CBP Advises Trade on Future ABI System Requirements for Filing SFTA ISI Claims Under HTS 9999.00.84
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice advising the trade on the upcoming system requirements that will be needed to file a U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) claim under HTS 9999.00.84 through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).
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(HTS 9999.00.84 is a new tariff number for the Integrating Sourcing Initiative (ISI) provision of the SFTA, which is provided for in SFTA HTS General Note 25(m). The ISI provision allows certain information technology products and medical products that are subject to a 'column 1' general zero rate of duty, to be considered SFTA originating goods and exempt from the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) when Singapore is the country of export.)
CBP states that once the ABI system changes are completed, the trade will be notified that they can begin filing SFTA ISI claims through ABI. According to CBP sources, these changes are expected to be completed in 2-3 weeks. Until then, the trade must continue to file non-ABI summaries to claim HTS 9999.00.84.
The future ABI system requirements for HTS 9999.00.84 are listed by CBP as follows:
HTS 9999.00.84. HTS 9999.00.84 must be transmitted in the tariff number 1 field (entry summary, record identifier 50 (input)).
Country of export. The country of export must be Singapore (ISO code: SG). The country of export is indicated in the entry summary record identifier 50. CBP notes that the country of export data element is a required data element regardless of the entry type associated with the summary.
No SPI allowed. No special program indicator (SPI) will be allowed. CBP states that HTS 9999.00.84 identifies that a claim under SFTA HTS General Note 25(m) is being made and as a result, no SPI is required.
No value amounts are to be reported with HTS 9999.00.84. The value and quantity amounts are to be reported with the associated HTS number indicated in SFTA General Note 25(m). This will allow the Department of Census to extract the proper trade statistics related to this provision.
MPF. No MPF is required for HTS 9999.00.84.
CBP states that it is important to note that the only benefit that SFTA HTS General Note 25(m) provides for subject information technology products and medical products that are classified under its listed tariff numbers is the exemption of the MPFs (class codes 499 (formal merchandise processing fee) and 311 (informal fee)), as the merchandise is already duty-free under the 'column 1' general heading.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 02/11/04 and 02/25/04 news, 04021110 and 04022505, for BP summaries of CBP's instructions on filing & substantiating claims under SFTA and ACS acceptance of Chile FTA and SFTA claims, respectively.)
CBP Contacts - Tony Casucci (system questions) (202) 344-1035
Anne Marusza (policy and procedure questions) (202) 927-5724
CBP Admin 04-0859 (dated 04/08/04) available via fax or email by emailing documents@brokerpower.com