ITC Ready To Receive Import Duty Reduction, Suspension Petitions

The ITC said it is ready to receive petitions requesting temporary duty suspensions or reductions for imports.

The 2016 American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act (AMCA) established a new process for determining which imported products will be included in a miscellaneous tariff bill. Previously, Congress played the predominant role in these determinations. 

Under the AMCA, the ITC must evaluate the petitions to determine whether they meet statutory requirements to be included in the next miscellaneous tariff bill. Once this is complete, the commission files a report with those petitions to the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees for their consideration during the development of the legislation. 

The requested duty suspensions must be noncontroversial and have an annual revenue impact of no more than $500,000. Duty suspensions will only apply to regular customs duties and not punitive tariffs, such as those currently imposed by the U.S. on Chinese goods. 

The petitions, which are due to the ITC by Dec. 10, must be filed through the agency's Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Petition System (MTBPS) portal. The ITC also provides an eight-page handbook on its MTB filing procedures. 

President Trump on Sept. 13, 2018 signed the 2018 Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act into law. The legislation currently provides temporary duty suspensions or reductions on more than 1,600 products through Dec. 31, 2020.

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