Details of the Recently Enacted Miscellaneous Trade Bill (Part XII)
On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed into law the conference version of H.R. 1047, the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004 (Public Law (P.L.) 108-429).
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This is Part XII of a multi-part series of summaries on the conference version of H.R. 1047 and highlights the remaining drawback-related amendment and amendments to the U.S. insular possessions program for watches/jewelry.
Deemed Liquidation for Drawback Claims (19 USC 1504)
The conference version would amend the provisions related to the limitation on liquidation (deemed liquidations) in 19 USC 1504 by renumbering 19 USC 1504 (a) to (a)(1) and adding new provisions (a)(2) and (a)(3) which would read as follows:
| Payments or refunds - Payment or refund of duties owed pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) shall be made to the importer of record or drawback claimant, as the case may be, not later than 90 days after liquidation. |
The conference version would also make a number of conforming changes regarding deemed liquidation for drawback claims, as well as several clarifying changes, to revised 19 USC 1504(a)(1) and current 19 USC 1504(b), 1504(c), and 1504(d).
Amendments to the U.S. Insular Possession Program for Watches/Jewelry
The conference version would amend HTS Chapter 91, Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 5(h)(i) in order to revise the insular possession watch provisions to require the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of the Interior, jointly, for each of calendar years 2003 through 2015, to:
verify for the preceding calendar year both the wages paid by each producer to permanent residents of insular possessions (including the value of usual and customary health insurance, life insurance, and pension benefits) and the total quantity and value of watches and watch movements produced in the insular possessions by that producer and imported free of duty into the U.S. customs territory; and
issue each producer (not later than 60 days after the end of the preceding calendar year) a certificate for the applicable amount (as defined in revised AUSN 5(h)(ii)).
The conference version would amend AUSN 5(h)(v) so that it states that (a) any certificate issued under AUSN 5(h)(i) would entitle the certificate holder to secure a refund of duties equal to the face value of the certificate on any articles that are imported into the customs territory of the U.S. by the certificate holder; (b) such refunds shall be made under regulations issued by the Treasury Department; and (c) not more than 5% of such refunds may be retained as a reimbursement to the Customs Service for the administrative costs of making such refunds.
Also, the conference version would amend HTS Chapter 71, AUSN 3 regarding the insular possession program for jewelry to establish, notwithstanding HTS Chapter 91 AUSN 5(h)(ii)(B), a 10,000,000-unit limit for jewelry articles subject to AUSN 3.
In addition, the conference version would also amend the requirements under AUSN 3(f) to state that:
"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any article of jewelry provided for in heading 7113 that is assembled in the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa by a jewelry manufacturer or jewelry assembler that commenced jewelry manufacturing or jewelry assembly operations in the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa after August 9, 2001, shall be treated as a product of the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa for purposes of this note and General Note 3(a)(iv) of this Schedule if such article is entered no later than 18 months after such jewelry manufacturer or jewelry assembler commenced jewelry manufacturing or jewelry assembly operations in the Virgin Islands, Guam, or American Samoa."
In addition, as the conference version adds a new AUSN 3(b), it also redesignates AUSN 3(b), (c), (d) and (e) as paragraphs (c), (d), (e), and (f), respectively.
See ITT's Online Archives or 10/19/04, 10/20/04, 10/22/04, 11/01/04, 11/02/04, 11/30/04, 12/01/04, 12/02/04, 12/03/04, 12/06/04, and 12/07/04 news, 04101905, 04102005, 04102225, 04110115, 04110225, 04113020, 04120105, 04120210, 04120210, 04120310, 04120630, and 04120720 for Parts I-XI.
P.L. 108-429 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_bills&docid=f:h1047enr.txt.pdf.