Most exclusions from list three Section 301 China tariffs are now set to expire Aug. 7, after the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative declined to include them in a notice of extensions released the day before their slated expiration.
In the notice, USTR granted extensions until Dec. 31 to only 266 of the nearly 1,000 list three exclusions published to date. That leaves over 700 exclusions to expire on schedule.
The first set of exclusions to Chinese tariff List 2 will expire July 31, 2020. The US Trade Representative has issued extensions for 14 out of the 69 exclusions in this grouping.
These extended exclusions will now be declared under HTS 9903.88.54 and will expire December 31, 2020
US Customs and Border Protection has announced the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) will be adjusted for inflation effective October 1st.
The informal MPF and the minimum and maximum limits will be adjusted. The MPF rate of 0.3464% will remain the same.
The rate for informal entries will increase from $2.14 to $2.18.
The minimum rate for formal entries will increase from $26.79 to $27.23.
The maximum rate for formal entries will increase from $519.76 to $528.33.
The US Trade Representative has issued a seventh set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 4A. The 64 new exclusions include eleven at the HTS level. Some textile and apparel items are included at the product level.
These new exclusions are retroactive to September 1, 2019, and will expire September 1, 2020. They are to be reported under HTS 9903.88.53.
As indicated in a previous Vandegrift, A Maersk Company advisory, the USTR is accepting requests until August 14, 2020 for extensions to this seventh set.
On June 30, 2020, the US Trade Representative issued a notice to accept requests for exclusion extensions for the first five sets of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariff list 4A. On July 17, 2020, the USTR issued a subsequent notice that they will accept comments for exclusion extensions for the 6th set of exclusions to List 4A.
The USTR also mentioned that a 7th set of exclusions is due to be published shortly, and comments will be accepted on extending those as well. All exclusions for List 4A are set to expire September 1, 2020. Comments for the 6th and 7th sets of exclusions must be submitted by August 14, 2020.
The US Trade Representative has extended certain exclusions from the 6th set to Chinese tariffs List 1. Most of the exclusions in this set expired July 9, 2020. The USTR has extended 12 exclusions until December 31, 2020. These are now to be claimed under HTS 9903.88.52.
Additionally, the USTR has issued 61 new exclusions for List 4. These exclusions are retroactive to September 1, 2019, will expire September 1, 2020, and are to be claimed under HTS 9903.88.51.
The US Trade Representative has issued a notice seeking comments on extensions to all five sets of exclusions issued thus far for Chinese 301 tariffs List 4A. These exclusions were issued in March, May, and June 2020, and will expire September 1, 2020.
The public docket on the web portal will open on July 1st for parties to submit comments on the possible extension of these exclusions.
The deadline to submit comments is July 30th. Specific information on what must be included in the extension request may be found in the Federal Register notices
The US Trade Representative has issued two notices seeking comments on extensions to the second and third sets of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 2. The second set of exclusions was issued in September 2019 and will expire September 20, 2020.
The third set of exclusions was issued in October 2019 and will expire October 2, 2020. The public docket on the web portal will open on July 1st for parties to submit comments on the possible extension of these particular exclusions.
The deadline to submit comments is July 30th. Specific information on what must be included in the extension request may be found in the Federal Register notices.
The US Trade Representative has issued a fifth set of exclusions to Chinese 301 duties list 4A. The 34 new exclusions include two at the HTS level and the remaining at the product level.
These exclusions are retroactive to 9/1/19 and will expire 9/1/20. The exclusions are to be claimed under 9903.88.49.
On May 6, 2020, the US Trade Representative issued a notice seeking comments on extending exclusions for products covered under the first 11 sets of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 3.
Today, the USTR has issued another notice to accept comments on extending the remaining 3 sets of exclusions to List 3. These exclusions expire August 7, 2020. Applicants have until July 7, 2020 to submit comments on whether to extend exclusions for products covered under these last 3 sets. As a reminder, the deadline to submit comments on extending the first 11 sets is June 8, 2020.
Additionally, the USTR has published a separate notice regarding extensions for the seventh set of exclusions to List 1. These are scheduled to expire September 20, 2020. The deadline to submit comments for this set is July 7, 2020.
The US Trade Representative has extended 16 exclusions from the fifth set of exclusions to 301 tariffs List 1. These exclusions were originally set to expire on June 4, 2020, and have been extended to December 31, 2020.
The USTR has assigned a new exclusion number 9903.88.50 to this extended group of products to cover the period June 4, 2020 to December 31, 2020. The previous exclusion number used, 9903.88.10, will expire June 4th along with 73 exclusions previously granted in the fifth set to List 1.
The US Trade Representative has issued 78 new exclusions to List 3 for the Chinese 301 duties. 17 exclusions are at the HTS level, with the remaining at the product level. These new exclusions may be claimed under 9903.88.48 and will remain in effect until August 7, 2020.
This same Federal Register notice also includes six technical corrections to previous exclusions.
