Reminder: "Basic Edition" of 2007 HTS Takes Effect February 3, 2007
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has posted the official "basic edition" of the 2007 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), which replaces the draft version. This "basic edition" of the 2007 HTS takes effect on February 3, 2007.
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This official 2007 "basic edition" includes (partial list):
WCO changes - amendments (including statistical annotations) arising from Proclamation 8097, which amends the HTS to reflect numerous World Customs Organization (WCO) - recommended changes that take effect on February 3, 2007.
(Also included are the updated U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Rules of Origin that have been modified to reflect any applicable WCO-related HTS amendments.
Note that other FTA Rules of Origin, such as those for the North America FTA (NAFTA - Mexico and Canada), U.S.-Singapore FTA, Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. FTA, etc. have not yet been updated.)
HTS Chapter 99 changes that took effect January 4th. HTS Chapter 99 HTS provisions in P.L. 109-432 (The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006) that became effective on January 4, 2007.
However, ITC sources state that the underlying Chapter 1-97 tariff numbers for the HTS Chapter 99 provisions in the "basic edition" have not yet been updated to reflect the WCO amendments arising from Proclamation 8097.
Even though these underlying tariff numbers are not updated in the "basic edition", government sources state that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has updated its Automated Broker Interface (ABI) and the harmonized records for the WCO changes to the underlying Chapter 1-97 tariff numbers.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 01/25/07 news, 07012505, for BP summary of CBP's notice announcing that CBP had completed its Harmonized System Update for the WCO HTS changes.)
GSP and AGOA country changes, etc. - Proclamation 8098 which, among other things, designated Liberia as an AGOA beneficiary, East Timor as a GSP beneficiary, and removed Bulgaria and Romania from GSP.
ITC Lists All Laws Etc. Reflected in Official Version
The ITC also indicates that the preface to this "basic edition" lists all of the laws, proclamations, and other legal instruments reflected therein.
Hard Copy of Basic Edition to be Issued and Mailed to Subscribers
The ITC states that the "basic edition" of the 2007 HTS will be printed as a hard copy (paper) version by the Government Printing Office in the near future (and will be mailed to subscribers, along with any subsequent updates).
(See ITT's Online Archives or 01/22/07 and 01/29/07 news, 07012205 and 07012935, respectively, for BP summaries of CBP Q&A on grace period for correcting WCO HTS changes, and CBP's correction to its Q&A.
See ITT's Online Archives or 01/17/07 news, 07011705 for BP summary of blanket Immediate Delivery procedures to take advantage of any WCO HTS changes 'early', for the January 22 - February 2, 2007 period.)
Official February 3, 2007 HTS, etc. available at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/