The following is a short definition of the tags seen beneath each instrument listed on the Modifications page. There are tags that show which revision or edition the instrument modified, along with a year and what kind of instrument it was (e.g., a Federal Notice, a Presidential Proclamation, etc.).

There are also tags that categorize the instruments based on their content.

Legal Authority tags categorize each instrument depending on the authority under which it was implemented. Those tags include the following:

1205: Section 1205(a) of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 (the "1988 Act") (19 U.S.C. 3005 (a)) directs the Commission to keep the HTS under continuous review and periodically to recommend to the President such modifications to the HTS as the Commission considers necessary or appropriate to accomplish the purposes set forth in that subsection. Notably, the Commission investigates how to reflect in the HTS the amendments to the international Harmonized System (HS) recommended by the World Customs Organization, based on public comment and generally without changes to duty rates in our 8-digit subheadings. Section 1206(a) of the 1988 Act (19 U.S.C. 3006(a)) authorizes the President to proclaim modifications to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, based on the recommendations by the Commission under section 1205. This tag categorizes instruments that relate to this process of recommending and proclaiming modifications, which are often made to conform the HTS to HS amendments.

232 (National Security): Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (19 U.S.C. 1862 (as amended)) authorizes the President to modify the HTS based on recommendations from the Department of Commerce. These recommendations are based on Department of Commerce investigations which ascertain the effects of specific imports on U.S. national security. For some examples of recent 232 investigations, please visit the Section 232 Investigation on the Effect of Imports of Steel on U.S. National Security page and the Section 232 Investigation on the Effect of Imports of Aluminum on U.S. National Security page at the Department of Commerce website.

301: Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2411) authorizes the United States Trade Representative to investigate and take action to enforce U.S. rights under trade agreements and respond to certain foreign trade practices. For more information on these actions, please visit the Section 301 Investigations USTR webpage.

484(f): Section 484(f) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1484(f) (as amended)) authorizes the Committee for the Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules, more commonly known as the “484(f) committee,” to administer statistical reporting numbers in the HTS at the 10-digit level (including their units of quantity). These are used to gather trade data on specified classes of merchandise that are narrower than those indicated in legal provisions. Generally, changes made by the 484(f) committee are included in the January 1st and July 1st editions of the HTS.

Global Safeguards: Under the U.S. global safeguard law (Sections 201 – 206 of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C 2251 – 2255), if the USITC determines that an article is being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury or threat of serious injury to a domestic industry producing a like or directly competitive product, it recommends to the President relief that would remedy the injury and facilitate industry adjustment to import competition. The President makes the final decision concerning whether to provide relief and the type and duration of the temporary relief. For more information on these actions, please visit the Import Injury Investigations page and the Safeguard Actions page on USTR.gov.

Other Tariff Legislation: This category covers preference programs, free trade agreements and other tariff legislation not elsewhere specified in the Legal Authority tags above including, other statutory authorizations, or legislative modifications to the HTS.

Country/Economy tags indicate the country/economy which was the subject of an instrument. When an instrument applies to every country, Global will be used. When multiple countries are the subject of an instrument, they will each be included among the tags. For example, the implementing proclamation for the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will have both Mexico and Canada.

However, there are country tags that indicate a specific group of countries.

  • EU will be used if an instrument applies to all the countries of the EU.
  • AGOA will tag instruments that modify the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade program. Beneficiary countries for the AGOA program can change over time and these instruments apply to the program as a whole and not necessarily the individual beneficiary countries or former beneficiary countries.
  • GSP will tag instruments that modify the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) trade program. As with AGOA, products and countries eligible for GSP benefits can change over time.
  • CBERA will be used for instruments that make changes to the countries designated as recipients of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act.