Specialty Fabrics Review July 2024 - 47

the HS into their tariff schedules. It
should be noted that the international
system defines only the first six digits
(two digits each for the chapter, the
heading and the subheading), and
some WCO members implement
their tariff schedules at that six-digit
level. However, the Harmonized Tariff
Schedule of the U.S. (HTSUS) then
establishes tariff rates at the eight-digit
level and statistical subheadings at the
10-digit level.
The U.S. International Trade
Commission publishes summaries
at several stages in this process,
including both new eight-digit tariff
breakouts and new 10-digit statistical
breakouts. Typically, there are newer
10-digit statistical breakouts than
there are new eight-digit tariff lines.
Although the U.S. implemented
these changes to the HTSUS with an
effective date of Jan. 1, 2022, it was
published on Jan. 26, 2022, because of
domestic implementation issues.
A legal interpretive headnote was
added to Chapter 59 of the HTSUS:
impregnated, coated, covered or
laminated textile fabrics and textile
articles of a kind suitable for industrial
use. More specifically, it concerns
heading 5903: " Textile fabrics
impregnated, coated, covered or
laminated with plastics, other than
those of heading 5902. " (Note that
heading 5902 is more specialized to
cover tire cord fabric.)
Headnotes are critical
To understand any tariff line in the
HTSUS, it's critical to check the
headnotes at the beginning of each
chapter. For heading 5903, headnote
2 has provided a longstanding
definition of items covered and not
covered by the heading. However, as
of Jan. 1, 2022, a new headnote 3 was
inserted (with succeeding headnotes
renumbered). This note focuses on
a subset of heading 5903 for textile
fabrics laminated with plastics.
It reads: " 3. For the purposes of
heading 5903, 'textile fabrics laminated
with plastics' means products made by
the assembly of one or more layers of
fabrics with one or more sheets or film
of plastics which are combined by any
process that bonds the layers together,
whether or not the sheets or film of
plastics are visible to the naked eye in
the cross-section. "
Previously, the headnotes required
that the plastic impregnation, coating
or covering on textiles had to be visible
to the naked eye for the materials to
be classified in heading 5903. Notably,
this language omitted " laminated "
[The change] could
also impact labeling
requirements or safety
standards or other trade
requirements where
such requirements
are tied to the tariff
classifications of
the goods.
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Specialty Fabrics Review July 2024

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