2918.19.15

Analysis

HTS 2918.19.15 covers phenylglycolic acid (Mandelic acid), its salts and esters: other under heading 2918 (carboxylic acids with additional oxygen function and their anhydrides, halides, peroxides…).

Rates on the nearby lines range from duty-free to 6.5%. The costliest confusion would be with 2918.19.12 (phenylglycolic acid (Mandelic acid), its salts and esters: mandelic…) at duty-free, a difference of 6.5 points on the customs value.

The general duty rate is 6.5% of the customs value, which is above most the rates in chapter 29 (83rd percentile of 1050 lines with an ad valorem rate). On a shipment valued at $10,000 that is $650 in duty before any Chapter 99 additions or preference claims.

Goods that qualify under GSP, the Australia FTA, the Bahrain FTA, the Chile FTA, the Colombia TPA, and 13 others can enter duty-free instead of paying 6.5%. It is also eligible under GSP, the developing-country programme, which Congress has to renew; check whether GSP is in force on the entry date.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 325199 (All Other Basic Organic Chemical Manufacturing), an industry of 894 US establishments employing 77,304 people, the industry a domestic producer of these goods reports under.