US duties of certain fabrics and garments to increase in the upcoming month.

Custom authorities are micro scrutinizing the constitution of different textile items and changing their HS classification that carry higher import duties.
The CBP has proposed to reclassify three woven upholstery fabrics as woven fabrics to fall under HTSUS 5407.53.2060 which carries 12 percent duty, HTSUS 5407.73.2060 that is cleared at 8.5 percent duty or HTSUS 5515.12.0090 with duty tag of 12 percent duty. Currently these fabrics come under fabrics coated with plastics falling under HTSUS 5903.90.25  and the duty charged under it is 7.5 percent duty. A ruling Ruling would be modified to reflect this change.

The changes proposed by the US Customs and Border Protection will be effective from November 11.

These woven fabrics are composed either wholly of polyester textured filament yarns of different colours, or of 54 percent polyester filament yarns and 46 percent polypropylene filament yarns, or wholly of polyester yarns of different colours, of which 72 percent is stars and 28 percent is filament yarns. Each of these fabrics has an acrylic coating applied to the reverse side.
The CBP asserts that the acrylic coatings are not visible to the naked eye because they do not change the surface character of any of the fabrics, neither impart a visible sheen nor create a visible pattern, nor obscure the underlying weave of each fabric. Moreover, these fabrics are not seen through the interstices of the weave under light. The coatings do not level nor smooth the fabrics after their application.
The CBP has also proposed to reclassify a certain woman’s top as a cotton blouse to fall under HTSUS 6206.30.30 with 15.4 percent duty instead of cotton garment under HTSUS 6211.42.1056 where only 8.1 percent duty is charged. Another CBP ruling would be notified to reflect this change. The customs authority has also justified this change by micro-analyzing the composition of the blouse.