Details of Proclamation Amending HTS Rules of Origin for NAFTA, Etc.
On August 31, 2009, President Obama issued Proclamation 8405 in order to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule for the NAFTA Rules of Origin and the U.S.-Israel Free Trade Area.
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The proclamation also makes certain technical corrections to the HTS.
The Proclamation's changes are effective for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after October 2, 2009.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 09/01/09 news, 09090115, for BP summary announcing its issuance.)
Annexes Containing HTS Modifications Posted to ITC Web Site
The proclamation states that the HTS modifications necessary to implement these amendments are not in the proclamation but are instead listed in Annexes I-IV of International Trade Commission publication 4095, which is incorporated by reference into Proclamation 8405.
NAFTA Rules of Origin
Annex I and II of ITC Publication 4095 will modify the NAFTA Rules of Origin in HTS General Note 12 for Canada and/or Mexico for two purposes:
in order to conform rules affected by the World Customs Organization (WCO) recommended changes that were implemented to HTS Chapters 1 - 99 on February 3, 2007 by Proclamation 8097, and
to modify certain rules, pursuant to an agreement with Mexico and Canada.
(Broker Power issued a 35-part series of summaries of the WCO-recommended changes to the HTS. See ITT's Online Archives or 10/25/06 news, 06102530, for last BP summary, with links to the 34 prior ones.)
Technical Corrections to HTS
Annex IIl of ITC Publication 4095 will correct certain Chapter 84 and 85 tariff numbers in subdivisions (t) and (u) of U.S. Note 2 of Chapter 98, Subchapter XVII, in order to implement certain WCO-recommended changes that were inadvertently omitted from Proclamation 8097.
Israel FTA
In order to more clearly provide the intended duty-free treatment for specified quantities of agricultural products of Israel, Annex IV of ITC publication 4095 will modify U.S. Note 1 to Chapter 99, Subchapter VIII, by inserting, before the final sentence of the text of the note, the following new sentence:
"Effective with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after January 1, 2004, no eligible products of Israel entered under the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to additional duties under Subchapter IV of HTS Chapter 99."
(Subchapter VIII provides duty-free entry to certain agricultural products of Israel. Subchapter IV implements certain agricultural safeguards in the form of additional duties.)
Proclamation 8405 (FR Pub 09/02/09) available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-21335.pdf
ITC publication 4095 (dated August 2009) available at http://www.usitc.gov/publications/tariff_affairs/pub4095.pdf