On June 28, 2007, President Bush issued Proclamation 8157 to modify duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences, designate Mauritania as an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiary country1, and make technical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS).
Latest Harmonized System updates
The International Trade Commission has posted to its Web site the 2008 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S., which is effective January 1, 2008.
The Census Bureau has issued an Automated Export System broadcast regarding the 2008 Schedule B and Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers update in AES.
On November 26, 2007, the International Trade Commission received a letter from the U.S. Trade Representative advising it of the withdrawal of petitions which had requested the addition of the three Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings to the list of articles eligible for duty-free treatment under of the Generalized System of Preferences program from all countries under the 2007 annual review.
American Shipper reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern stated that container security device applications are being looked at for cross-border truck traffic from Mexico, in-bond movements, the Secure Freight Initiative (SFI), and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program. (AS, dated 12/07/07, www.americanshipper.com)
International Trade Commission sources have provided a document listing the statistical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule and Schedule B (for exports), which take effect on January 1, 2008.
The annual report to Congress on the International Trade Data System program has recently been posted to the ITDS Web site. This report details the progress toward incorporating ITDS functionality into the Automated Commercial Environment, the status of Federal agencies in implementing ACE/ITDS, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message announcing recent changes to the 2007 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HS Update No. 0708), which include the following:
The Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a final rule, effective November 5, 20071, which revises the Export Administration Regulations to implement changes to the (1) Wassenaar Arrangement's List of Dual Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar List), and (2) Statements of Understanding maintained and agreed to by governments participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Technologies (Wassenaar Arrangement, or WA), as agreed upon in the December 2006 Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary Meeting.
According to information posted on the World Customs Organization Web site, the WCO is offering e-learning modules for online customs training.