The Office of the U.S Trade Representative is set to publish a notice Feb. 5 some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China (see 2001020013). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020.
The coming expansion of Section 232 tariffs to finished steel and aluminum goods will not apply to immediate transportation entries that are accepted before Feb. 8, CBP said in a Feb. 4 CSMS message. The message gives guidance for filers affected by the new 10 percent tariffs on some finished aluminum goods and 25 percent tariffs on some finished steel goods that start on Feb. 8 (see 2001280072). Eligible immediate transportation entries “shall be subject to the duty rates in effect when the immediate transportation entry was accepted at the port of original importation,” the agency said. CBP used a similar policy when the previous Section 232 tariffs took effect (see 1804050027).
U.S. importers of Chinese goods inundated the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative with more than 2,800 List 4A tariff-exclusion requests in the 24 hours before the web portal went dark at 11:59 p.m. EST Jan. 31, the public docket shows. The surge came amid the huge backlog of List 3 requests still awaiting disposition. The requests filed Jan. 31 were nearly a third of the 8,800 requests posted in the three months after the portal went live on Halloween Day. Importers that are granted exclusions would qualify for refunds of the 15 percent duties paid on goods entering the country, retroactive to Sept. 1, 2019, when the tariffs took effect. The List 4A tariffs are scheduled for a Feb. 14 rollback to 7.5 percent when the U.S.-China phase one trade deal goes into force.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a new set of product exclusions from the 25 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China. The exclusions cover products from the third list of Section 301 goods. The new exclusions are reflected "in 2 10-digit HTSUS subheadings, which cover 52 requests, and 117 specially prepared product descriptions, which cover 156 separate exclusion requests," according to the notice.
Plug-in devices that connect to Wi-Fi and allow for users to operate other devices by controlling whether electrical current flows from the wall outlet differ from wearable smart devices for classification purposes, CBP said in a Jan. 21 ruling. Lawyers from Sharretts Paley requested the ruling on behalf of SDI Technologies. SDI argued that the “SmartPlugs” deserve a similar classification as Fitbit fitness trackers that connect to mobile phones through Bluetooth (see 1707190028).
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is set to require filing of its “core” partner government agency (PGA) data in ACE beginning Aug. 3, 2020, the agency said in a notice. “On that date, APHIS intends to begin applying Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) flags, which will alert filers who opt to submit data electronically whether APHIS import data is or may be required. Importers or brokers using ACE must enter APHIS-required import data when they receive an APHIS-specific HTS flag in order to complete their entry in the system,” APHIS said.
CBP remains cautious in moving toward continuing education requirements for customs brokers as it continues to examine the issues that derailed a similar effort some years ago, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Trade, during a Jan. 29 interview with International Trade Today. CBP recently launched a task force on the subject (see 1910160056), but the agency is considering whether an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) is necessary before issuing an actual proposal, she said.
The World Customs Organization published a list of changes in the upcoming 2022 version of the Harmonized System tariff nomenclature, it said in a press release. The 351 sets of amendments include 77 affecting tariff provisions for agriculture, food and tobacco, 58 in the chemical sector, 31 in the wood sector, 21 for textiles, 27 for base metals, 63 in the machinery, electrical and electronic goods sector, and 22 affecting the transport sector, the WCO said. The amendments were recommended by the WCO’s Harmonized System Committee in June, and took effect in January after a six-month period passed with no objections to the proposals by WCO member states (see 2001080064). The changes must be implemented in the tariff schedules of WCO members, including the U.S., by Jan. 1, 2022.
CBP published notices in the Customs Bulletin revoking or modifying numerous rulings in 2019. These ruling revocations and modifications also apply to “any treatment previously accorded by CBP to substantially identical transactions.” When revoking or modifying a ruling, CBP is required by 19 USC 1625(c) to publish notice of the proposed action, and allow a period—generally one month—for comment before finalizing the action. An importer’s failure to advise CBP of “substantially identical transactions” or of a ruling not identified by CBP in these notices “may raise issues of reasonable care on the part of the importer or its agents for importations of merchandise subsequent to the effective date of this notice.” Rulings CBP revoked or modified in 2019 are as follows:
The following is a selection of articles that appeared in International Trade Today in 2019 covering ruling letters. CBP frequently publishes rulings months after they are issued, so these articles are included based on the dates the articles were published, rather than the date the ruling letter was issued.