In March 5, 2002 the Bush administration put steel safeguards in effect that imposed higher tariffs on certain steel products from chapter 72 and 73 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.  Effective February 1, 2003,  imports of steel subject to these special steel safeguards must obtain a license from the Commerce Department to complete the U.S. Customs import of the steel.

According to a Notice in the Federal Register, the license is obtained by filling out a form supplying certain statistical information about the steel product being imported.  The license number will be generated immediately upon submitting the information and that license number will be needed to complete the U.S. Customs Entry documentation.

Some key points about these licensing procedures:

• The licensing program will be in effect for the duration of the safeguard measures only.  Licenses will be required on all subject imports entered during this period, even if the entry summary documents are not filed until after the expiration of the measures.
• The automatic licensing system will generally be accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week but may be down at selected times for server maintenance.
• No fees will be charged for obtaining a user identification number, issuing a steel import license or accessing the steel import surge monitoring system.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie Al-Saadawi: telephone (202)-482-1930; FAX (202)-501-7952; e-mail steel-license@ita.doc.gov. Additional information will also be posted on the import licensing Web site http://ww.ia.ita.doc.gov/steel/license.