EC Expands U.S. Products Subject to Byrd Amendment Sanctions
The European Commission has published a regulation that, effective May 1, 2010, will significantly add to the list of U.S. products subject to an additional 15% import duty, due to U.S. payout of benefits under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, or Byrd Amendment.
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(The U.S. repealed the Byrd Amendment in 2006 after the World Trade Organization found it infringed WTO rules. However, the repeal called for a delayed effective date of October 1, 2007. This delay, and the fact that the reimbursements have continued after the effective date, led to retaliatory sanctions by the European Union and Japan starting in 2005. Japan reduced its sanctions in 2008 and 2009, and the EC reduced its sanctions in 2009 due to reduced Byrd amendment disbursements.)
More U.S. Products Sanctioned Due to Increase in 2009 Byrd Funds
According to the EC, U.S. disbursements under the Byrd Amendment in Fiscal Year 2009 increased significantly from the previous fiscal year. Based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection data, the EC has calculated the damage caused to the EC by these disbursements to be $95.83 million (from $16.31 million in FY 2008). Therefore, the EC is adjusting its sanctions.
Additional 15% Duty Now Applies to 19 More CN Codes
Effective May 1, 2010, the following 33 eight-digit Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes1 will be subject to an additional 15% duty:
(Note that 14 CN codes will be carried over from the EC’s 2009 sanctions and 19 new CN codes will be added)
14 CN codes continued from 2009:
| 0710.40.00 | 6203.43.19 |
| 4820.10.50 | 6203.43.90 |
| 6103.43.00 | 6204.63.11 |
| 6104.63.00 | 6204.63.18 |
| 6203.43.11 | 6204.63.90 |
19 CN codes to be added May 1, 2010:
| 6101.30.10 | 6201.13.10 |
| 6101.30.90 | 6201.13.90 |
| 6102.30.10 | 6201.92.00 |
| 6102.30.90 | 6201.93.00 |
| 6104.43.00 | 6202.11.00 |
| 6201.12.10 | 6202.93.00 |
| 6201.12.90 | 6203.42.31 |
Certain Products Exempt
Products for which an import license with an exemption from, or a reduction of duty, was issued before the date of entry into force of this Regulation (or before May 1, 2010) will not be subject to the additional duty provided they are classified under one of the following CN codes: 9406.00.38, 6101.30.10, 6102.30.10, 6201.12.10, 6201.13.10, 6102.30.90, 6201.92.00, 6101.30.90, 6202.93.00, 6202.11.00, 6201.13.90, 6201.93.00, 6201.12.90, 6204.42.00, 6104.43.00, 6204.49.10, 6204.44.00, 6204.43.00, 6203.42.31.
EU Sanctions Have Covered 58 CN Codes From Apparel to Furniture
Since 2005, the EC has applied an additional 15% duty to certain U.S.-origin products as a retaliatory measure associated with the Byrd Amendment. Though the duties were originally applied to 18 CN codes, the list of codes was expanded to 26 in 2006 and to 58 in 2007. The CN codes have covered products including apparel, footwear, paper products, plastic furniture, pens, and mobile homes.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 04/29/09 and 08/13/09 news, (Ref: 09042905) and (Ref: 09081335), for BP summaries of the EC and Japan reducing their Byrd Amendment sanctions in 2009.)
1The description of products classified under these codes can be found in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 of July 23, 1987 on the tariff and statistical nomenclature and on the Common Customs Tariff as amended by Regulation (EC) No 493/2005.
EC Regulation (EU) No 305/2010 (dated 04/14/10) available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:094:0015:0018:EN:PDF