As USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service prepares for the Dec. 1 enforcement of the seventh phase of Lacey Act import declaration requirements (see 2405300052), officials already are eyeing the challenges that may come in implementing Phase VIII.
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 following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 12-18:
CBP has found evidence supporting a "reasonable suspicion" that Louisville, Kentucky-based AXN Heavy Duty LLC evaded antidumping and countervailing duties when it imported chassis and subassemblies from China, and is suspending liquidation and setting cash deposit requirements for goods from the company.
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, which advocates for protecting American manufacturing, said the new Senate Finance Committee bill to restrict de minimis moves "things in the right direction," even more than the bill that passed the House Ways and Means Committee in the spring.
USDA is revising the appendices to its Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import Licensing Regulation for the 2024 tariff-rate quota year, it said in a notice. The agency is transferring the amounts for certain dairy articles from the historical license category (Appendix 1) to the lottery (nonhistorical) license category (Appendix 2) pursuant to the Dairy Tariff-Rate Quota Import Licensing regulations for the 2024 quota year.
The USDA Foreign Agricultural Service will charge $325 for the 2025 tariff-rate quota year for each license issued to a person or firm by the USDA authorizing the importation of certain dairy articles that are subject to TRQs set forth in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, it said in a notice. The new fee is $50 lower than the fee charged for 2024 TRQ year licenses (see 2308300040).
CBP created Harmonized System Update 2412 on Aug. 13, containing 1,000 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records and 4,158 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records. The update includes several updates to PGA HTS flag indicator for AMS (AM7) and adjustments required by the verification of the 2024 HTS. Any questions or concerns on the PGA HTS Flagging may be sent to itdssupport@cbp.dhs.gov, and questions about the update itself should be directed to the HTS admin at HTSAdmin@cbp.dhs.gov.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 5-11:
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on tungsten shot from China (A-570-178/C-570-179). The CVD investigation covers entries Jan. 1 - Dec. 31, 2023. The AD investigation covers entries Jan. 1, 2024 - June 30, 2024.
As CBP deploys measures to ensure de minimis compliance among importers, there are some big-picture items that the agency and Congress need to consider to enable scalability or prevent loopholes, according to Lenny Feldman, managing partner with Sandler Travis.