The International Trade Commission recently posted the first changes to the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Revision 1 to the 2014 HTS implements changes in AGOA eligibility and clarifies a list of exemptions to the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) that was added in January (see 14010221). It also adds new statistical suffixes for golf cart and all-terrain vehicle tires, gas stoves, refrigerator-freezers, ribbon cable connectors, magnets, and wheels and tires for various equipment and machinery, among other products. A record of the changes is (here). All of the changes in Revision 1 took effect July 1.
CBP said its Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1404 was created June 30, containing 361 ABI records and 93 harmonized tariff records. The update contains modifications mandated by the 484(f) committee for statistical annotation of the tariff schedules. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are also included, CBP said in a CSMS message. These changes are effective July 1, 2014. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.
U.S. and Panamanian trade officials are beginning an update of the U.S.-Panama FTA rules of origin to reflect changes to the Harmonized System (HS) of tariff nomenclature, said a joint statement by both sides following the first meeting of the U.S. - Panama Free Trade Commission on May 28. Panamanian officials hosted the summit in Panama City. “We recognized the importance of this project in easing customs administration for our customs authorities, producers, and exporters and instructed our technical teams to conclude this update for our signature,” said the statement. The officials also during the summit adopted changes to the dispute settlement mechanism in the agreement, the statement said.
As CBP’s work on Air Cargo Advance Screening enters into its rulemaking phase, trade officials gave their final recommendations on the program during the May 22 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) in Miami. In its final update, the COAC Supply Chain Committee’s ACAS working group urged the alignment of work between CBP and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on the program, as well as international harmonization of similar projects.
The U.S. --Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) provided an update on its actions related to harmonizing regulations in the U.S. and Canada during the first part of 2014. Highlights include a new bill in the Canadian parliament that harmonizes classification and labeling requirements for workplace hazardous chemicals, as well as an agreement between the U.S. and Canada to harmonize terminology for whole cuts of meat.
CBP said its Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1403 was created April 24, containing 569 ABI records and 110 harmonized tariff records. The update contains modifications made as a result of Agricultural Marketing Service raspberry fees (see 14022516). Adjustments required by the verification of the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are also included, CBP said in a CSMS message. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.
CBP should revise its regulations for customs brokers to expand the definition of "corporate compliance activity," the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) said in comments recently filed with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). RILA's comments, filed in response to a DHS request for public input on regulatory changes it should consider (see 14022621), focused on a wide range of CBP regulations that the association said deserve review. The retailers were one of only a few commenters that raised customs issues with DHS.
CBP clarified a recent Harmonized Tariff Schedule update to explain that several origination requirements must still be met for a good to be eligible for Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) exemptions for originating goods within a preference program. The clarification follows a Jan. 3 CSMS message highlighting a change to General Statistical (GSN) Note 3(c) within the 2014 HTS (see 14010624). The agency also said some preference programs that include MPF exemptions were mistakenly not named in the update.
CBP's recent Harmonized System Updates 1401 and 1402 includes the harmonized tariff schedule flags for the Environmental Protection Agency and Food Safety and Inspection Services, the two agencies participating in the Participating Government Agency Message Set pilot, said CBP. The "edits are in place to help ensure that only pilot participants file the new PGA data," said CBP in a CSMS message. "If you are not an official pilot participant, please do not submit PGA data via the new PGA Message Set." CBP opened the pilot in December (see 13121219).
CBP said its Harmonized System Update 1402 was created Jan. 16, containing 10,199 ABI records and 1,819 harmonized tariff records. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) were made, "including corrections to cotton assessments and the addition of PGA (PARTICIPATING GOVERNMENT AGENCY) indicators that are subject to the PGA message set," CBP said in a CSMS message. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.