US : Section 301 Tariffs on US$300 billion of Products of Mainland China - Request for Product Exclusion Process (Applicable to Those Products with Tariffs Implemented on 1 September 2019)

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

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

Ref. : EIC 111/2/18
EIC 111/3
EIC 111/3/13
CR EIC 111/1/13/3

21 October 2019
(Updated on 28 October 2019)

Dear Sirs,

The US Trade Representative (USTR) announced on 18 October 2019 a process by which US stakeholder may request product exclusions from the additional 15% tariffs implemented on 1 September 2019 (i.e. "List 4A") against Mainland products worth approximately US$300 billion under the Section 301 investigation. Interested persons must submit requests for exclusions in the period between 31 October 2019 and 31 January 2020.

2.Under the Section 301 investigation into the Mainland's intellectual property issues, the US already announced to impose additional 15% tariffs on Mainland products worth US$300 billion (List 4), with that of List 4A already imposed on 1 September 2019 while that of List 4B are scheduled to be imposed on 15 December 2019. For details, please refer to Commercial Information Circular nos. 582/2019, 614/2019 and 642/2019 dated 2 August 2019, 14 August 2019 and 26 August 2019 respectively.

3.On 18 October 2019, the USTR announced the relevant procedures for interested persons, including trade associations, to submit requests for product exclusion from the additional tariffs implemented on 1 September 2019 under List 4A. The exclusion process has the following important dates and features:

• The web portal for submitting exclusion requests (http://exclusions.USTR.gov) will open on 31 October 2019 at noon Eastern Daylight Time. The deadline for submitting exclusion requests is 31 January 2020.
• After a request for exclusion is posted on USTR's online portal, interested persons will have 14 days to respond to the request. Any replies to responses to an exclusion request are due the later of 7 days after the close of the 14-day response period, or 7 days after the posting of a response.
• Each request must specifically identify a particular product, and provide supporting data and the rationale for the requested exclusion.
• Interested persons seeking to exclude two or more products must submit a separate request for each product, i.e., one product per request.
• Exclusions will be effective for one year starting from 1 September 2019.

4.The USTR will evaluate each request on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the asserted rationale for the exclusion, whether the exclusion would undermine the objective of the Section 301 investigation, and whether the request defines the product with sufficient precision. With regard to the rationale for the requested exclusion, each requester will be asked to address the following:

• Whether the particular product is available only from China and whether the particular product and/or a comparable product is available from sources in the US and/or in third countries.
• Whether the requester has attempted to source the product from the US or third countries.
• Whether the imposition of additional duties (since September 2018) on the particular product has or will cause severe economic harm to the requester or other US interests.
• Whether the particular product is strategically important or related to "Made in China 2025" or other Chinese industrial programs.

5.The USTR formally issued on 24 October 2019 a Federal Register notice on the above product exclusion process, which is available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-10-24/pdf/2019-23181.pdf.

6.For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact Miss K Y HO at telephone number 2398 5405.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Ivy TAM)
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.