Maine Senators Seek Change to HTS to Help L.L. Bean, Other Outdoors Garment Firms
A note to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule specifies that, in order to qualify as water resistant, goods must both meet a water seepage standard and incorporate either rubber or plastics. Maine's two U.S. senators recently introduced a bill that would drop the clause on plastics and rubber that is part of the additional note to Chapter 62.
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Rich Harper, director of government affairs for the Outdoor Industry Association, said L.L. Bean approached Sen. Angus King and Sen. Susan Collins with the idea of making the change. Harper said the industry will now mobilize behind the bill, and will ask King's staff what is the best path forward to get it into law. So far, no House of Representatives sponsor has been identified to introduce the bill in that chamber, he said.
Several states have passed bills that will ban the use of PFAS, a form of plastic that provides waterproofing, in garments, though the bans have not taken effect yet (see 2210140040. Maine is one of those states.
"Our members are very interested in identifying more sustainable alternatives to rubber and plastics in meeting this water resistant test," Harper said. But as the HTS code is currently written, if you were to produce a water-resistant jacket that used a method that CBP did not consider plastic or rubber, the garment would no longer qualify for the 7.1% tariff for water-resistant jackets. Instead, it would be subject to a 27% tariff, Harper said.
If companies can continue to pay the lower tariff -- and/or if the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program returns and eliminates tariffs on backpacks or other goods -- that allows those companies to lower their costs, and retain profits "that can help to develop more sustainable products," Harper said. Lower tariffs "will fuel that kind of innovation the industry is known for."
Before the bill's introduction, OIA had been focused on getting GSP back. However, Harper said, "We certainly welcome and support this initiative."
If the bill doesn't become law, and companies do start selling garments that are water-resistant but not with plastics or rubber, OIA officials are concerned those jackets would become more expensive. He said OIA argued, as it did when the administration applied Section 301 tariffs to goods used for outdoor recreation, "it can raise costs and put them out of reach for a lot of consumers."
Spokespersons for King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, and Collins, a Republican, did not return requests for comment on why the senators introduced the bill.