Brussels sprouts seem to be all the rage now a days, so when I saw a recent Customs Notice regarding the classification and NAFTA eligibility of certain Brussels sprouts imported into the US, I thought I would take a look.
It turns out Brussels sprouts are actually grown in Belgium. Who knew?!
Two takeaways for this ruling:
The interested party was advocating for the product to be classified in tariff heading 0710, “Vegetables (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water), Frozen”, but Customs determined the correct classification heading to be 2004, “Other vegetables prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, frozen,…”.
The determining factor? Although the Explanatory Notes (Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes) are only used for guidance and not legally binding, their language is quite clear in this situation. If only sugar or salt had been combined with the frozen Brussels sprouts, they would have remained in 0710, but the butter chips throw them into heading 2004 as being “prepared”. A court case is also cited as defining what “prepared” can mean.
Regarding NAFTA eligibility (which is significant since it would change an 11.2% duty rate to no duty), relying on a tariff shift for the Belgian Brussels sprouts is not applicable due to the existence of General Note 12(s) in the tariff schedule. Basically, a vegetable preparation in Chapter 20 can be treated as originating under NAFTA only if the fresh good were wholly obtained or produced in a NAFTA country.
Oh well. The duty doesn’t seem to be affecting their current popularity. One of my sister’s brought them over for Thanksgiving. I guess the next time in the supermarket I’ll see if I think the price is too high.
Here is a link to the Customs Notice,
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/legal/bulletins_decisions/bulletins_2014/vol48_01292014_no4/general.ctt/general.pdf
It turns out Brussels sprouts are actually grown in Belgium. Who knew?!
Two takeaways for this ruling:
- You need to understand the classification difference between uncooked frozen vegetables and vegetable that are considered to be “prepared”.
- When evaluating NAFTA eligibility, you need to make sure there are no exceptions in the NAFTA rules that provide a carve out for sectors of the economy that have protections (that’s probably not a surprise for products in the Agriculture sector).
The interested party was advocating for the product to be classified in tariff heading 0710, “Vegetables (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water), Frozen”, but Customs determined the correct classification heading to be 2004, “Other vegetables prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid, frozen,…”.
The determining factor? Although the Explanatory Notes (Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System Explanatory Notes) are only used for guidance and not legally binding, their language is quite clear in this situation. If only sugar or salt had been combined with the frozen Brussels sprouts, they would have remained in 0710, but the butter chips throw them into heading 2004 as being “prepared”. A court case is also cited as defining what “prepared” can mean.
Regarding NAFTA eligibility (which is significant since it would change an 11.2% duty rate to no duty), relying on a tariff shift for the Belgian Brussels sprouts is not applicable due to the existence of General Note 12(s) in the tariff schedule. Basically, a vegetable preparation in Chapter 20 can be treated as originating under NAFTA only if the fresh good were wholly obtained or produced in a NAFTA country.
Oh well. The duty doesn’t seem to be affecting their current popularity. One of my sister’s brought them over for Thanksgiving. I guess the next time in the supermarket I’ll see if I think the price is too high.
Here is a link to the Customs Notice,
http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/legal/bulletins_decisions/bulletins_2014/vol48_01292014_no4/general.ctt/general.pdf