On August 27, 2019, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) published a final rule regarding the procedures for the preparation and filing of Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) petitions and public comments. Under the MTB process, U.S. importers may petition for duty-free or reduced-duty treatment of certain imported products by submitting an MTB petition to the ITC. Typically, importers request duty relief for manufacturing raw material inputs such as chemicals, electronic goods, and proprietary parts that are not produced in the United States. However, there are no restrictions on what products and parts can be requested. In general, for an MTB petition to be successful there must not be any domestic industry opposition, and any reduction of duties resulting from the change to the duty rate for the proposed product breakout may not exceed $500,000 per annum. Importers can request an elimination or reduction of duties, depending on the annual duty savings anticipated and the $500,000 threshold.

The new rules take effect on September 26, 2019.  It is anticipated that the ITC will begin accepting MTB petitions after October 15, 2019, and petitions must be filed within 60 days of this date.  These dates will be confirmed after the ITC formally announces the commencement of the MTB petition process. Any successful petition would then need to pass Congress and be signed into law by the president before becoming effective. If signed into law, then the MTB petitions may become effective January 1, 2021, with an expiration date of December 31, 2024.

The new procedures appear more stringent than those applied during the 2016 round of MTB petitions. The petitions should include to the extent available: (1) CBP rulings issued on the product; and (2) a copy of other CBP documentation indicating where the article is classified in the HTS. Additionally, the petitions should include:

  1. an estimate of both total value and dutiable value for the product for the next five calendar years;
  2. an estimate of the share of total imports represented by the petitioner’s imports of the subject article;
  3. the names of any domestic producers of the article, if available;
  4. a certification of completeness and correctness; and
  5. an acknowledgement of the petitioner’s awareness that the information submitted is subject to ITC audit and verification.

The ITC has also indicated that there will be a clearer way to renew current MTBs. However, that information is not yet available.

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Photo of John Brew John Brew

John Brew is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, and he regularly advises corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations…

John Brew is the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group and a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office. He has extensive experience in import and export trade regulation, and he regularly advises corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and non-governmental organizations on matters involving customs administration, enforcement, compliance, litigation, legislation and policy.

John represents clients in proceedings at the administrative and judicial levels, as well as before Congress and the international bureaucracies that handle customs and trade matters. He advises clients on all substantive import regulatory issues handled by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as classification, valuation, origin, marking, tariff preference programs, other agency regulations, admissibility, import restrictions, quotas, drawback, audits, prior disclosures, penalties, investigations, Importer Self Assessment and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs, importations under bond, the Jones Act, vessel repairs, and foreign trade zone matters.

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Photo of Frances P. Hadfield Frances P. Hadfield

Frances P. Hadfield is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group in the firm’s New York office. Her practice focuses on forced labor and withhold release orders (WRO), import regulatory compliance, and customs litigation. She regularly advises corporations on matters involving…

Frances P. Hadfield is a counsel in Crowell & Moring’s International Trade Group in the firm’s New York office. Her practice focuses on forced labor and withhold release orders (WRO), import regulatory compliance, and customs litigation. She regularly advises corporations on matters involving customs compliance, audits, customs enforcement, as well as import penalties.

Frances represents clients before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as well as in proceedings at the administrative level. She advises corporations on both substantive federal and state regulatory issues that involve U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife in matters pertaining to product admissibility, audits, classification, import restrictions, investigations, marking, licenses, origin, penalties, and tariff preference programs.

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Photo of Aaron Marx Aaron Marx
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Photo of Edward Goetz Edward Goetz

Edward Goetz is the Director for International Trade Services in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. Edward leads the firm’s international trade analysts providing practice support to the International Trade Group in the areas of customs regulations, trade remedies, trade policy, export control…

Edward Goetz is the Director for International Trade Services in Crowell & Moring’s Washington, D.C. office. Edward leads the firm’s international trade analysts providing practice support to the International Trade Group in the areas of customs regulations, trade remedies, trade policy, export control, economic sanctions, anti-money laundering (AML), anti-corruption/anti-bribery, and antiboycott. He has extensive government experience providing information and interpretive guidance on the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) concerning the export of defense articles, defense services, and related technical data. He also assists attorneys with matters involving the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), economic sanctions, AML, anti-corruption/anti-bribery, and trade remedies.

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