Masterbuilt are one of America’s most prestigious suppliers of charcoal grills and smokers. Their products are sold throughout the USA and are also available from specialist retailers in The Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland or online via Amazon, Walmart, The Home Depot and Lowe’s. Masterbuilt take their obligations extremely seriously and invest considerable time and resource ensuring that they are customs compliant across all the territories they sell to or source from.

Problem:

As part of the ongoing monitoring process to stay up to date with fast changing customs regulations Masterbuilt retained The International Trade Consultancy to review a selection of items they import from China. They required an independent, professional opinion on classification of 35 products including justification of each classification with reference to Binding Rulings and clarity on import duty and Section 301 duty.

Solution:

Working from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States Basic Revision 12 (2021) The International Trade Consultancy followed the principles and precedents of the classification process to identify the goods and then proceeded through the General Rules of Interpretation to provide an informed classification for each product. Chapter 99 was then consulted to establish the rate of Section 301 duty and the Customs Ruling Online Search System was thoroughly researched to find any relevant rulings that could have a bearing on the classification. A full written methodology and justification was provided for company use, and if necessary to be forwarded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the event of a query.