Cargo Systems Messaging Service

CSMS #38840764 - GUIDANCE: Sixth Round of Products Excluded from Section 301 Duties (Tranche 1)

BACKGROUND:

On July 9, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) published Federal Register (FR) Notice 84 FR 32821 announcing the decision to grant the sixth round of certain exclusion requests from the 25 percent duty assessed under the Section 301 investigation related to goods from China (Tranche 1).  The product exclusions announced in this notice will apply as of the July 6, 2018 effective date and will extend for one year after the publication of the Federal Register Notice, 84 FR 32821.

As set out in the Annex to the Federal Register Notice (84 FR 32821), the exclusions are established as an exclusion reflected in 110 specially prepared product descriptions.

In accordance with the 83 FR 32181 notice, the exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the Annex, regardless of whether the importer filed an exclusion request. Further, the scope of each exclusion is governed by the scope of the product descriptions in the Annex to the Federal Register Notice, and not by the product descriptions set out in any particular request for exclusion.

The functionality for the acceptance of the sixth round of products excluded from Section 301 duties will be available in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) on July 11, 2019.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILING ENTRIES SUBJECT TO PRODUCT EXCLUSIONS:

Instructions on submitting entries to CBP containing products granted exclusions by the USTR from the Section 301 measures in 84 FR 32821 are as follows:

In addition to reporting the regular Chapters 84, 85, & 90 classifications of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) for the imported merchandise, importers shall report the HTSUS classification 9903.88.11 (Articles the products of China, as provided for in U.S. note 20(n) to this subchapter, each covered by an exclusion granted by the U.S. Trade Representative) for imported merchandise subject to the exclusion.

Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when HTS 9903.88.11 is submitted.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Duty exclusions granted by the USTR are retroactive on imports to the initial effective date of July 6, 2018.  To request an administrative refund for previous imports of duty-excluded products granted by the USTR, importers may follow the same entry filing instructions as above to file a Post Summary Correction on unliquidated entry summaries.  If the entry has already liquidated, importers may protest the liquidation.

Included in the Annex to 84 FR 32821 are corrections to typographical errors to the Annex for the fifth round of Section 301 product exclusions, 84 FR 25895.  Where 8404.40.4000 was included with the description to excluded product item (53) and 8504.40.0000 was included with the description to excluded product item (54), 8504.40.4000 has been inserting in lieu thereof.  Also, included is the correction of excluded product description item (27) HTS from 8427.10.8090 to 8427.10.8070 and 8427.10.8095. 

Reminder:  When submitting an entry summary in which a heading or subheading in Chapter 99 is claimed on imported merchandise, importers should refer to CSMS 18-000657 (Entry Summary Order of Reporting for Multiple HTS in ACE).

Imports which have been granted a product exclusion from the Section 301 measures, and which are not subject to the Section 301 duties, are not covered by the Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) provisions of the Section 301 Federal Register notices, but instead are subject to the FTZ provisions in 19 CFR part 146.

For more information, please refer to the July 9, 2019 Federal Register notice 84 FR 32821.

Questions from the importing community concerning ACE entry rejections involving product exclusion numbers should be referred to their CBP Client Representative.

Questions related to Section 301 entry filing requirements should be emailed to Traderemedy@cbp.dhs.gov.