USTR Addresses Expiring China 301 Exclusions
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has decided on the current exclusions that are due to expire on May 31, 2024. 164 of those exclusions will be extended through May31, 2025. The other 265 exclusions will be extended until June 14. 2024 to allow importers to make adjustments for the short notice and for any comments. The USTR made this information available in an advance release of a proposed Federal Register Notice. Annex C of the notice lists the 164 HTS numbers and the detailed description for qualification that will be extended until June of 2025. Annex D is the list of HTS numbers that will expire on June 14, 2024. The advance notice can be found at: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/Section%20301%20Exclusion%20Extension%20FRN.pdf
The actual Federal Register Notice is expected to be issued sometime this week. We will also be watching closely for notices and explanations we can share.
China 301 Duty Special Modifications
Under instructions from President Biden, the Office of USTR has issued instructions for additional 301 duties for certain products from China. This would include adding new HTS numbers and increasing 301 duties on items already subject to 301 duties. The new duty rates will range from 25% to 100%. Some of the increases will begin in 2024 while others will start in 2025 and 2026. The changes due in 2024 are proposed to go into effect on August 1.2024 and on January 1 of both 2025 and 2026.
These changes will also have a process to request exclusion and there will be a process to request exclusion on products currently under 301 duties that could be considered important for manufacturing in the U.S. The proposed FRN for these changes can be found at: USTR FRN Four Year Review Proposed Modifications fin.pdf
Commerce Has Issued FRN’s on ADD for Paper Shopping Bags
ADD paper shopping bags. The Commerce Department issued its final determinations in the antidumping duty investigations on paper shopping bags from Cambodia (A-555-002), China (A-570-152), Colombia (A-301-805), India (A-533-917), Malaysia (A-557-825), Portugal (A-471-808), Taiwan (A-583-872) and Vietnam (A-552-836). Cash deposit rates set in this final determination took effect May 24, when the notices were published in the Federal Register.
There are multiple FRN’s, a link for each country, can be found at: Federal Register :: Federal Register Document Issue for 2024-05-24
APHIS Published a Draft List of Products that May Require a Lacey Declaration
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHS) announced that is working on the publication of a draft Federal Register Notice (FRN) on the enactment of Phase VII of requirements for products that will require a Lacey declaration at the time of entry. The FRN is expected to be published in a few months with full enforcement to begin six months after publication.
The draft list will cover 26 chapters and about 250 HTSUS numbers. This proposed list can be found at: http://www.carmnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/PHASE-VII-Codes-Draft-list.pdf