The Winter 2003 issue of the NCBFAA Quarterly Bulletin contains an article that states that miscellaneous tariff and trade bills are no longer routine, are not predictable, and may not even be possible. The article notes that such bills have increasingly become the vehicle for solving larger, tougher trade and economic issues that have nothing to do with the tedious technical language of miscellaneous tariff and trade bills. (NBFAA Quarterly Bulletin, No. 103-4, Winter 2003, www.ncbfaa.org.)
Customs duty
A customs duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs duty rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight. U.S. customs duties are listed in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice advising the trade of the upcoming system requirements for filing a U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) claim through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has issued a notice announcing the scheduling of, among other things, a public hearing and the deadlines for submitting public comments in connection with its report on market conditions for certain wool articles in 2003-2004.
(Read Footnotes and Disclaimers at End of Notice)
According to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Annex 300-B, Appendix 3.1, the 'regular' quota for the following Mexican categories expired on December 31, 2003:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice announcing that the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for dairy products, provided for in HTS Chapter 4, Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 10, which opened on January 2, 2004, partially oversubscribed at the opening. According to CBP, the All Other Countries limit oversubscribed and the minimum access quantity for Belgium/Denmark (aggregated) was exceeded. However, the minimum access quantity for Australia was not reached and is therefore still available.
(Read Footnotes and Disclaimers at End of Notice)
Broker Power has listed the 2004 general (column 1) rates of duty for certain cotton and man-made fiber woven apparel, and their associated categories. Special (column 1) rates of duty (which are often zero) exist for certain NAFTA originating, Israel FTA, etc., apparel.
The White House has issued a press release stating that on December 30, 2003, President Bush approved the designation of the following 37 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries as eligible for tariff preferences under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued separate notices on the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement's (UCFTA) 2004 Tariff Preference Levels (TPLs) for imports from Chile of certain cotton and man-made fiber (MMF) apparel goods and certain cotton/MMF fabric goods, as described below.