I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4448 

To address loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States 

that allow companies to avoid the duty rate applicable to dehydrated garlic. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 

Mr. PANETTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To address loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule 

of the United States that allow companies to avoid the 

duty rate applicable to dehydrated garlic. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Giving Agriculture Re5 lief from Loopholes in International Commerce Act’’ or 

6 the ‘‘GARLIC Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress finds the following: 

9 (1) The United States domestic dried garlic in10 dustry currently provides approximately 50,000,000 


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1 pounds of dried garlic for the United States market 

2 and has the capacity to increase production. 

3 (2) Dried garlic imported from China accounts 

4 for approximately 140,000,000 pounds of the total 

5 amount sold in the United States market. 

6 (3) Dried garlic is classifiable under subheading 

7 0712.90.40 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

8 the United States, with a duty rate of 29.8 percent. 

9 (4) Chinese companies have found apparent 

10 loopholes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule and are 

11 importing dehydrated garlic at much lower tariff 

12 rates, causing direct harm to the United States do13 mestic industry. 

14 (5) Imports of Chinese dehydrated garlic under 

15 the subheading for dried garlic, 0712.90.40, have 

16 decreased approximately 70 percent over the past 

17 few years, but there has not been a corresponding 

18 change in United States consumption or imports 

19 from other locations. 

20 (6) Importers of Chinese dried garlic are now 

21 engaging in limited further processing of the product 

22 and importing it as a ‘‘further processed vegetable’’ 

23 classifiable under subheading 2005.99.97, at a duty 

24 rate of 11.2 percent. 


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1 (7) Importers of Chinese dried garlic are also 

2 adding minimal amounts of other dehydrated vegeta3 bles, such as onion, to the dehydrated garlic and im4 porting it as ‘‘other mixed vegetables’’ classifiable 

5 under subheading 0712.90.85, at a duty rate of 8.3 

6 percent. 

7 (8) The dried garlic products imported from 

8 China under subheadings 2005.99.97 and 

9 0712.90.85 are still marketed and sold in the United 

10 States as dried garlic and directly compete against 

11 United States-produced dried garlic. 

12 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) the duty rate on dried garlic was set at 29.8 

15 percent to support United States domestic producers 

16 of dried garlic and create a more level playing field 

17 when competing against low-cost dried garlic im18 ported from China; 

19 (2) the use of these loopholes in the Har20 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States is di21 rectly harming United States domestic dried garlic 

22 producers, their employees, and the farmers that 

23 grow garlic in support of this domestic industry; and 

24 (3) the use of these loopholes in the Har25 monized Tariff Schedule of the United States has 


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1 resulted in a loss of approximately $40,000,000 in 

2 revenue to the United States over the past 2 years 

3 alone. 

4 SEC. 4. ADDITION OF U.S. NOTES AND NEW SUBHEADINGS 

5 RELATED TO DEHYDRATED GARLIC. 

6 (a) ADDITION OF U.S. NOTE.—The Additional U.S. 

7 Notes to chapter 7 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of 

8 the United States are amended by inserting in numerical 

9 sequence the following: 

10 ‘‘6. In the assessment of duty on dried garlic, 

11 the presence of other vegetables mixed with the 

12 dried garlic shall not remove the product from sub13 heading 0712.90.40 unless the percentage of garlic, 

14 by weight, is less than 50 percent. 

15 ‘‘7. In the assessment of duty on dried garlic, 

16 the application of additional heat to dried garlic does 

17 not constitute further processing such that the dried 

18 garlic would be excluded from subheading 

19 0712.90.40 unless the resulting dried garlic has an 

20 extractable color (optical index) of 1000+/¥500 as 

21 set forth under Section IV.C.5 of the American De22 hydrated Onion and Garlic Association (ADOGA) 

23 standards for roasted or toasted garlic.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 This Act and the amendments made by this Act 

3 shall— 

4 (1) take effect on the 30th day after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act; and 

6 (2) apply to articles entered, or withdrawn from 

7 warehouse for consumption, on or after such 30th 

8 day. 

Æ 


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