On May 14, 2019, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published the fourth round of products excluded from the 25 percent duty on goods subject to tranche 1 of the Section 301 tariffs. The product exclusions cover HTSUS Chapters 84, 85, and 90. These exclusions will have a backdated effective date of July 6, 2018, and will be valid for one year following the date of the notice.

A CSMS 19-000244 message, dated May 14, 2019, provided the following guidance regarding the refund process:
“To request an administrative refund for previous imports of duty-excluded products granted by the USTR, importers may follow the same entry filing instructions as above to file a Post Summary Correction (PSC) on unliquidated entry summaries. If an entry summary liquidates prior to the filling of a PSC, importers may file a protest.”

Also, the CSMS 19-000244 message indicated that importers should report classification 9903.88.08 along with the regular HTSUS classifications found in Chapters 84, 85, and 90. The 9903.88.08 classification denotes articles of the product of China covered by a USTR exclusion.

These exclusions pertain to any product meeting the descriptions found in the Annex to Federal Register Notice 84 FR 21389, and the exclusions are not limited to only those importers who submitted exclusion requests. The 10-digit headings and production descriptions of the excluded goods noted in the Annex govern the exclusions, not the product descriptions found in exclusion requests.

For additional information concerning the Section 301 tariffs, please send an email to Deringer’s Compliance Department.