On October 11, 2019, the United States International Trade Commission (“Commission”) will again initiate the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (“MTB”) process. Under the MTB process, parties can file petitions with the Commission to request a temporary suspension or reduction of duties on their imports into the United States. Under the MTB process, Congress may eliminate or reduce import duties on specific products in an amount up of to $500,000 per year if the products are not otherwise available in the United States. The reduction in import duties lasts for three years.
The new MTB process is the second of two rounds that Congress authorized in the American Manufacturing Competitiveness Act of 2016. At the end of the first round, Congress enacted the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018 (H.R. 4318), which President Trump signed into law on September 13, 2018. The reductions in duties included in the bill last through December 31, 2020. With this new round, importers may request an extension of the duty suspensions or reductions put into place by the 2018 bill, or request a new temporary duty suspension or elimination for a product not covered by the 2018 bill.
The Commission has announced that it will use the same, on-line portal system for the submission of petitions (and comments on the petitions) that was used during the first round of MTBs. When the on-line portal opens for filings on October 11, 2019, importers or other firms will have 60 days to file petitions with the Commission, which means that petitions can be filed through December 10, 2019. Members of the public will be able to comment on the petitions for a period of 45 days after the closing of the filing period.
Once the petition and public comment windows close, after consultation with Customs and the Department of Commerce, the Commission will prepare a report on the petitions, which it will then send to Congress. The Commission’s reports will analyze the petitions and provide a recommendation to Congress on whether an MTB petition should be granted. Once the process at the Commission ends, Congress will assess whether it will grant the petitions covered by the Commission’s report. Although Congress may exclude petitions from the resulting legislation for a variety of reasons, the MTB statute prevents Congress from including articles in the bill that were not reviewed and commented on by the Commission, Customs and Commerce. Thus, firms must file an MTB petition with the Commission within the 60-day period that ends on December 10, 2019.
Firms that want to take advantage of the MTB process should begin taking steps now to prepare the information needed for their petitions.
