Effective January 1, 2019, U.S. customs and border protection without any prior notification implemented newly added unit of measure requirements for 3,393 harmonized tariff codes. The reporting quantity of “X”, which didn’t require any further quantity information, has been replaced with units of measure (i.e. KG, NO, DOZ, G, etc.).  Although many commodities across the spectrum were affected by this U.S. customs has update, the importation of jewellery was majorly affected as “unit of measure” is required in order to obtain a U.S. customs release.

The unit of measure requirement per harmonized tariff classification varies. In summary, all gold, silver and alloyed jewellery set with stones requires gram weight.  Platinum jewellery requires number of pieces and imitation jewellery requires kilograms.

What does this mean for importers of these commodities? The commercial invoice provided by suppliers must include the required unit of measure clearly visible per item level detail. A summary commercial invoice is also requested per item description with total unit of measure at the summary level.

Malca-Amit, upon encountering this U.S. customs new update, has been instrumental in assisting and educating our clients as well as their suppliers and providing the necessary guidance and information to avoid any problems or delays with their clearances at time of arrival.

We are pleased that we avoided further challenges and delays by identifying the CBP update and immediately broadcasting the new requirement across our network and reaching out to importers and suppliers to provide guidance and instructions.

Please contact Malca-Amit customhouse broker team of professionals should you have any questions or need assistance.

Malca-Amit Customhouse Brokers, Inc. Tel: (718) 525-6100