Additionally, there is a separate notice removing two medical items previously granted exclusions under 9903.88.47:
(4) Tumblers or disposable graduated liners for pitchers, of plastics, of a kind used in healthcare facilities (described in statistical reporting number 3924.10.4000)
(6) Manually operated pill or tablet crushers of plastics, presented with attachable pouches of plastics for capturing and storing the resulting powders (described in statistical reporting number 8479.82.0080)
Finally, we wish to remind you that the fifth set of exclusions to List 1 will expire June 4, 2020. Should any of these exclusions be extended, we will send out an advisory.
Importers, exporters, and consignees may request confidential manifest treatment from US Customs in order to prevent their vessel manifest data from being made public through various data services. In the past, these requests could be submitted via US mail or email, and would take 60 to 90 days to be processed.
On May 22nd, Customs will launch an online application form for the submission of confidentiality requests which will reduce the processing time to as little as 24 hours. Companies will be able to directly input all applicable name variations to ensure the name provided matches the name entered with the manifest data in ACE. For example, ABC Company, Inc. and ABC Company Inc. (without the comma) would be 2 name variations.
We encourage all companies to protect their manifest data and take advantage of this service from Customs. Once granted, manifest confidentiality must be renewed every two years.
For more information, please visit the manifest confidentiality page on Customs’ website.
US Customs and Border Protection has announced its commodity-specific webinar schedule for June through August. The one hour webinars begin at 1:30 ET. Participants may register by clicking here.
The June through August schedule is as follows:
1-Jun Heading 8708, Parts and Accessories
2-Jun Paintings, Drawings, and Pastels of Heading 9701
3-Jun Non-Electric Lamps of Heading 9405.50
8-Jun Chapter 5: Products of Animal Origin
11-Jun Man-Made Fibers: Synthetic or Artificial
15-Jun How to Handle Handbags
25-Jun Classification of Tea
30-Jun Classification of Ponchos, Capes, Ski Suits and Ski Pants
8-Jul Sporting Headgear
9-Jul Classification of Organic Chemicals of Chapter 29
13-Jul Blankets of Heading 6301
14-Jul A Look At Festive Articles of Chapter 95
20-Jul Filtering out Classification Problems
21-Jul Classification of Paper Goods
22-Jul Diamonds of Heading 7102
27-Jul Vehicles of Chapter 87
28-Jul Watches and Clocks of Chapter 91
30-Jul Chemicals of Chapter 28
3-Aug H270389 (Mixed Media/Essential Character)
The US Trade Representative has issued extensions for certain items in the fourth set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 1. Two of the extended exclusions are at the HTS level – 8481.10.0090 and 8483.50.9040. The remaining 11 extensions are at the product level. These items can continue to claim the exclusion under 9903.88.08 until December 31, 2020.
Exclusions for 27 other items expired May 14, 2020, including exclusions at the HTS level for 8407.21.0040, 8427,10.4000, and 8473.40.1000.
The US Trade Representative has issued a fourth set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariff List 4A. These exclusions are retroactive to September 1, 2019, and will expire September 1, 2020.
These eight new exclusions include three at the HTS level – 3306.20.0000, 6506.10.6030, and 8512.10.4000 – and five at the product level. They may be claimed under 9903.88.47.
The US Trade Representative has issued 146 more exclusions for Chinese 301 tariff List 3. These exclusions include two HTS-level exclusions for 4819.50.4060 and 6902.20.5020.
The new exclusions may be claimed under 9903.88.46, and are retroactive to September 24, 2018 and will expire August 7, 2020.
The CBSA has announced in Customs Notice 20-19 that certain medical goods, including face and eye protection, gloves and protective garments as well as other medical supplies will be duty free into Canada for goods imported on or after May 5th, 2020.
Remission is granted for goods listed in the Certain Goods Remission Order (COVID-19), SOR-2020-101, under the following conditions:
(a) the good was imported into Canada on or after May 5, 2020 and subject to customs duties;
(b) no other claim for relief of the customs duties has been granted under the Customs Tariff in respect of the good;
(c) the importer files, on request, the evidence or information that the Canada Border Services Agency requires to determine eligibility for remission;
(d) the importer agrees that it is subject, at any time, including after remission relief is provided, to review by the Canada Border Services Agency for the purpose of determining whether the information supplied by the importer under paragraph (c) is accurate and complete and whether the facts on which the Canada Border Services Agency relied or intends to rely to determine the eligibility for remission remain unchanged in all material respects; and
e) at the time when the Canada Border Services Agency conducts the review referred to in paragraph (d), the Canada Border Services Agency must be able to conclude that the information supplied remains accurate and complete and that the facts remain unchanged in all material respects.
The above referenced notice contains a list of eligible items.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced their commodity-specific webinar series for May. The webinars will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET and last an hour. The series will continue through August.
Click here for Webinar registration link.
May 11th – Abrasives, Cements, Concretes, and Mineral Wools
May 13th – How to Handle Handbags
May 14th – Classification Analysis of Display Devices
May 18th – Mountings and Fittings Suitable for Motor Vehicles
May 20th – Orthopedic Appliances of Heading 9021
May 21st – Wheeled Toys
May 27th – Heading 9603 – Brooms and Bruses
May 28th – Writing Instruments