U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued two notices via its Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS) with guidance for General Approved Exclusions (GAEs) for additional duties and quantitative limits on imports of steel and aluminum imposed by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
On December 14, 2020, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published an interim final rule which created “General Approved Exclusions” (GAEs) for imports of steel and aluminum products under Section 232. The GAEs were granted for 108 steel HTS numbers, and 15 aluminum HTS numbers.
CSMS 45251857 provides guidance for the GAEs for Section 232 steel and aluminum subject to absolute quota. According to the CSMS notice, those filing “Section 232 steel and aluminum entries using HTS numbers listed in the [BIS] Interim Final Rule supplement no. 2 and no. 3” should use 9903.80.60 for steel, or 9903.85.11 for aluminum, along with the appropriate Chapter 1 – 97 HTS classification.
CSMS notice 45271041 provides guidance for the GAEs for Section 232 steel and aluminum subject to additional duties. Per the CSMS notice, no additional HTS number is needed to use the GAEs. “When an importer reports an excluded 10 digit HTS classification on an entry summary line, ACE will not require the section 232 duties for that line.”
Both CSMS notices state that the new GAEs are available to all importers. The GAEs are effective December 29, 2020.
The BIS Interim Final Rule, which includes the full list of HTS numbers covered by the GAEs, can be found here:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/14/2020-27110/section-232-steel-and-aluminum-tariff-exclusions-process?utm_campaign=subscription+mailing+list&utm_source=federalregister.gov&utm_medium=email
