Customs duties and classification for the United States

A correct classification of products to be imported to America is the foundation for calculating U.S. duties

We often receive requests from international companies to calculate the duties for importing products into America. The question, however, should be different. What needs to be addressed is the correct customs classification according to U.S. customs regulations. With a correct classification, calculating the duties becomes automatic.

There are specific rules for correctly classifying goods. These refer to the General Rules of Interpretation. In addition to these rules, there are also the Notes to the HTC - Harmonized Tariff Schedule of U.S. Customs. It doesn’t stop there, as opinions issued by customs regarding requests for classification and duty calculation by importers must also be considered. The database contains over 200,000 decisions made by U.S. Customs over the years.

We conclude this brief article on calculating U.S. duties by saying that customs classifications—and thus the calculation of duties on products imported into America—are becoming increasingly complex due to the structure of the product classification system itself. A system that aims to classify every product potentially subject to import into the U.S. is a failing system because the number, nature, and uses of products increase exponentially every year. The introduction of electronics into practically every type of product has made the inadequacy of a classification system, born in the Middle Ages, evident, a system that made sense only until the 90s/2000s.

Paradoxically, at least in the U.S. market, the product categories that are the most difficult to classify—and for which import duties into the U.S. are the highest—are the product categories that were among the first to experience some form of industrialization in the late Middle Ages: footwear, clothing, and textiles.

The response of the U.S. customs system to the growing complexity and number of products to be imported into the American market has been the multiplication of so-called “residual categories.” A sort of residual category designed to collect all those products whose customs classification becomes impossible because they are new or because they have new or innovative uses. Far from simplifying the duty calculation process, these residual categories add uncertainty to an already complex goods classification process.