BIS to Consider New Section 232 'Derivatives' 3 Times Per Year; First Process Begins May 1
New tariff schedule subheadings may be added to the list of derivatives subject to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs up to three times every year, with the first 60-day “inclusions” process beginning May 1, the Bureau of Industry and Security said in an interim final rule released April 30.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
The agency said it will open a “submissions window” for requests to add new goods to the list at the beginning of May, September and January of every year, “with the first such window to open on May 1, 2025.”
The window to submit requests will last for two weeks. Once received, each submission request will be posted for public comments for 14 days, on regulations.gov.
The valid submission also will begin a 60-day window for BIS to process the proposed inclusion. BIS will consider whether the tariff subheading is actually an aluminum or steel derivative article, and “whether such derivative article imports have increased in a manner that threatens to impair the national security or otherwise undermine the objectives set forth in the Section 232 investigation reports or related Inclusions Proclamations.”
BIS will post its final decision within 60 days of receiving the request on regulations.gov, and will issue a Federal Register notice that modifies the annexes on steel and aluminum derivatives to add any subheadings newly subject to the tariffs.
“Duties on newly included derivative articles will take effect shortly thereafter through coordination” with CBP, BIS said.
Requests will include an eight-digit or 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification for the requested article; an explanation on why the good is a derivative, including information on steel or aluminum content; statistics on imports and domestic production; and a description of how imports of the proposed article threaten national security or undermine the Section 232 tariffs.
The rule takes immediate effect, though comments on the interim final rule will be accepted through June 16, BIS said.