The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) released changes to the 2022 Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) that became effective on July 1st, 2022.
The three key changes are:
Tomatoes have now been delimited by greenhouse and field grown, certified and non-certified organic, and then the non-certified organic greenhouse and field grown have been broken into types including grape, cherry, plum, round, and all others.
Peppers (sweet bell only) have now been separated by greenhouse and field grown, certified and non-certified organic, as well as colours green, red, yellow, orange and all others.
Cucumbers have now been divided into certified and non-certified organic. Additionally, two (2) of the four (4) seasonal breakouts include greenhouse and field grown delineations.
These changes are in advance of the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) National Organics Program’s transition to CBP’s ACE (Automated Commercial Environment). Once implemented, the AMS is expected to ‘flag’ 7,200 tariff numbers as potentially subject to this requirement. Therefore, it will become important that the documents indicate whether or not a product is ‘certified organic.’ The customs broker will need to either file the disclaimer or provide the import certificate number from the foreign exporter.
If you have questions, please contact our Transition team at 716.260.1580 option 4 or email transitionus@willsonintl.com.