2939.59.00

Analysis

HTS 2939.59.00 covers theophylline and aminophylline (theophylline- ethylenediamine) and their derivatives; salts thereof: other under heading 2939 (alkaloids, natural or reproduced by synthesis, and their salts, ethers, esters and other…).

Rates on the nearby lines range from duty-free to 6.5%. The costliest confusion would be with 2939.80.00 (alkaloids, natural or reproduced by synthesis, and their salts…) at 6.5%, a difference of 6.5 points on the customs value.

There is no general-rate duty on this line, which puts it with roughly 26% of the 1050 tariff lines in chapter 29 that are also free. 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 25% instead of nothing, so origin decides between free entry and a 25% duty.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 325412 (Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing), an industry of 1,436 US establishments employing 170,029 people, the industry a domestic producer of these goods reports under.