3603.20.00

Analysis

HTS 3603.20.00 covers safety fuses; detonating cords; percussion or detonating caps; igniters; electric detonators: detonating cords under heading 3603 (safety fuses; detonating cords; percussion or detonating caps; igniters; electric…).

Within this group the rate runs from 0.2% to 4.2%. Compared with 3603.60.00 (electric detonators), which pays 0.2%, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 2.8 percentage points.

Goods that qualify under GSP, the Australia FTA, the Bahrain FTA, the Chile FTA, the Colombia TPA, and 12 others can enter duty-free instead of paying 3%. 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.

The general duty rate is 3% of the customs value, which is in the middle of the rates in chapter 36 (56th percentile of 16 lines with an ad valorem rate). On a shipment valued at $10,000 that is $300 in duty before any Chapter 99 additions or preference claims.

Census statistics map these goods to NAICS 325920 (Explosives Manufacturing), an industry of 80 US establishments employing 7,034 people. That concordance is how imports of this line are compared with US output.