The US Trade Representative is seeking comments on extensions for the first 11 sets of exclusions issued for Chinese 301 tariffs List 3. All List 3 exclusions are due to expire August 7, 2020.
Requests to extend these exclusions must be made through the USTR’s comment portal. The deadline to file the requests is June 8, 2020.
The format for the extension request may be found in the Federal Register notice.
The US Trade Representative is seeking comments from parties interested in extending the first set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariff List 2. These exclusions are due to expire July 31st. If granted, the extension would be for 12 months. Information on what is required to request the extension as well as the format may be found in the Federal Register notice.
The USTR is also seeking comments on whether to extend the sixth set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariff List 1. These exclusions are due to expire July 9th. If granted, the extension would be for 12 months. Information on this extension may be found in a separate Federal Register notice from the one cited above.
Requests for extension of either set of exclusions must be submitted to June 1, 2020, in order to be considered.
Importers still have an opportunity to defer duty payments for shipments released in April and paid on a monthly statement in May. There is also still time for those shipments released in April that have not yet been paid on a daily statement.
The duty deferral does NOT apply to the following situations:
Entries subject to 301 duties (e.g., China and European Union)
Entries subject to Section 232 duties (e.g., steel and aluminum)
Entries subject to 201 duties (e.g., washing machines, washing machine parts, and solar panels)
Entries with antidumping and/or countervailing duties
Entries where duties have already been paid
Payment of bills for duties, taxes, fees, and interest determined to be due upon liquidation or reliquidation
Payment of any penalty or liquidated damages due to Customs
Payment of fees authorized pursuant to 19 USC 59c (except for merchandise processing fees and dutiable mail fees)
Importers must be able to demonstrate financial hardship in order to take the duty deferral. The importer’s operation must be fully or partially suspended during March or April 2020 due to orders surrounding Covid-19. As a result of such suspension, the gross receipts of the importer for March 13-31, 2020, or April 2020 must be less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019.
US Customs has issued two messages with further guidance – CSMS 42423171 and CSMS 42421561. Customs has also posted FAQs on their website.
Please contact us if you have any questions or wish to inquire about deferring your duties.
The US Trade Representative has revoked GSP status for over 500 products, including all seafood products, from Thailand effective April 25, 2020.
The move was made due to Thailand’s failure to provide internationally recognized worker rights in a number of areas, particularly in the seafood and shipping industries.
The full list of products losing GSP status may be found here.
The US Trade Representative has issued a 12th set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariff List 3. There are 108 new exclusions with only one at the tariff level.
These exclusions are retroactive to September 24, 2018 and will expire August 7, 2020. They may be claimed under HTS 9903.88.45.
US Customs and Border Protection has announced a 90 day deferral of duty payments for importers suffering financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A notice will be published in the Federal Register within the next few days.
In order to qualify for the deferral, an importer must demonstrate a significant financial hardship. The importer’s operation must be fully or partially suspended during March or April 2020 due to orders surrounding Covid-19. As a result of such suspension, the gross receipts of the importer for March 13-31, 2020, or April 2020 must be less than 60 percent of the gross receipts for the comparable period in 2019. Importers do not need to file proof in order to be eligible for the duty deferral, but must maintain documentation establishing that it meets the requirements for relief.
The duty deferral does NOT apply to the following situations:
· Entries subject to 301 duties (e.g., China and European Union)
· Entries subject to Section 232 duties (e.g., steel and aluminum)
· Entries subject to 201 duties (e.g., washing machines, washing machine parts, and solar panels)
· Entries with antidumping and/or countervailing duties
· Entries where duties have already been paid
· Payment of bills for duties, taxes, fees, and interest determined to be due upon liquidation or reliquidation
· Payment of any penalty or liquidated damages due to CBP
· Payment of fees authorized pursuant to 19 USC 59c (except for merchandise processing fees and dutiable mail fees)
US Customs has issued two messages with further guidance – CSMS 42423171 and CSMS 42421561.
Vandegrift will be reviewing our customers’ options and taking the appropriate actions.
This is a reminder that the third set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 1 will expire on April 18, 2020. These exclusions are claimed under 9903.88.07. The US Trade Representative has issued a notice that seven of the exclusions will be extended for another year and will expire on April 18, 2021. These items are:
8420.10.9080
Roller machines designed for cutting, etching or embossing paper, foil or fabric, manually powered
8425.39.0100
Ratchet winches designed for use with textile fabric strapping
8431.20.0000
Tines, carriages, and other goods handling apparatus and parts designed for use on fork lift and other works trucks
8479.90.9496
Reject doors, pin protectors, liners, front walls, grates, hammers, rotor and end disc caps, and anvil and breaker bars, of iron or steel, the foregoing parts of metal shredders
8479.90.9496
Steering wheels designed for watercraft, of stainless steel, having a wheel diameter exceeding 27 cm but not exceeding 78 cm
8481.90.9040
Pipe brackets of aluminum, each with 4 ports, the foregoing measuring 27.9 cm x 20.3 cm x 17.8 cm and weighing 11.34 kg, designed for installation into air brake control valves
9030.33.3800
Instruments for measuring or checking voltage or electrical connections; electrical circuit tracers
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced their commodity-specific webinar series for April. The webinars will begin at 1:30 p.m. ET and last an hour. The series will continue through July with the full schedule forthcoming.
