The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) has launched a web portal for exclusion requests pertaining to the third tranche of products (“List 3”) imported from China worth $200 billion annually. This portal replaces the exclusion process for the first and second tranches, in which requestors submitted exclusion requests on the Regulations.gov website using a form designed by USTR. The new portal will begin accepting exclusion requests at 12:00 p.m. EDT on June 30, 2019.

USTR will accept exclusion requests until September 30, 2019, and comments on exclusion requests, including objections or letters of support, are due 14 days after the exclusion request in question is posted to the portal for public comment. If granted, product exclusions will be effective for one year from the date that each exclusion is published in the Federal Register, and will be retroactive to September 24, 2018.

For excluded products imported prior to the product exclusion’s publication in the Federal Register, importers may file post-summary corrections (if entries have not yet liquidated) or protests (if entries have liquidated within the past six months).

Companies that import the products identified in List 3 should consider filing exclusion requests in order to increase their chance of reducing future duty payments and receiving refunds on duties previously paid.