U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has amended its regulations on an interim basis to change certain provisions relating to the requirement under the U.S.-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement that a good must be imported directly from one country to the other to qualify for preferential tariff treatment. This rule removes the condition that a good passing through the territory of an intermediate country while en route from one FTA party to the other must remain under the control of the customs authority of the intermediate country, a condition that is not contained in either the FTA or the U.S. law implementing it.
As a result of this change, the only requirement for a shipment passing through an intermediate country to be considered to be imported directly under the U.S.-Bahrain FTA is that it not undergo production, manufacturing or any other operation outside the territories of the U.S. or Bahrain other than unloading, reloading or any other operation necessary to preserve the good in good condition or transport it to the U.S. or Bahrain. Operations that may be performed in an intermediate country include inspection, removal of dust that accumulates during shipment, ventilation, spreading out or drying, chilling, replacing salt, sulfur dioxide, or aqueous solutions, replacing damaged packing materials and containers, and removal of units of the good that are spoiled or damaged and present a danger to the remaining units of the good, or to transport the good to the U.S. or Bahrain.
This rule is effective as of May 22.
To read this article, please visit WorldTrade\Interactive.
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