On March 15, 2006, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4944, the "Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2006" (Act) by a vote of 412 - 2.
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.
On March 24, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 7991 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc. to implement a tariff rate quota (TRQ) under the U.S. - Dominican Republic - Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for certain sugar and sugar-containing products of El Salvador (the only country to date that the U.S. has implemented the CAFTA-DR for).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice announcing that the 2006 in-quota ("low duty") tariff-rate quota (TRQ) quantity for tuna and skipjack (tuna) in airtight containers, not in oil, weighing with their contents not over 7 kilograms (kg) each, that is not the product of any U.S. insular possession, as described in HTS 1604.14.22 (6% duty) has been set at 19,484,313 kg.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing that the U.S. has requested the establishment of a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel (DSP) regarding Turkey's import restrictions on rice imports from the U.S.
(BP is revising and reissuing this ITT summary as a recent U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) message, Adm: 06-0362, states that the AMS interim final rule on increased assessments for imported potatoes, potato products contains two transposed rates. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/23/06 news, 06032310 for BP summary reflecting this transposition.) The two corrected rates according to CBP are in bold type below.)
President Issues Proclamation
On February 28, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 7987 which amended the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc., to implement the U.S.-Dominican Republic- Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for El Salvador.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has issued an interim final rule, effective March 8, 2006, that increases the assessment (tax) rate to 2.5 cents (from 2 cents) per hundredweight under the Potato Research and Promotion Plan, on imports of i) seed potatoes and ii) tablestock potatoes imported into the U.S. for ultimate consumption by humans.
On February 28, 2006, President Bush issued Proclamation 7987 which amended the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), etc., to implement the U.S.-Dominican Republic- Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) for El Salvador.
In the March 15, 2006 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 40, No. 12), CBP issued a notice modifying one classification ruling and revoking two classification rulings on certain textile braids with metallic strip. CBP states that it is also revoking any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions.