On July 14, 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4759, the "U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act." On July 15, 2004, the Senate passed H.R. 4759, clearing the measure for the President.
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 posted to its Web site a notice announcing a "special import quota" which specifies a quota of 25,702,401 kg for upland cotton purchased not later than October 12, 2004 and entered under HTS 9903.52.13. The quota period is July 15, 2004 through January 10, 2005; the opening date is July 15, 2004 at 12 noon, E.S.T., or its equivalent in other time zones.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing its determination that Nigeria (1) has adopted an effective visa system and related procedures to prevent unlawful transshipment and the use of counterfeit documents in connection with shipments of textile and apparel articles, and (2) has implemented and follows, or is making substantial progress toward implementing and following, the customs procedures required by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This determination is effective July 14, 2004.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the results of several Generalized System of Preferences- (GSP-) related reviews.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) has published a list of updated quantity-based trigger levels and applicable periods, effective June 22, 2004, for agricultural products which may be subject to additional import duties under the safeguard provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture.
On June 30, 2004, President Bush signed Proclamation 7800 which makes a number of changes to the country/Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) number combinations eligible for duty-free benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, etc.
On June 17, 2004, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 4520, the American Jobs Creation Act which would, among other things, repeal the Foreign Sales Corporation/Extraterritorial Income Act (FSC/ETI) tax regime, extend the Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) and other user fees, etc.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the low-duty Tariff Preference Level (TPL) (3) for Mexico filled on June 28, 2004 at 10:30 a.m. eastern time.
The International Trade Commission (ITC) has posted to its Web site an updated version of the 2004 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTS) dated July 1, 2004 (Supplement 1).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its "critical list" of textiles and apparel subject to import quotas with entered quantities 85% or more filled as of June 29, 2004. CBP states that this "critical list" may be used by CBP as a reference for releasing quota merchandise "off line" when the Automated Commercial System (ACS) is down for longer than four hours. CBP notes that textile and apparel merchandise for Electronic Visa Information System (ELVIS) countries cannot be released "off line" until it is processed through quota. CBP further notes that if the system is down for more than 24 hours, Headquarters Quota Branch should be contacted for further instructions. CBP also states that merchandise subject to tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), which are filled, may be released if entered under the "over quota" (high) rate of duty. (CBP's critical list, dated 06/29/04, http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/textile_critical_list/)