On July 22, both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed H.R. 4842, the "U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act," clearing the measure for the President.
Customs duty
A customs duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs duty rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight. U.S. customs duties are listed in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.
In the July 21, 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 30), CBP issued notices: (a) proposing to modify a classification ruling on painted glass sinks, and (b) proposing to revoke a classification ruling on aero-derivative gas turbines. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.
CBP has posted a notice to its Web site stating that the fourth 2003/2004 "low duty" tariff rate quota (TRQ) for specialty sugar for the August 10, 2004 through September 30, 2004 period opens for 2,000,000 kg on August 10, 2004 at 1:00 EDST or its equivalent in other time zones. CBP notes that this TRQ is expected to oversubscribe at opening moment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that the 2004/2005 tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for the August 1, 2004 through July 31, 2005 period on the following cotton will open on August 2, 2004 at 1:00 p.m. EDT or its equivalent in other time zones:
On July 22, 2004, both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed H.R. 4842, the "U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act," clearing the measure for the President.
On July 14, 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4418, the Customs Border Security and Trade Agencies Authorization Act of 2004.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its "critical list" of textiles and apparel subject to import quotas with entered quantities 85% or more filled as of July 20, 2004. CBP states that this "critical list" may be used by CBP as a reference for releasing quota merchandise "off line" when the Automated Commercial System (ACS) is down for longer than four hours. CBP notes that textile and apparel merchandise for Electronic Visa Information System (ELVIS) countries cannot be released "off line" until it is processed through quota. CBP further notes that if the system is down for more than 24 hours, Headquarters Quota Branch should be contacted for further instructions. CBP also states that merchandise subject to tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), which are filled, may be released if entered under the "over quota" (high) rate of duty. (CBP's critical list, dated 07/20/04, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/textile_critical_list/)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued to the ports and posted to its Web site separate instructions regarding (1) the use of visas to make claims for duty-free treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for qualifying textile and/or apparel articles (textile articles) from Nigeria that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after July 14, 2004, and (2) quota reporting for certain apparel articles from Nigeria that are subject to the AGOA aggregate tariff preference level (TPL) and its sublimit.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that its most recent Harmonized System (HS) update contains:
On July 14, 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4759, the "U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act." On July 15, 2004, the Senate passed H.R. 4759, clearing the measure for the President.