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U.S. Customs and Border Protection

"First Sale" vs. "Last Sale"

On September 29, 2010 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register (75 FR 60134) notice of withdrawal of proposed interpretation of the expression``Sold For Exportation to the United States'' as used in the transaction value method of valuation in a series of sales importation scenario.

On February 9, 2010, The Law Firm of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. (ST&R) announced that Kitty Kit Yee Ho had joined Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, Limited in Hong Kong, as its Assistant Manager. Ms. Ho will be focusing her efforts on general Customs compliance and on implementing First Sale duty savings.

On December 23, 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission announced the publication of Use of the "First Sale Rule" for Customs Valuation of U.S. Imports: Investigation No. 332-505 USITC Publication 4121.

On January 2, 2009, the U.S. International Trade Commission published (74 FR 119) Investigation No. 332-505 Use of the "First Sale Rule" for Customs Valuation of U.S. Imports. April 30, 2009 is the deadline for filing written submissions. The National Textile Association and the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition submitted these comments.

On August 25, 2008 U.S. Customs and Border Protection published (73 FR 49939) First Sale Declaration Requirement; Interim rule; solicitation of comments.

This document establishes an importer declaration requirement pursuant to section 15422(a) of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to assist Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in gathering information for all goods entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on the transaction valuation of goods imported into the United States. Effective for a one-year period beginning August 20, 2008, all importers will be required to provide a declaration to CBP at the time of filing a consumption entry when, in a series of sequential sales, the transaction value of the imported merchandise is determined on the basis of the "first or earlier sale" of goods--the first sale in which the goods are ``sold for exportation to the United States'' or any other sale earlier than the last sale prior to the introduction of the merchandise into the United States. CBP will then report the frequency of the use of the "first sale" rule and other associated data to the International Trade Commission (ITC) on a monthly basis.

The U.S. House of Representatives on May 14, 2008 and the U.S. Senate on May 15 adopted the conference report on H.R.2419, the "Farm Bill." Sec. 15422 of the report directs U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to undertake a one-year monthly study of importers' usage of the "first sale" basis for determining value prior to implementing any change to CBP's interpretation of the term "sold for exportation to the US".

On August 21, 2008 U.S. Customs and Border Protection advised the trade community of new reporting requirements: effective August 20, importers are required to provide CBP with an "F" indicator next to the declared value when the declared transaction value of the imported merchandise is determined on the basis of the price paid by the buyer in a sale occurring earlier than the last sale prior to the introduction of the merchandise into the United States. Due to the complexity of the programming changes required, CBP also announced that it was delaying the reporting of the First Sale Declaration Requirement for 30 days to allow the Trade time for software programming changes.

On January 24, 2008, Federal Register (73 FR 4254) Bureau of Customs and Border Protection published Proposed Interpretation of the Expression ``Sold for Exportation to the United States'' for Purposes of Applying the Transaction Value Method of Valuation in a Series of Sales. CBP proposed that in a transaction involving a series of sales, the price actually paid or payable for the imported goods when sold for exportation to the United States is the price paid in the last sale occurring prior to the introduction of the goods into the United States, instead of the first (or earlier) sale. Under this proposal, transaction value will normally be determined on the basis of the price paid by the buyer in the United States. This proposed interpretation reflects the conclusions of the Technical Committee on Customs Valuation as set forth in Commentary 22.1, entitled "Meaning of the Expression 'Sold for Export to the Country of Importation' in a Series of Sales.'" Comments must be received on or before March 24, 2008 (extended to April 23rd).

NTA supports this proposed action by CBP and has joined with the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition in commments filed April 23rd.

This page last updated 9/29/2010.