The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has announced that it will begin accepting product exclusion requests from the additional Section 301 tariffs on List 4A goods on October 31. All products granted an exclusions by the USTR will be exempted from the additional tariff, retroactive to September 1, 2019, the effective date of the action, and will extend until September 1, 2020.
The additional tariffs for merchandise on List 4A was initially set at 10% and subsequently raised to 15%. The tariffs were levied in response to a Section 301 investigation that determined that China’s acts, policies and practices relating to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation are unreasonable and discriminatory. To view the full list,
- click here
.
Any interested parties, including importers and industry / trade associations, may submit requests for exclusions from the Section 301 List 4A tariffs through the USTR portal at
- exclusions.ustr.gov
between noon EDT on October 31, 2019 and January 31, 2020. Each request must include the following information:
- Contact information, including the full legal name of the organization making the request and the primary point of contact. Requesters should note if they are a third party (law firm, trade association, or customs broker) submitting on behalf of an organization or industry. Small businesses are encouraged to include their SMB status.
- Applicable ten-digit HSUS number. Please note that models classified under different eight-digit or ten-digit subheadings are considered different products and, therefore, separate exclusion requests must be filed
- Product name and a detailed product description, including physical characteristics such as dimensions, weight, material composition, etc. Please note that requesters may submit a range of comparable goods that fall within the product definition set out in an exclusion request.
- Product function, application, principal use, and unique physical features that distinguish it from other products under the same eight-digit subheading
- Requester’s relationship to the product (i.e., importer, U.S. producer, industry association, purchaser, etc.)
- Whether the product is currently subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty order issued by the Department of Commerce
- Annual quantity imported in 2017, 2018, and the first half of 2019, and values per year for: 1) Chinese-origin products, 2) domestic product, and 3) third-country products purchased by the requester
- Requester’s gross revenues for 2018 and the first half of 2019
- The percentage of the requester’s total gross sales of the Chinese-origin product in 2018 (for imports sold as final products)
- The percentage of the total cost of producing the final product(s) using the Chinese-origin goods and the percentage of the requester’s total gross sales in 2018 for the final product (for imports used in the production of final products)
Separate requests must be submitted for each product for which a product exclusion is being requested.
Additionally, the requester should address the following considerations:
- Is the product only available from China or is the product and/or a comparable product available from sources in the U.S. and/or a third country?
- Has the requester attempted to source the product from sources in the U.S. or third countries?
- Will the imposition of additional duties on the product cause severe economic harm to the requester or other U.S. interests?
- Is the product strategically important or related to the “Made in China 2025” or other Chinese industrial program?
Requesters are also encouraged to provide information about the possible cumulative effects of the Section 301 tariffs, particularly in regard to the value of the requester’s imports that are covered by previous tariff actions as well as information about any previously submitted exclusion requests. Requesters may also provide any other information or data relevant to the evaluation of the exclusion request.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the exclusion process, please send an email to Compliance@oceanair.net and a member of OCEANAIR’s Compliance team will be happy to assist you.
The USTR also announced that additional exclusions for Section 301 List 3 will be issued within the next week as part of their ongoing exclusion process. OCEANAIR will continue to monitor and provide status updates on our Section 301 China Tariff Updates page as they become available. This page also includes complete listings of all product exclusions granted to date by the USTR.
