Presidential Proclamation Implements Certain GSP Changes Effective July 1, 2007, Etc. (Part II - Final - Technical Changes)

This is Part II, the final part of atwo-part series of summaries on Proclamation 8157 and its annexes, and highlights the Annex V technical changes to the HTS. See ITT's Online Archives or 07/02/07 news, 07070205, for BP summary of Part I regarding GSP and Mauritania).

Highlights of Technical HTS Changes

The following are highlights of the technical HTS changes in the proclamation (see proclamation for complete list):

Israel "duty-free" agricultural TRQ levels to be modified. In order to provide the tariff treatment intended under the 2004 Agreement between the U.S. and Israel concerning certain aspects of trade in agricultural products, HTS Chapter 99, Subchapter VIII, U.S. Notes 3-7 on the "duty-free" tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for certain agricultural products from Israel are modified as follows, effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after July 15, 2007:

the TRQ for certain butter and fresh sour cream entered under 9908.04.01 for calendar year (CY) 2007 has decreased from 443,370 to 443,000 kg and has increased for CY 2008 from 465,539 to 466,000 kg;

the TRQ for certain dried milk entered under 9908.04.03 for CYs 2007 and 2008 have decreased from 1,267,563 to 1,266,000 kg and from 1,305,590 to 1,304,000 kg, respectively;

the TRQ for cheese and cheese substitutes entered under 9908.04.05 for CYs 2007 and 2008 have increased from 1,397,598 to 1,467,000 and from 1,439,526 to 1,534,000, respectively;

the TRQ for peanuts entered under 9908.12.01 for CYs 2007 and 2008 have increased from 126,756 to 127,000 and from 130,559 to 131,000, respectively; and

the TRQ for ice cream entered under 9908.21.01 is now to use kg as its unit of measure (was previously measured in liters) and the limits for CYs 2007 and 2008 have increased from 442,901 liters to 643,000 kg and from 456,188 liters to 707,000 kg, respectively.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 10/08/04 news, 04100810, for BP summary of Proclamation 7826, which implemented a 2004 Agreement, extending the TRQs for certain agricultural products from Israel through December 31, 2008.)

Note, subheading modified to reflect extension of "Third Country" AGOA Apparel TPL sublimit. Effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after October 1, 2006, Chapter 98, Subchapter XIX U.S. Note 2(b) and subheading 9819.11.12 are modified to reflect the extension of the AGOA tariff preference level (TPL) sublimit for apparel made in lesser developed AGOA beneficiary countries (LDBCs) regardless of the country of origin of the fabric or yarn, to September 30, 2012 (from September 30, 2007):

(See ITT's Online Archives or 02/06/07 news, 07020610, for BP summary of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-432), which extended the provisions for the "third country" sublimit to September 30, 2012.)

Underlying HTS numbers for certain Chapter 99 goods updated to implement intended WCO changes. In order to implement the intended World Customs Organization (WCO)-recommended changes, the underlying HTS numbers for certain Chapter 99 numbers are updated as follows, effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after February 3, 2007:

(See ITT's Online Archives or 03/27/07 news, 07032705, for BP summary of Proclamation 8114 which amended the HTS to update other Chapter 99 underlying tariff numbers. See ITT's Online Archives or 03/15/07 news, 07031505, for BP reminder on the WCO-recommended and other HTS changes implemented by Proclamation 8097.)

Subheading description for CBTPA apparel HTS number. In order to implement section 2004(b)(1)(B) of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, subheading 9820.11.24, regarding certain apparel articles that qualify for preferential tariff treatment under the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, is modified to read as follows, effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after December 18, 2004 (deleted text denoted by <->):

"Apparel articles both cut (or knit-to-shape) and sewn or otherwise assembled in one or more such countries <from fabrics or yarn not formed in the United States or in one or more such countries>, provided that such apparel articles of such fabrics or yarn would be considered an originating good under the terms of general note 12(t) to the tariff schedule without regard to the source of the fabric or yarn if such apparel article had been imported from the territory of Canada or the territory of Mexico directly into the customs territory of the United States."

(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/23/04 news, 04122325, for the final part of BP's summary on the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004, with links to the previous parts.)

Removal of GSP combination as it no longer exists. The HTS is modified, effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after February 3, 2007, by deleting from General Note 4(d), which provides the list of country/HTS numbers pairs that are not eligible for GSP benefits, "8708.60.80 Argentina" (This removal is the result of the implementation of certain WCO-recommended changes.)

¹Note that the proclamation uses the term "beneficiary sub-Saharan African country(ies)" while this ITT notice uses the term AGOA beneficiary country(ies).

Proclamation 8157, including Annexes I-VI (FR Pub 07/02/07) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/02jan20071800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2007/pdf/07-3225.pdf