Analysis
HTS 1604.20.15 covers balls, cakes and puddings: in oil under heading 1604 (prepared or preserved fish; caviar and caviar substitutes prepared from fish eggs).
Neighbouring lines carry rates from duty-free to 10%, so the exact line matters. The widest gap is with 1604.20.40 (neither cooked nor in oil), at 10%: a product that belongs there but is entered here, or the reverse, changes the duty by 10 percentage points.
Goods classified here enter the United States duty-free at the general (normal trade relations) rate, as do about 46% of the 108 tariff lines in chapter 16. Free here means free of the base duty only: origin-specific Chapter 99 duties such as Section 301 can still be owed.
Goods from countries without normal trade relations pay the column 2 rate of 30% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 30% duty.
Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 311710 (Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging), an industry of 516 US establishments employing 29,132 people. That is the industry code a US manufacturer of the same product would normally use.
Neighbouring lines
| Line | Description | General rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1604.20.05 | Products containing meat of crustaceans, molluscs or other aquatic invertebrates; prepared meals | 5% |
| 1604.20.10 | Other: pastes | Free |
| 1604.20.20 | In airtight containers | Free |
| 1604.20.25 | In immediate containers weighing with their contents not over 6.8 kg each: other | Free |
| 1604.20.30 | Not in oil: other | Free |
| 1604.20.40 | Neither cooked nor in oil | 10% |
| 1604.20.50 | Fish sticks and similar products of any size or shape, if breaded, coated with batter or similarly prepared: other | 7.5% |
| 1604.20.60 | Other: other | Free |