactured) into articles suitable for erection or assembly into a variety of structures.