Click here for webinar link.
Phone number and passcode:
1-877-873-8017
4252731
April 21st – Plastic Plates, Sheets, Film, Foil and Strip
April 23rd – Untangling Bedding of 9404
April 29th – Women’s Knit Jumpsuits and Bodysuits of Heading 6114
April 30th – Sleepwear to Beachwear
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the US Department of Agriculture announced Phase VI of its enforcement schedule to begin October 1, 2020, by adding more tariff subheadings that will require a Lacey Act declaration at the time of entry.
These items include certain essential oils in HTS Chapter 33, luggage in Chapter 42, wood items in Chapter 44, musical instruments in Chapter 92, and tripods and similar articles in Chapter 96. Comments may be submitted to APHIS using the methods outlined in the Federal Register notice.
The US Trade Representative has issued a third set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 4A for certain medical products. Five exclusions are at the tariff level, and seven are at the product level.
The exclusions are retroactive to September 1, 2019, and will remain in place until September 1, 2020. They may be claimed using HTS 9903.88.44.
We are very pleased to announce that VFI Track, our proprietary, web based, online visibility and reporting platform has been renamed Maersk Customs Navigator. Users' login screen will still have the same familiar layout but you will notice the name change and slight color variation in the screen header and buttons.
All system features and functionality remain intact and Users will continue to experience the same powerful visibility and access to reporting tools within all areas of the platform. There will be no interruption in service before, during or after the deployment of the new visual update, which is scheduled for this Tuesday, March 31st.
Please contact us with any questions regarding Maersk Customs Navigator or to learn more about how to access the platform.
The US Trade Representative has issued 177 more exclusions for Chinese 301 duties List 3. These exclusions are retroactive to September 24, 2018 and may be claimed until August 7, 2020 under 9903.88.43.
The US Trade Representative has issued a notice in the Federal Register requesting comments for further exclusions for medical supplies to address the Covid-19 outbreak. Comments can be submitted until June 25, 2020. The USTR states this deadline could be extended.
The notice says, “Each comment specifically must identify the particular product of concern and explain precisely how the product relates to the response to the COVID–19 outbreak. For example, the comment may address whether a product is directly used to treat COVID– 19 or to limit the outbreak, and/or whether the product is used in the production of needed medical-care products.”
Furthermore, comments may be submitted for products that are still pending review and for products where a previous exclusion request was denied. Please refer to the Federal Register notice for details on how to submit the comments.
Due to the effect COVID-19 is having on the Trade industry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is accepting requests for duty-payment extensions.
Interested parties should send requests to Director Randy Mitchell by email at randy.mitchell@cbp.dhs.gov. CBP expects to issue a Federal Register notice in the immediate future with details on a longer-term, broader extension policy.
The US Trade Representative has published a notice to accept requests to extend the fifth set of exclusions to Chinese 301 tariffs List 1. This set of exclusions was issued June 4, 2019 and expires June 4, 2020.
Requests must be submitted through the USTR’s online portal no later than April 30, 2020. The format and information required for the request may be found in the Federal Register notice.
The US Trade Representative has granted a one year extension for 11 items on List 1 whose exclusions were due to expire on March 25th. These exclusions can continue to be claimed under 9903.88.06 until March 25, 2021.
The extended exclusions include 8412.21.0045, 8607.21.1000, breast pumps, and certain water filters and purifiers, among others.
Vandegrift, A Maersk Company has a strong global network to help your company through the challenges of Coronavirus (Covid-19). As a result we have developed a comprehensive contingency plan over the last several weeks to mitigate business disruption and also assist clients navigating through supply chain challenges.
Office employees from our Operations, Trade Services and Drawback teams are set up to work remotely. CHB North America Associates have laptops and can access email and critical business systems remotely. We anticipate entry filing, compliance projects and client communication to continue with no delay.
COVID-19 updates are published to the Maersk website daily, please bookmark this page to stay current.
The US Trade Representative has issued a second set of exclusions for Chinese 301 duties List 4A for medical equipment.
These 19 exclusions are retroactive to September 1, 2019, and will remain in place until September 1, 2020. They may be claimed using tariff number 9903.88.42.
The US Trade Representative has issued a tenth set of exclusions to Chinese 301 duties List 3. There are 5 new exclusions in this round, all at the tariff level.
These exclusions are retroactive to September 24, 2018 and will remain in place until August 7, 2020. They are to be claimed under 9903.88.41.
The US Trade Representative has issued the first set of exclusions to List 4A for the Chinese 301 duties. All 8 exclusions are at the tariff level and include medical products such as soap, laboratory ware, examination gloves, and surgical drapes.
These exclusions appear to have been fast-tracked by the USTR in response to the corona virus outbreak as the deadline for exclusion requests for List 4A was January 31st. These exclusions are to be claimed using tariff number 9903.88.39, are retroactive to September 1, 2019, and will remain in place until September 1, 2020.