Rise in US import duty for shoes with textile outsoles

Companies importing footwear with textile/fabric outsoles into the US now face paying increased duty, after revised legislation went into effect in December. Under the new law, shoes with fabric and rubber/plastic uppers and textile outsoles will be classified under Heading 6404 of the Harmonised Tariff Schedule (HTS) and subject to duties of between 37.5 per cent and 67 per cent. Previously, such shoes were classified under Heading 6405, which levied duties of 7.5-12.5 per cent.

Some US footwear importers had reportedly been affixing fabric to the outsoles of certain types of shoes in order to take advantage of the lower rates of duty. It has been estimated that 99 per cent of shoes sold in the US are imported, and that the new footwear textile outsole rules will affect 300-500 million pairs of shoes.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 2 of the January 2012 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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