U.S. Customs and Border Protection has extended the comment period from March 24 to April 23 on its proposal to eliminate the favorable import valuation methodology available under the First Sale Rule. The implementation of this change will result in a tariff increase of between 8 percent and 15 percent for those importers using the First Sale Rule.

The First Sale Rule has been available for almost 20 years. CBP’s proposed action, which is based on an April 2007 finding by the World Trade Organization’s Technical Committee on Customs Valuation, would revoke this rule and thus eliminate the ability of importers to use the price paid in the first sale in a multi-sale transaction as the value for duty purposes.

Under U.S. customs law, transaction value is the primary method of appraising imported merchandise and is defined as “the price actually paid or payable for merchandise when sold for exportation to the United States .” CBP is proposing to revise its interpretation of the phrase “sold for exportation to the U.S.” so that in a transaction involving a series of sales the price actually paid or payable is the price paid in the last sale occurring prior to the introduction of the goods into the U.S. instead of the first (or earlier) sale. As a result, transaction value will normally be determined on the basis of the higher price paid by the U.S. buyer.

CBP proposed interpretation (USCBP-2007-0083, FR Pub 01/24/08) available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-1140.pdf

According to CBP, all comments received will be posted without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided.
To Date, Only Four Comments Submitted on Proposed Interpretation The submitted comments may be viewed on the Federal eRulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=USCBP-2007-0083.

Comments on CBP's proposed interpretation may be submitted by either of two methods:

Via the Federal eRulemaking Portal (http://www.regulations.gov, docket number USCBP-2007-0083.)

Via mail to the following address:
Border Security Regulations Branch
Office of International Trade
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. (Mint Annex)
Washington, DC 20229