Section 232 HTS update applies to patented pharmaceutical imports

Section 232 HTS updates for patented pharmaceutical articles and ingredients are effective July 31, 2026. HSU 2618 contains 174 harmonized tariff records and 591 Automated Broker Interface records, so importers and brokers should account for the update in entries covered by those records from that date. The bulletin does not state a duty rate.

The operative scope is imports of patented pharmaceutical articles and ingredients; the bulletin does not identify other goods or state a separate carve-out. The date axis is entry treatment on or after July 31, 2026, when the Section 232 duties become effective. This notice does not reproduce the affected tariff records or resolve which specific HTS line applies to a particular product, so the exact classification and duty consequence must be determined from the HSU records and the separately referenced pharmaceutical CSMS notice.

Sources

• CSMS # 69403181 - Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2618
  CBP / CSMS · Jul 31, 2026

Quartz surface products face 25% quota and 50% over-quota safeguard duties

A four-year tariff-rate quota will apply to covered quartz surface products entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse on or after August 15, 2026. Within-quota entries face an additional 25% duty and over-quota entries face an additional 50% duty during the first annual period; those rates decline to 23% and 49% in the second period, 21% and 48% in the third, and 19% and 47% in the fourth. The duties are cumulative with the underlying Chapter 68 or 70 rate and other applicable duties. (www.whitehouse.gov)

The scope turns on the product, country, quantity, and entry date. Covered QSP includes silica-dominant slabs and other surfaces, including fabricated, finished, packaged, cut, polished, or third-country-finished products, under HTSUS subheadings 6810.99.0020, 6810.99.0040, and 7020.00.6000; quarried granite, marble, soapstone, and quartzite are outside the scope. Products of Canada, Mexico, Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, CBERA beneficiaries, and the listed developing countries are excluded and do not count against the quota, subject to the developing-country 3% individual and 9% collective thresholds. Non-exempt goods within the quarterly quantity enter under 9903.45.30; excess goods enter under 9903.45.31. (www.whitehouse.gov)

Importers must classify covered merchandise under Chapter 99 headings 9903.45.30 or 9903.45.31 and account for the applicable quarterly quantity. Any covered merchandise admitted to a U.S. foreign-trade zone on or after August 15, 2026, must receive privileged foreign status and will face the applicable quantitative restriction or tariff when entered for consumption. CBP must carry unused quarterly quota into the next quarter no later than 14 days after the prior quarter ends. (www.whitehouse.gov)

The current exclusions can change after the safeguard takes effect. The Trade Representative may revise the developing-country list or suspend its operation if an individual country exceeds a 3% import share, listed countries below 3% collectively exceed 9%, or a country no longer qualifies as developing; the proclamation also authorizes action against import surges, circumvention, or ineffective trade-partner agreements through a later Federal Register notice.

Sources

• To Facilitate Positive Adjustment to Competition From Imports of Quartz Surface Products
  White House · Jul 31, 2026
• Annex to the quartz surface products safeguard proclamation
  www.whitehouse.gov

Thermal paper from Germany: final review sets 0.00% and 0.76% AD margins

A final antidumping review sets a 0.00 percent margin for Koehler Paper SE and Koehler Kehl GmbH and a 0.76 percent margin for Convertidoras PCM, S.A. de C.V. and Papeles y Conversiones de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. for the November 1, 2023, through October 31, 2024 period. The results apply August 3, 2026. CBP will assess duties on appropriate entries, liquidating Koehler's reviewed entries without antidumping duties and assigning the two non-examined companies a 0.76 percent assessment rate.

The assessment rule reaches covered thermal paper from Germany entered during the review period, while the cash-deposit rule reaches subject merchandise entered or withdrawn for consumption on or after August 3, 2026. For previously reviewed companies not listed, the prior company-specific rate continues; where only the producer is covered, the producer's most recent rate applies; all other producers and exporters remain at 6.27 percent. Automatic assessment applies to Koehler-produced entries whose U.S. destination was unknown to Koehler, with the all-others rate applying when no intermediate-company rate exists. Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions no earlier than 35 days after publication, and a timely summons may delay liquidation if a statutory injunction is timely requested. The notice references a complete scope description in the Preliminary Results, which is not reproduced here.

Sources

• Thermal Paper From Germany: Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2023-2024
  Federal Register · Aug 3, 2026

FTA information-collection extension opens a 30-day comment window

A 30-day public-comment window is open for CBP’s proposed extension of the Free Trade Agreements information collection, with comments due by September 2, 2026. CBP identifies the action as an extension without change and says it will submit the collection to OMB for review and approval.

The collection reaches individuals and businesses involved in preferential claims under the listed FTAs and covers importer and exporter information, goods descriptions, tariff classification numbers, countries of origin, and preference criteria. A broker, importer, or trade counsel wishing to address the collection must submit comments by the stated deadline; the notice does not change the underlying collection or establish a new duty rate, classification rule, origin rule, or ACE transmission requirement.

Sources

• Agency Information Collection Activities; Extension; Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)
  Federal Register · Aug 3, 2026

CBP seeks comments on voluntary ACE informal mail entry test

Comments must be submitted by September 2, 2026, on CBP's proposed revision of its information collection. The notice proposes a voluntary ACE Entry Type 13 test for informal mail entries valued at $2,500 or less; it does not establish a mandatory filing change or an effective date.

The test reaches carriers transporting mail to the United States and entry filers only if both elect to participate. Participating carriers would report each shipment's foreign-postal tracking number on the manifest, while participating filers would report the number on the entry filing, allowing CBP to match the shipment and assess timely filing; shipments above $2,500, non-mail shipments, and parties that do not elect to participate remain outside the proposed test. Interested parties must submit comments by September 2, 2026, to preserve the opportunity for consideration.

Sources

• Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision; Cargo Manifest/Declaration, Stow Plan, Container Status Messages and Importer Security Filing
  Federal Register · Aug 3, 2026

Also published

• CSMS # 69402038 - An Updated Appendix PGA is Now Available in the DRAFT Chapters of CBP.gov
  CBP / CSMS · Jul 31, 2026
• Initiation of Five-Year (Sunset) Reviews
  Federal Register · Aug 3, 2026
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Order, Finding, or Suspended Investigation; Advance Notification of Sunset Review
  Federal Register · Aug 3, 2026

Reply with a customs question.

One question a day, answered from the authorities cited above and nowhere else. Those sources were checked through August 1, 2026, and replies stay open for 7 days. Where they do not settle a question, we say so rather than guess. Tell us the subheading, origin, entry type or dates and the answer comes back specific to them.

For information only; not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by sending or receiving it. Keep client names, entry and importer numbers, and privileged material out of your reply.

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