Commercial Information Circulars
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
29 September 2021
Dear Sirs,
Commercial Information Circular No. 676/2021
US : Section 301 Tariffs on Mainland Products - Interim Extension of Exclusions of Certain Medical-care Products from Additional Tariffs to Address COVID-19 Pandemic until 14 November 2021
Further to Commercial Information Circular (CIC) nos. 915/2020 and 619/2021 of 24 December 2020 and 30 August 2021 respectively, the US Trade Representative (USTR) announced in a Federal Register (FR) notice on 29 September 2021 interim extension of exclusions of certain medical-care products needed to address the COVID-19 pandemic from 30 September 2021 to 14 November 2021.
DETAILS
2.Since July 2018, the US has imposed additional tariffs on Mainland products worth approximately US$370 billion under the Section 301 investigation in four tranches (Lists 1-3: 25%; List 4A: 7.5%). The USTR also initiated exclusion processes for stakeholders to submit requests for the exclusion of specific products from the additional tariffs. Subsequently, certain medical-care products to address the COVID-19 pandemic have been excluded from the additional tariffs until 30 September 2021. For details, please refer to CIC No. 915/2020 of 24 December 2020.
3.On 27 August 2021, the USTR issued a notice seeking public comments on whether to extend the exclusions of certain medical-care products from Section 301 tariffs past 30 September 2021 to address the COVID-19 pandemic. For details, please refer to CIC No. 619/2021 of 30 August 2021.
4.On 29 September 2021, the USTR announced interim extension of exclusions of certain medical-care products needed to address the COVID-19 pandemic from 30 September 2021 to 14 November 2021 in order to provide time to review the public comments.
5.For further details, please refer to the FR notice of 29 September 2021 at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-09-29/pdf/2021-21180.pdf.
ENQUIRIES
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.