(World Trade Interactive)
The International Trade
Commission will make additional recommendations on the addition of new
subheadings in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. for certain footwear.
On Aug. 9, the ITC submitted to the president a report with its
recommendations on the addition of an Additional U.S. Note and the amendment of
certain classification provisions in HTSUS Chapter 64 relating to certain
footwear featuring outer soles of rubber or plastic to which a layer of textile
material has been added. These changes would reflect decisions of the World
Customs Organization’s Harmonized System Committee on the classification of
particular footwear. The president subsequently submitted a report containing
the ITC’s recommendations to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance
committees for their review.
On Nov. 8, however, the ITC received a letter from the Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative requesting that it make further recommendations, based on new
submissions to be filed by interested parties relating to entries liquidated
prior to the ITC initiation of this investigation on April 13, on the appropriateness
of inserting new tariff lines under HTSUS 6404.11 and 6404.19 in addition to
those already recommended. USTR noted that while the ITC’s August report correctly
included descriptions specifying that footwear falling under certain new tariff
lines under current HTSUS 6404.11 and 6404.19 feature uppers of textile
material other than vegetable fibers, because these descriptions appeared for
the first time in the final report interested parties may not have recognized
the need to submit information on the tariff classification and rate of duty
applied to imports in liquidated and undisputed entries of other footwear
(e.g., having uppers of manmade fibers) falling into these new subheadings so
that the ITC could maintain tariff rate neutrality in making its recommendation.
Read more here.
