ITC Issues Semiannual Revision to 2024 HTS; Changes Effective as of July 1

The International Trade Commission posted Revision 4 to the 2024 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The semiannual update to the HTS adds new 10-digit tariff numbers for a variety of products, including integrated circuits and plantation-harvested teak.

International Trade Today is providing a summary of all changes in Revision 4 to the 2024 HTS, as listed in the ITC’s change record. All changes take effect July 1, 2024, unless indicated otherwise.

Bifacial Solar Cell Safeguard Exemption Removed From Tariff Schedule

The exemption from the Section 201 solar safeguards for “bifacial solar panels that absorb light and generate electricity on each side of the panel and that consist of only bifacial solar cells that absorb light and generate electricity on each side of the cells” at U.S. Note 18(c)(iii)(17) to Subchapter III of Chapter 99 is deleted.

New U.S. Note 18(j) provides for the 90-day grace period announced by President Joseph Biden for bifacial cells that are imported under a contract that executed prior to May 17 (see 2406210022). New subheading 9903.45.29 is created for bifacial cells imported during that 90-day grace period that meet the requirements of U.S. Note 18(j) to Subchapter III of Chapter 99.

Statistical Changes Include New Provisions on Integrated Circuits, Plantation-Harvested Teak

The July 1 update to the HTS also includes a series of changes to 10-digit statistical suffixes throughout the tariff schedule. Updated provisions affect classification of processed peaches, some iron and steel pipes and tubes, integrated circuits and teak furniture, among other things. The full set of changes is as follows:

Collard greens. The tariff number for collard greens changes from 0704.90.4025 to 0704.90.4028.

Frozen peaches. New tariff subheading 0811.90.8090 is added for frozen peaches (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water, frozen, whether or not containing added sugar or other sweetening matter). The subheading for “other” such frozen fruit is renumbered from 0811.90.8095 to 0811.90.8097.

Peach puree. New subheading 2007.99.6525 is added for pastes and purees of peaches, obtained by cooking. The subheading for “other” such fruit pastes and purees is renumbered from 2007.99.6520 to 2007.99.6535.

Perfluorooctanoic acid. A new tariff provision for perfluorooctanoic acid is added under subheading 2915.90.1810. New subheading 2915.90.1890 is added for “other” saturated acyclic monocarboxylic acids, except for palmitic acid, stear acid, fatty acids from animals and vegetables, valproic acid or perfluorooctanoic acid.

Plastic electrical conduit. New subheading 3926.90.9987 is added for plastic “rigid tubes or pipes suitable for use as electrical conduit.” Subheading 3926.90.9985, previously the residual “other” category for plastics of Chapter 39, is renumbered 3926.90.9989.

New breakouts for non-seamless tubes, pipes and hollow profiles. Revision 4 adds a series of new tariff schedule breakouts under subheading 7306.30.50, for “other tubes, pipes and hollow profiles (for example, open seamed or welded, riveted or similarly closed), of iron or steel” with a wall thickness of 1.65 mm or more (i.e., not cast iron, not line pipe for oil or gas pipelines or casing and tubing used for oil or gas drilling, and not tapered steel pipes and tubes principally used as parts of illuminating articles, and with a wall thickness less than or equal to 406.4 mm).

Old subheading 7306.30.5025 for some types of galvanized tubes, pipes and hollow profiles imported with a coupling is split into subheading 7306.30.5026 for those with an outside diameter not exceeding 50.8 mm, and 7306.30.5027 for those with an outside diameter exceeding 50.8 mm but not exceeding 114.3 mm.

Old subheading 7306.30.5032 for some “other” types of galvanized tubes, pipes and hollow profiles is split into subheading 7306.30.5031 for those with an outside diameter not exceeding 50.8 mm, and 7306.30.5033 for those with an outside diameter exceeding 50.8 mm but not exceeding 114.3 mm.

Likewise, old subheading 7306.30.5040 for some types of non-galvanized tubes, pipes and hollow profiles imported with a coupling is split into subheading 7306.30.5041 for those with an outside diameter not exceeding 50.8 mm, and 7306.30.5043 for those with an outside diameter exceeding 50.8 mm but not exceeding 114.3 mm.

