President Bush today signed the pension reform bill that included several added provisions, including AFI’s request for duty eliminations/reductions on capers and pepperoncini. Duty changes will take place 15 days from today, September 2.
Capers, currently brought in under HTS#s 2001.9010 and 2001.9020 and subject to a duty of 8 percent, will become duty free and should be entered using HTS#s 9902.10.28 and 9902.10.26 respectively.
Pepperoncini is currently brought in under HTS#s 2001.903800 (9.6 percent duty), and 2005.905510 (14.9 percent duty). The bill suspends duties on pepperoncini and giardiniera prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid and reduces to 2.2 percent the duty on pepperoncini prepared or preserved by vinegar or acetic acid in concentrations at 0.5 percent or greater (2001.903800). The new HTS#s to use are 9902.10.29 (currently 2001.903800) and 9902.10.27 for pepperoncini prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid and 9902.10.30 for giardiniera prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid.
The duty savings on the items above will be more than $2 million in 2007.
The duty reductions/suspension will be in place through December 31, 2009. In order to keep the changes in place, AFI will have to get a measure included on the 2008 MTB that will extend the changes for another three years.
That step is being taken now to extend the duty reductions we obtained on processed artichokes. That measure will be included on the MTB, as will bills to suspend duties on canned oysters (HTS# 1605.90.50) and more giardiniera and pepperoncini, which are currently brought in under several HTS numbers. It’s fully expected the MTB will pass before the year ends.
Many thanks to Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg for helping AFI achieve another victory.
