9903.05.70: Section 301 Forced Labor South Korea Cap Heading

Key Points

• 9903.05.70 is a no-additional-duty heading: it carries 0 percent under the Section 301 Forced Labor program, effective July 24, 2026, with no announced end date.
• It applies to articles the product of South Korea whose ad valorem (or ad valorem equivalent) column 1 rate of duty is 12.5 percent or higher, as provided in U.S. note 52 to the subchapter.
• The heading excepts products described in headings 9903.05.85 through 9903.05.92, so check those exemption headings first.
• It is not the duty heading for South Korea: that heading sits elsewhere in the 9903.05 series and is a separate claim.
• This is a Section 301 forced-labor heading and has no connection to the Section 301 China headings in 9903.88 and 9903.91.

On this page

1. What 9903.05.70 is and who it applies to
2. Reading the heading text
3. Rate and effective window
4. How it appears on an entry and relates to other headings
5. What importers should do
6. Key references

9903.05.70 is the Chapter 99 heading that tells CBP no additional Section 301 forced-labor duty applies to goods of South Korea that already carry a column 1 rate of 12.5 percent or higher. The additional rate is 0 percent from July 24, 2026 onward, and the facts here are current as of November 2026. If your South Korean goods have a lower column 1 rate, this heading is not the one that describes them.

The links in this article go to the primary documents: the proclamations, Federal Register notices, and official tariff schedule pages themselves. Read the source. The action behind this heading is the USTR Section 301 FLIP final action of July 23, 2026, implemented through U.S. note 52 to the subchapter and announced to the trade in CBP CSMS message 69326983. Use the official HTS at hts.usitc.gov for the exact heading and note text, and the CBP CSMS page for the message.

What 9903.05.70 is and who it applies to

Most Chapter 99 headings in a tariff program add duty. This one does the opposite. It is an exception or claim heading inside the Section 301 Forced Labor program, and it carries no additional duty of its own. Think of it as a cap branch: where a South Korean good's existing column 1 duty is already at or above the threshold, the program does not stack a forced-labor duty on top.

The scope recorded for this code is a single rule: all products, country South Korea (KR), from July 24, 2026 onward, with no announced end date. The product limit comes from the heading text itself, not from a product list.

Why a separate cap branch exists

A cap branch splits goods of one country by their normal duty burden. Goods below the threshold fall under the country's duty heading. Goods at or above it fall here, at 0 percent additional. For a comparable structure under the same program, see our article on 9903.05.38, the Section 301 forced-labor EU column 1 cap heading. Each country's heading has its own text, so do not assume the EU terms carry over to South Korea.

Reading the heading text

The official heading text reads: "Except for products described in headings 9903.05.85-9903.05.92, articles the product of South Korea, with an ad valorem (or ad valorem equivalent) rate of duty under column 1 equal to or greater than 12.5 percent, as provided for in U.S. note 52 to this subchapter." Each part matters.

• Product of South Korea. The test is the country the article is the product of, not the country of export or shipment. Confirm origin the same way you would for any other origin-based tariff.
• Column 1 rate. The rate that counts is the column 1 rate of duty on the article's regular chapter 1-97 line. Look it up on the HTS for your exact 10-digit classification.
• Ad valorem or ad valorem equivalent. The text covers both. Goods with specific or compound rates are read by their ad valorem equivalent. The facts available here do not explain how that equivalent is calculated, so confirm the method in U.S. note 52 and with your broker.
• 12.5 percent or higher. A rate of exactly 12.5 percent qualifies. Anything below does not.
• Exception for 9903.05.85 to 9903.05.92. Products described in those headings are carved out of this heading. They are exemption headings in their own right, so a good that fits one of them is handled there, not here.

Rate and effective window

The additional duty under 9903.05.70 is 0 percent, effective July 24, 2026, onward. No end date has been announced. The USTR final action is dated July 23, 2026, and the heading took effect the next day.

Because the rate is 0 percent, the heading does not add to your duty bill. Its value is in classifying the line correctly so the entry shows that the forced-labor action was considered and no additional duty applies. The regular column 1 duty on the underlying line is unchanged by this heading and is still owed.

How it appears on an entry and relates to other headings

Entry mechanics

A Chapter 99 heading rides alongside the regular chapter 1-97 line. For a qualifying South Korean good, the entry carries the normal HTS line with its column 1 rate, plus 9903.05.70 reporting no additional forced-labor duty. How your entry software and the ACE filing handle Chapter 99 lines is a question for your broker. Our overview of ACE cargo release and broker transmission covers the release side of the process.

Neighboring headings

• The South Korea duty heading. Goods below the 12.5 percent column 1 threshold are handled by the country's duty heading in the 9903.05 series, not by this one. Do not use 9903.05.70 to avoid that heading unless the column 1 rate actually meets the test.
• 9903.05.85 to 9903.05.92. These are the exemption headings the text excepts. Review them before settling on 9903.05.70.
• Other programs. This heading speaks only to the Section 301 Forced Labor program. It does not address other tariff programs that may apply to the same goods. The facts available here are silent on stacking with other duties, so confirm that in the current HTSUS.
• Section 301 China headings. 9903.88 and 9903.91 belong to a different Section 301 action and are unrelated to this family.

For a broader view of the year's Chapter 99 landscape, see the 2026 tariff code overview.

What importers should do

1. Pull the column 1 rate for each South Korean line in your entries from the current HTSUS, and sort lines into at or above 12.5 percent (9903.05.70) versus below (the country's duty heading).
2. Check each line against the exemption headings 9903.05.85 through 9903.05.92 before assigning 9903.05.70, since the heading text excepts those products.
3. Verify product-of-South-Korea origin and keep the support on file, and read U.S. note 52 for how ad valorem equivalents are treated on non-ad valorem lines.
4. If entries since July 24, 2026 were filed under the wrong heading, talk to your broker about a correction. Our guide to the Post Summary Correction windows explains the timing.

Key references

• Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States: official text of heading 9903.05.70, headings 9903.05.85 to 9903.05.92, and U.S. note 52.
• CBP Cargo Systems Messaging Service: where CSMS message 69326983 on this action is published.
• Federal Register: search here for the USTR Section 301 FLIP final action of July 23, 2026.
• 9903.05.38 article: the comparable EU cap heading in the same program.