9506.99.08

Analysis

HTS 9506.99.08 covers badminton articles and equipment, except rackets, and parts and accessories thereof: nets of cotton under heading 9506 (articles and equipment for general physical exercise, gymnastics, athletics, other sports…).

Within this group the rate runs from duty-free to 5.6%. Compared with 9506.99.40 (toboggans; bobsleds and luges of a kind used in international…), which pays duty-free, a misclassification either way moves the duty by 2.8 percentage points.

The general duty rate is 2.8% of the customs value, which is in the middle of the rates in chapter 95 (64th percentile of 84 lines with an ad valorem rate). On a shipment valued at $10,000 that is $280 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 12 others can enter duty-free instead of paying 2.8%. 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 column 2 rate, for countries without normal trade relations, is 30%, 10.7 times the general rate.