Rep. Earl Blumenauer,D-Ore., chairman of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, want to pass a law that would require importers of certain commodities to first certify that they exercised reasonable care that the products they are buying were not produced on illegally deforested land. If the goods -- such as palm oil, soybeans, cattle, cocoa and rubber -- are coming from a country that the government designated as high-risk for illegal deforestation, importers will have to fully document their supply chains and the measures buyers took to ensure it was not produced on deforested land.
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 3:
The Coalition of Freight Coupler Producers seeks the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on freight rail coupler systems from China, it said in a petition filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission Sept. 28. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CV duty orders and the assessment of AD and CV duties on importers. The coalition consists of Amsted Rail Company and McConway and Torley LLC.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2109 on Sept. 29, containing 477 Automated Broker Interface records and 99 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. The update reflects the extended exclusion from Section 301 tariffs on China of headings that cover goods used in treating COVID-19 (see 2109270044). Those headings -- 9903.88.62, 9903.88.63, 9903.88.64 and 9903.88.65 -- will now expire Nov. 14. CBP also issued a guidance on the subject.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 20-26:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 13-19:
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2108 on Aug. 31, containing 28,924 Automated Broker Interface records and 4,989 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records, it said in a CSMS message. A June 25, 2019, CBP ruling “ordered a change in reporting of watch groupings,” and this change “allows each watch component to be submitted as a single line item,” CBP said. There are four HTS records under subheading 9102.11 included in this update that received the specified change. HSU 2108 also includes the 2021 Cotton Fee updates, which become effective Oct. 25, 2021 (see 2108250019).
Importers should be reviewing existing tariff classifications for their products and planning ahead for major changes to the tariff schedule that will take effect Jan. 1 when the U.S. implements 2022 changes to the global Harmonized System, Flexport’s Adam Dambrov said during a Sept. 15 webinar. Particularly affected by the changes are goods of chapters 44, 84 and 85, with some changes to chapter notes also resulting in changes for textiles and apparel.
The Agricultural Marketing Service is proposing updates to its table of Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheadings and assessment rates for imported potatoes and potato products, it said in a notice. The agency is also proposing changes to its regulations on the potato promotion order “eliminating the need to amend the Plan just to update the list of relevant HTS codes.” Finally, AMS proposes changes to “approved sources of potato production data used to determine the number of Board seats” and an expansion of “payment methods used to remit assessments to include electronic submission.” Comments are due Oct. 18.
CBP is ending a forced labor finding on disposable gloves made by Top Glove in Malaysia, after finding the company submitted enough evidence that its disposable gloves are no longer being made with forced labor, CBP said in a notice. Effective on the notice’s date of publication, scheduled for Sept. 10, disposable gloves made by Top Glove in Malaysia will no longer be subject to detention, seizure and forfeiture under the forced labor finding.