ITC Posts January 1, 2008 HTS to Its Web Site
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.
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January 1, 2008 HTS Reflects Presidential Proclamations, Staged Duty Rate Reductions, Correction of Typos
The following changes are reflected in the January 1, 2008 edition:
Presidential Proclamation 8180, which accelerated the duty elimination for a certain quantity of Mexico sugar and sugar-containing products that are NAFTA originating under HTS General Note 12 for the North American Free Trade Agreement. (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/04/07 news, 07100420, for BP summary.)
Presidential Proclamation 8157, which modified duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), designated Mauritania as an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) beneficiary country, and made technical changes to the HTS. (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/06/07 news, 07070625, for the Part II, the final part, of BP's summary, with a link to Part I.)
Presidential Proclamation 8114, which amended the HTS to implement certain modifications to the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), AGOA, etc. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/27/07 news, 07032705, for the Part II, the final part, of BP's summary, with a link to Part I.)
Presidential Proclamation 8111, which amended the HTS to implement the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for the Dominican Republic, etc. (See ITT's Online Archives or 04/18/07 news, 07041805, for the Part III, the final part, of BP's summary, with links to previous parts.)
Presidential Proclamation 8096, which extended permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) treatment to goods from Vietnam. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/05/07 news, 07010500, for BP summary.)
Staged duty rate reductions that become effective January 1, 2008, as part of various FTAs
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice announcing that Bulgaria and Romania are no longer designated as beneficiary developing countries under GSP as they acceded to the European Union (EU). (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/23/07 news, 07012310, for BP summary.)
Office of the USTR notice giving an effective date for modifications to NAFTA rules of origin for certain boxer shorts from Mexico1. (See ITT's Online Archives or 08/03/07 news, 07080310, for BP summary.)
The Census Bureau changes in the Notice to Exporters, Schedule C (Classification of Country & Territory Designations for U.S. Import Statistics) and Schedule D (Customs District and Port Codes)
Changes approved by the Committee for Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules (the 484(f) Committee), effective July 1, 2007 and January 1, 2008. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/06/07 news, 07120605, for BP summary of ITC sources providing a list of statistical changes to the HTS and Schedule B (for exports), which take effect on January 1, 2008.)
Correction of typos
Certain Pocketing Fabric, FTA Rules of Origin Changes, Etc. Not in January 1, 2008 HTS
ITC sources have confirmed that the January 1, 2008 HTS does not reflect changes made by certain pending Presidential Proclamations which have either not yet been signed or will not take effect by January 1, 2008.
(ITC sources have previously stated that these proclamations would update existing free trade agreement (FTA) rules of origin and implement the DR-CAFTA modifications for pocketing bag fabric.)
ITC sources have also previously stated that due to delays, the Oman and Peru FTAs would not be included in the January 1, 2008 HTS.
Print Version Has Gone to GPO for Printing/Distribution
According to ITC sources, the print version of the January 1, 2008 HTS has been sent to the Government Printing Office for printing and distribution to subscribers, which is expected to take a number of weeks.
1The January 1, 2008 HTS Preface incorrectly lists October 2, 2007 as the date for this USTR notice. ITC sources have confirmed that the correct date is August 2, 2007.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/17/07 news, 07121705, for BP summary announcing that the ITC was expected to soon release the 2008 HTS.)
Electronic version of January 1, 2008 HTS is available for downloading by chapter or in its entirety from the ITC's Web site at http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/