Back

December 2, 2019

U.S. Firms Have Until December 10 To Make Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Submissions

As the law firm Winston & Strawn reported last week, U.S. importers, manufacturers, and other entities have through December 10, 2019 to petition the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) for a three-year reduction or suspension of import duties on non-U.S. origin products under the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB), a law that temporarily reduces or suspends the import tariffs paid on particular products imported into the United States. (As the ITC explains, under current law, MTB does not relieve importers of additional duties imposed under Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, including products of China subject to section 301 duties and steel and aluminum products subject to section 232 duties.)

According to the firm, a successful petition could result in substantial savings up to $500,000. The Federal Register notice outlining instructions for submitting petitions is available here. Winston & Strawn advises that petitions must include product descriptions, current and proposed duty rates, information on any domestic production, and other information. Each petition will be made publicly available for individuals and organizations to comment.

Following the comment period, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the ITC will conduct an analysis that takes into account any domestic production of the product under review and whether any domestic producer objects to the request. Congress has final responsibility for determining which products, if any, should have their duty reduced or suspended.

This process will likely take more than a year to complete, Winston & Strawn advises. The law firm also noted that, “while there are no restrictions on the types of products that can be the subject of an MTB Petition, products that are used as manufacturing inputs and products that are not produced in the United States are most likely to be successful.”

Click here to visit the portal for making submissions.

To search, type what you're looking for and results will appear automatically