And similarly, old subheading 7306.30.5055 for “other” types of non-galvanized tubes, pipes and hollow profiles is split into subheading 7306.30.5056 for those with an outside diameter not exceeding 50.8 mm, and 7306.30.5057 for those with an outside diameter exceeding 50.8 mm but not exceeding 114.3 mm.

Aluminum stoppers, caps and lids. New subheading 8309.90.0010 is added for “other” stoppers, caps and lids (including screw caps and pouring stoppers), capsules for bottles, threaded bungs, bung covers, seals and other packing accessories, and parts thereof, of aluminum (i.e., not crown corks). New subheading 8309.90.0090 now covers such goods when made from other base metals.

Processor and controller ICs. Much new detail is added to tariff provisions for electronic integrated circuits in the form of processors and controllers, “whether or not combined with memories, converters, logic circuits, amplifiers, clock and timing circuits, or other circuits.”

Previously classified in the single, now-defunct subheading 8542.31.0001, processor and controller integrated circuits are now broken out into provisions for:

• Controllers (including microcontrollers), whether 8-bit (8541.31.0015), 16-bit (8542.31.0020), 32-bit (8542.31.0025) or “other” controllers (8542.31.0030).
• Processors (including microprocessors), whether digital signal processors (DSPs) (8542.31.0035), graphics processing units (GPUs) (8542.31.0040), central processing units (CPUs) (8542.31.0045), or “other” processors (8542.31.0050).
• Programmable logic devices (PLDs), whether complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) (8542.31.0055), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) (8542.31.0060) or “other” PLDs (8542.31.0065).
• Systems on a chip (SoCs) (8542.31.0070).
• “Other” processor and controller integrated circuits (8542.31.0075).

Other electronic integrated circuits. Likewise, new tariff breakouts replace old subheading 8542.39.0001 for “other” electronic integrated circuits. The new breakouts cover RF transceivers (8542.39.0010), active filters (8542.39.0020) and data converters, whether analog to digital (ADCs) (8542.39.0030), digital to analog (8542.39.0040) or “other” data converters (8542.39.0050). New subheading 8542.39.0060 is now the residual “other” category for electronic integrated circuits not specified elsewhere in heading 8542.

Plantation-harvested teak furniture. New breakouts are added to provisions on teak chairs for chairs made of plantation-harvested teak.

Old subheading 9401.61.2010 for upholstered teak household chairs is replaced by a breakout for upholstered household chairs of plantation-harvested teak (9401.61.2011) and upholstered household chairs of other teak (9401.61.2015).

Old subheading 9401.61.2030 for other upholstered teak chairs is replaced by a breakout for other upholstered chairs of plantation-harvested teak (9401.61.2031) and other upholstered chairs of other teak (9401.61.2035).

Old subheading 9401.69.4010 for other non-upholstered teak household chairs is replaced by a breakout for non-upholstered household chairs of plantation-harvested teak (9401.69.4011) and non-upholstered household chairs of other teak (9401.69.4015).

And old subheading 9401.69.4030 for other non-upholstered teak chairs is replaced by a breakout for other non-upholstered chairs of plantation-harvested teak (9401.69.4031) and other non-upholstered chairs of other teak (9401.69.4035).

New Statistical Note 2 to Chapter 94 defines “plantation-harvested wood.” It says: “For the purposes of statistical reporting in this chapter, the term ‘plantation-harvested’ means wood harvested from trees grown on a plantation. A plantation is an area of land where trees are established through deliberate planting and/or seeding and are generally harvested at maturity.”

Other subheadings in chapter 94 are modified to reflect the resulting numbering changes to the statistical notes of Chapter 94.

Outdated NAFTA TPL provisions removed. Statistical Note 4 to Section XI of the tariff schedule, which laid out requirements for using NAFTA tariff preference levels, is eliminated. The removed note had referred to Additional U.S. Notes 3, 4 and 5 of Section XI, which were deleted from the tariff schedule when USMCA took effect in 2020.

Likewise, subheading 9802.00.8055 for textile and apparel goods assembled abroad and entered duty-free under the NAFTA TPLs is also removed from the tariff schedule.

Old subheading 9802.00.8068, the residual subheading for “other” goods assembled abroad from U.S. components, is renumbered 9802.00.8069.