The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated antidumping (AD) duty investigations of certain tissue paper products and certain crepe paper products from China.
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 (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that its most recent Harmonized System (HS) update contains:
The Web site of the International Trade Administration's (ITA's) Trade Information Center (TIC, www.ita.doc.gov/tic) contains a publication entitled, Tariff and Tax Information which contains certain information, online resources, and contact information for U.S. exports, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted a notice to its Web site stating that effective February 25, 2004, hand-loomed fabrics of the cottage industry, hand-made cottage industry products made of hand loomed fabrics and traditional handicraft textile products that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after February 25, 2004 are eligible for Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) duty-free treatment provided that proper requirements are met.
On March 4, 2004, the Senate passed its version of H.R. 1047, the "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2003."
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that the U.S. intends to initiate free trade negotiations with Panama. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/04/03 news, (Ref: 03120425), for BP summary of USTR's press release announcing its Congressional notification of this intention.)
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has posted to its Web site a list of corrections to known errors discovered after the printing of the 2004 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTS).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued a final rule, effective April 2, 2004, that decreases the amount of the assessment due on imported pork and pork products under the Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Order (Pork Order).
Broker Power is making available by email its lists of 2004 general (column 1) duty rates for knit and crocheted (knit) and woven apparel in Chapters 61 and 62 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), and their associated categories.
President Bush has issued Proclamation 7758 in order to delete ten countries from, and add one country to, the list of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary developing countries.