USTR Lists Additional Goods that Could be Subject to Increased General Duty Rates From All "Column 1" Countries
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice requesting comments on adding several types of goods (e.g., ten HTS numbers for certain cheese, peaches, mandarins, and clementines in Chapters 4, 8, and 20) to its previously published list of goods whose duties may be increased in the event the U.S. cannot reach agreement with the European Union (EU) for adequate compensation owed under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules as a result of May 2004 EU enlargement and EU changes to its rice import regime.
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This second list of goods is in addition to the larger list of goods on which the USTR is requesting comments, which was published on September 10, 2004. (See ITT's Online Archives or 09/13/04 news, 04091310, for BP summary of USTR's September 10, 2004 notice.)
The USTR has previously stated that if the EU enlargement and rice import regime issues are not resolved, the U.S. may seek to exercise its rights under Article XXVIII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 (GATT 1994) to raise tariffs on select goods that are drawn from these two lists of goods.
The USTR has also previously stated that any increased duties would apply to imports from all countries (even though the listed products are primarily supplied by the EU) that are subject to the rates of duty set forth in the Column 1 General rate of duty column of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS).
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- written comments are due by noon on September 29, 2004
USTR contact - Lisa Errion (202) 395-3320
USTR notice (FR Pub 09/28/04) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/06jun20041800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/04-21762.pdf.
BP Note
As there is almost no time for comments due to a WTO deadline, USTR sources state that informal comments could be emailed by noon on September 29, 2004, to be followed up by more formal comments at a later date.