Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 111/2/20

7 december 2012

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 1033/2012

US : Informal Entry Limit and Removal of Formal Entry Requirement

The trade was informed via Commercial Information Circular No. 683/2011 of 2 November 2011 that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the US Department of the Treasury proposed to increase the informal entry limit and remove the language requiring formal entry for certain articles. The US CBP and the Department of the Treasury issued a final rule on 6 December 2012 to implement the above proposal from 7 January 2013. For details, please refer to the FR notice which is available at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-12-06/pdf/2012-29193.pdf.

DETAILS

2. The final rule increases the informal entry limit, from US$2,000 to US$2,500, for which merchandise may qualify for an informal entry, thereby eliminating the need for a surety bond, expediting the customs clearance process, and reducing the required Merchandise Processing Fees (MPF) amount to $2 for electronic filing of the entries. It also removes the language requiring formal entry for certain "articles valued in excess of US$250" due to the elimination of absolute quotas and visa requirements for textile articles. This final rule also makes a technical conforming amendment to reflect a recent statutory amendment that increased the ad valorem MPF from 0.21% to 0.3464%.

ENQUIRIES

3.For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact Miss S Y TANG at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Ms Cindy CHENG)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

Note : While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.