The Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a final rule that, effective Dec. 19, will increase from 0.8267 cents per kilogram to 0.9874 cents per kilogram the assessments paid by importers of cotton and cotton-containing products under the Cotton Research and Promotion Order.
The revenues generated by these assessments are used to finance research and promotion programs designed to increase consumer demand for upland cotton in the U.S. and international markets.
The AMS notes that importers with line items appearing on U.S. Customs and Border Protection documentation where the value of the cotton contained therein results in an assessment of two dollars or less will not be subject to assessments.
In addition, imported cotton and cotton-containing products may be exempt from assessment if the cotton content of the products is U.S.-produced, cotton other than upland, or imported products eligible to be labeled as 100 percent organic under the National Organic Program.
This rule also removes various Harmonized Tariff Schedule numbers from the list of those subject to the cotton assessment, as these numbers are either no longer used or have been combined with others.