Details of HTS Changes to KORUS, NAFTA, ATPDEA, Etc. in Colombia FTA Proclamation

Annex III

ATPDEA. Annex III amends U.S. note 3(c) to subchapter XXI of chapter 98 of the HTS on ATPDEA brassieres under HTS 9821.11.19, to extend the duty-free benefit annually until July 31, 2013, the expiration date of the ATPA/ATPDEA that was set by the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act. This change is effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 2007.

It also amends U.S. note 3(d) of that subchapter to list the maximum amount of duty-free ATPDEA apparel under HTS 9821.11.25 that may be entered each year (2007 - 2013) until the July 31, 2013 expiration date of the ATPA/ATPDEA, as 5% of all apparel articles imported into the U.S. in the preceeding one-year period. This change is effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 2007.

In addition, Annex III deletes "Peru" from HTS General notes 11(a) and (d) and U.S. note 1 to subchapter XXI of HTS Chapter 98 to indicate that it no longer received ATPDEA benefits after December 31, 2010, pursuant to the Omnibus Trade Act of 2010. This change is effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 2011.

Annex IV

Annex IV makes technical corrections to various HTS provisions for GSP and FAS, the Oman FTA, NAFTA (Canada and Mexico), and Korea FTA (KORUS). These changes include:

GSP & FAS textile exclusion. Pursuant to the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, General note 4(c)(i) to the HTS, which specifies articles that may not be designated as an eligible article for purposes of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), and General note 10(d)(ii) to the HTS, which specifies articles that may not be afforded duty-free treatment as products of the Freely Associated States, are modified to list as excluded “textile and apparel articles which were not eligible articles for purposes of this note on January 1, 1994”, effective with respect to goods that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 1996.

(The exclusions were previously listed as "textile and apparel articles which are subject to textile agreements.")

Oman FTA TRQs. The Proclamation said Annex II to ITC’s Publication 4050, which implemented provisions of the U.S.-Oman FTA in the HTS, included errors in the quantities specified under certain tariff-rate quotas. As a result, several technical corrections are made to subchapter XVI, “Modifications Established Pursuant to the United States-Oman Free Trade Agreement”, of HTS Chapter 99, including modifications of the tariff numbers and maximum quantities of TRQs listed in U.S. Notes 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 12. These changes are effective for goods of Oman, under the terms of HTS General note 31, that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 2009.

Oman FTA changes due to WCO. The Proclamation said Presidential Proclamation 8771 of December 29, 2011, which modified the HTS to conform to amendments made to the World Custom's Organization's International Convention of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, included incorrect rates of duty for certain articles for the year 2016 through 2018.

Therefore, effective with respect to goods of Oman, under the terms of HTS General note 31, that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 2016, the rate of duty in the Rates of Duty 1-Special subcolumn followed by the symbol “OM” in parentheses for certain HTS subheadings in effect on December 31, 2015 is modified for tariff numbers: 0401.40.25, 0401.50.25, 0401.50.75, 1202.30.80, 1202.41.80, 1202.42.80, 1701.13.50, 1701.14.50, 2403.19.90. Effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse on or after January 1, 2019, these tariff numbers have a free rate of duty under the OFTA.

NAFTA TCRs. The Proclamation said Presidential Proclamation 8405 of August 31, 2009, incorrectly deleted certain NAFTA tariff classification rules (TCRs) of origin. Therefore, effective with respect to goods of Canada or of Mexico, under the terms of HTS General note 12, that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after February 3, 2007, TCR 2 for chapter 91, HTS General note 12(t) is renumbered as TCR 1A for such chapter; and new TCRs 2 - 8 are inserted in numerical sequence.

KORUS staged duty rates. The Proclamation said Presidential Proclamation 8783 of March 6, 2012, which implemented U.S. tariff commitments under the U.S.-Korea FTA, included an error in the staged duty rate applied to two tariff subheadings. To correct this error, effective with respect to goods of Korea, under the terms of HTS General note 33, that are entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption during the period from March 15, 2012 through December 31, 2016, the Rates of Duty 1-Special subcolumn for HTS subheadings 1701.13.20 and 1701.14.20 is modified by deleting the expression “less 0.1¢/kg” and by inserting in lieu thereof “less 0.01¢/kg”.

¹While the ITC’s Annex indicates the effective date for this provision as January 1, 2007, Presidential Proclamation 8818 said the effective date of this provision is November 5, 2011. Sources at ITC said that this discrepancy is due to the fact that the President has no authority to give retroactive effect to tariff treatment, and November 5 is the effective date of the relevant legislation.

Presidential Proclamation 8818 (FR Pub 05/18/12) available here.

Corresponding ITC Publication No. 4320 available here.

(See ITT's Online Archives 12051815 for initial summary of Presidential Proclamation 8818 and corresponding ITC Publication No. 4320, which focused on Annexes I and II pertaining to the Colombia TPA.)