Article

House Ways & Means Committee Announces 2012 Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) Process

April 2, 2012

The House Ways & Means Committee has begun the process of drafting the first new Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) since 2010. MTBs are meant to improve the competitiveness of American manufacturing by temporarily removing or reducing import tariffs on inputs not produced by American companies. This allows U.S. manufacturers to reduce their overall costs while maintaining American jobs and promoting exports.

The MTB that was passed in 2010 covers imports through December 31, 2012. The newly-announced MTB process will allow interested parties to request, through their representative and/or senators, the extension of 2010 MTB’s duty-free provisions, as well as the addition of new provisions covering additional products. In order to be included in the final MTB, proposed extensions or additions must be (a) non-controversial, (b) cost less than $500,000 per year and (c) be administrable. A proposal will generally be considered non-controversial where the product to be imported is not manufactured in the United States. Cost is determined through a Congressional Budget Office estimate. A proposal will generally be considered administrable where it describes the product in such a way that U.S. Customs & Border Protection will be able to determine whether a product qualifies for duty suspension/reduction without undue investigation.

MTBs can involve any type of products that meet the requirements outlined above. The last MTB involved items as various as camel hair yarn and exhaust gas manifolds. However, the vast majority of the products typically subject to duty suspension or reduction through the MTB process are chemicals and chemical formulations. Importers and users of chemicals and chemical products may therefore be especially interested in maintaining existing duty suspensions, or in requesting new duty suspensions and reductions.

Proposals for inclusion in the new MTB must be submitted by members of Congress by April 30, 2012.

Read Time: 1 min

Wiley Rein LLP Cookie Preference Center

Your Privacy

When you visit our website, we use cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. For more information about how we use Cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Always Active

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. These cookies may only be disabled by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Functional Cookies

Always Active

Some functions of the site require remembering user choices, for example your cookie preference, or keyword search highlighting. These do not store any personal information.

Form Submissions

Always Active

When submitting your data, for example on a contact form or event registration, a cookie might be used to monitor the state of your submission across pages.

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies help us improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. We access and process information from these cookies at an aggregate level.

Powered by Firmseek