Although the hearing scheduled for input on a Kenya Free Trade deal was canceled, comments continue to come in for what the U.S. trade representative's priorities should be.
The European Union will increase its safeguard measures on U.S. goods in retaliation for new Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum “derivatives” imposed in February, the EU said in a notice published in the April 7 Official Journal. Effective May 8, an additional 20% tariff will be imposed on U.S. lighters (other than pocket lighters) under EU Combined Nomenclature subheading 9613.80.00, and an additional 7% tariff on plastic fittings for furniture and coachwork of CN subheading 3926.30.00, the EU said.
The Automated Export System has been updated to accept changes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule from Presidential Proclamation 9980, which was published Jan. 29 and took effect Feb. 8, the Census Bureau said in an emailed alert. “AES will accept shipments with outdated codes during a grace period for 30 days beyond the expiration date. Reporting an outdated code after the 30-day grace period will result in a fatal error,” Census said. “The ACE AESDirect program has been updated and will accept shipments with outdated codes during the grace period.” The current list of HTS codes not valid for AES is available on the Census website, the agency said.
Colombia introduced a new special import declaration requirement relating to free zones, according to a Feb. 5 KPMG report. The change, which was announced Jan. 28, relates to import declarations for imports from “special permanent” or “permanent free zones” to Colombia’s national customs territory, the post said. The declarations must be submitted on a certain form on the last calendar day of each month, KPMG said, and must contain certain information, including the use of “Code 99999999999 as a subheading, regardless of whether the merchandise may correspond to different subheadings, provided that they all have the same value added tax (VAT) rate.” The declarations must also be submitted through the “electronic computer services” of Colombia’s tax and customs authority, KPMG said, and free zone operators must submit information about the movement of goods “that have actually left the free zone.” The importer must pay customs duties within the first five days of the following month “in which the presentation and acceptance of the special import declaration was made,” KPMG said.
The United Kingdom’s Department for International Trade launched a public consultation to inform the U.K.’s new independent “global tariff policy” after Brexit, the DIT said in a Feb. 6 notice. The U.K. said it is developing a new Most Favored Nation tariff schedule to take effect Jan. 2, 2021, to ensure U.K. companies “compete on fair terms with the rest of the world.” The consultation will open online for four weeks until March 5, the U.K. said, adding that it is seeking views on “simplifying and tailoring” tariffs to benefit UK companies, removing tariffs on “key inputs to production” to reduce costs for manufacturers, and removing tariffs where the U.K. has “zero or limited domestic production.”
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.
The panel deciding which French products should face Section 301 tariffs was intrigued by a point made by the Cheese Importers Association of America -- who could pay more on 21 Harmonized Tariff Schedule headings if all the proposed tariffs are included.
The contracting parties to the Harmonized System Convention approved the 2022 edition of the Harmonized System, the World Customs Organization said in a news release. “The HS serves as the basis for Customs tariffs and for the compilation of international trade statistics in 211 economies (of which 158 are Contracting Parties to the HS Convention),” it said. The new HS2022, which comes into force Jan. 1, 2022, “makes some major changes to the Harmonized System with a total of 351 sets of amendments covering a wide range of goods moving across borders,” the WCO said.
Starting Jan. 1, “'X - No Unit Required' is not an acceptable Unit of Measure in the Automated Export System for most commodity classification codes,” the Census Bureau said in a Dec. 31 email. “There will be no grace period for this change.,” it said. The agency said in the email that “the Schedule B, Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), and HTS Codes That Are Not Valid for AES tables have been updated to accept the changes to the January 1, 2020 codes.”
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 4-8 in case they were missed.