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841 Blossom Hill Road, Second Floor

P.O. Box 20698

San Jose, CA 95160-0698

Telephone: (408) 226-4049

E-Mail: dan@minutillolaw.com

Website: www.minutillolaw.com

October 2, 2018

To: The Office of the United States Trade Representative

Re: Section 301 Investigation, China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, 

Intellectual Property, and Innovation - Form to Request Exclusion of Product

Our File Number: 7516

Dear Sir or Madam,

This firm represents the requestor, Keebomed Incorporated, regarding this request for a tariff exclusion 

for the China-made Black & White VET Ultrasound Devices. The brand name for this product is the 

CHISON Model No: ECO1, ECO2, and ECO3 (ECO series). Keebomed Incorporated, has been selling the 

ECO series in the U.S. since 2013. 

The ECO series is included on list one of Section 301 under the 10 digit subheading of the Harmonized 

Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTSUS) 9018120000. Keebomed Incorporated, is a U.S. distributor for CHISON

Medical Technologies Co., Ltd., located in China. Please refer to page number one and page number eight

regarding our firm's address, the addresses for our client Keebomed Incorporated, and the address for 

CHISON Medical Technologies Co., Ltd. 

Because this law firm is the legal representative of Keebomed Incorporated, please do not mail 

documents, including the exclusion response, nor contact our client directly. Please direct all questions 

and responses to this request for exclusion to this office at the above address and email noted above.

We will promptly reply. 

Section B of the Federal Register Notice:

1. Requests for Exclusion of Particular Products
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• Identification of the particular product in terms of the physical characteristics (e.g.,

dimensions, material composition, or other characteristics) that distinguish it from other 

products within the covered 8-digit subheading. 

Physical Description of the Product:

Standard configuration for ECO: Main unit with 12 inch LED monitor, 2 probe connectors, 3 USB ports, 

VGA Port, video port, LAN port, Full Screen Display Mode, i-lmage, Chroma, SRA, Compound 

imaging ,THI, 8G memory card, PW Mode, Built-in Battery (BT-2500), Scanning mode: B, B/B, 4B, M, 

B/M.

Dimensions of the main unit:

Approximately: 335 mm 

Length * 155 mm 

Width* 350 mm 

Net weight of the main unit (Approximately): 6.5 kg (no probe included) 

• The 10 digit subheading of the HTSUS most applicable to the particular product requested 

for exclusion.

 9018120000

• Ability of CBP to administer the exclusion.

The above proposal would be easy for CBP to administer, as neither the 510(k) number nor the device 

listing number is an end-use, trademark or tradename. Keebomed Incorporated, as the importer for the 

ECO series will make sure that the 510(k) number and the device listing number appears on the entry 

documents submitted to CBP. 

• The annual quantity and value of the Chinese-origin product that the requestor purchased in 

each of the last three years. For trade association requestors, please provide such information 

based on your members' data. If precise annual quantity and value information is not available, 

please provide an estimate and explain the basis for the estimation.

 

 Please see attached “Business Confidential” version.

• Whether the particular product is available only from China. In addressing this factor, 

requestors should address specifically whether the particular product and/or a comparable 

product is available from sources in the U.S. and/or in third countries.

The U.S., European, and Japanese manufacturers are no longer making cost-effective Black and White

Vet Ultrasound Devices. These countries are all focused on high-end color doppler ultrasound 

technologies. The Black and White technology is not considered advanced technology; in fact, the 

technology is not related to any Chinese industrial programs including the “Made in China 2025”, an 

initiative to comprehensively upgrade Chinese industry. 
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For example, the ECO1 was developed by CHISON (a Chinese ultrasound manufacturer) in 2013 and first 

entered the U.S. in early 2014. Keebomed Incorporated, continues to sell this model today. There have 

been no significant changes to the technology; in fact, the technology is considered very old technology. 

The U.S, European, and Japanese manufacturers developed this type of technology in the 1970’s. The 

Black and White Vet Ultrasound Device cannot be called high-tech ultrasound today. It appears that 

similar models are only available in China. The U.S., European, and Japanese manufacturers have

eliminated this kind of technology, and these types of products for more than 10 years. The China-made

Black & White Vet Ultrasound Device still has very good market potential because of limited budgets for 

veterinarians. The Black and White Vet Ultrasound Device is therefore more affordable to U.S. consumers 

than present ultrasound products on the markets. 

• Why the Chinese Black & White Vet Ultrasound is a must:

The Black and White Vet Ultrasound Device is a real-time, non-radiative, non-invasive, high-efficiency 

medical diagnostic tool that cannot be replaced by other medical devices like the CT, MRI, etc. The Black 

& White Vet Ultrasound Device is used to perform examinations of an animal's reproductive system 

before pregnancy and checks the fetus's growth situation during pregnancy, which detects the recovery 

of the uterus after delivery. 

This process promotes animals reproduction and gives scientific guidance to the development of animal 

husbandry. Veterinarians need cost-effective ultrasound systems like the CHISON ECO series to be able to 

perform these types of full examinations. Among all of the same level models, the CHISON ECO series 

presents the best imaging quality with the most affordable pricing. CHISON has been continuously 

offering the CHISON ECO series to its customer base mainly because it meets the customer's economic 

needs. 

Most veterinarians, including rural veterinarians, cannot afford high-end, expensive ultrasound devices. 

If veterinarians cannot afford these high-end, expensive ultrasound devices, they will stop owning an 

ultrasound system, which will, in turn, be harmful to the husbandry and pet industry in the U.S. Pet 

owners will also suffer emotionally if veterinarians do not have access to what could be life-saving 

equipment for their pets. 

Veterinarians also use the Black and White Vet Ultrasound Device to inspect livestock before they can 

legally be sold for slaughter. Abnormalities detected by ultrasound can indicate disease. If an illness 

spreads among a herd or flock, early detection of this illness will be key to preventing a devastating 

outbreak, such as the 2015 bird flu in the Midwest that led to the deaths of 50 million turkeys and 

chickens. 

If our U.S. veterinarians cannot purchase an affordable ultrasound, farmers and the nation's food supply 

are vulnerable to disease outbreaks which might have been detected through ultrasound. It also could 

mean sick and infected animals will increasingly go untested, said Mark Stetter, the Dean of the College 

of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University. An ultrasound is an effective tool used by 

veterinarians to fight disease but only if a unit is affordable, particularly in rural areas of the U.S. 

 
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 Rural veterinarian profit and budgetary problem:

In 2017, the U.S Department of Agriculture identified 187 mostly rural areas that lack sufficient access to 

a veterinarian due to wage (economic) issues. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterinarians 

in rural areas earn roughly half of what they could make in a city in the U.S. Most veterinarians lack the 

adequate equipment to diagnose and treat animals. The rural veterinarian will continue to benefit 

tremendously from an affordable ultrasound device like the one at issue. 

Black and White VET Ultrasound Device Purpose:

For small animals, this ultrasound is, or can be used to check the animal’s physical condition, such as the 

cardiac, liver, gallbladder, kidney, spleen, bladder, intestine, and also the reproductive system such as the 

uterus, and ovary. The ultrasound also helps detect some common diseases such as cardiac dysfunction, 

cardiac valvular regurgitation, hepatic cysts, hepatic tumor, kidney stone, kidney cysts, kidney tumor, and 

intestinal foreign body, and some diseases of the reproductive system, such as pyometra, ovarian cysts, 

hysteritis, and sactosalpinx.

For large animals, this ultrasound is, or can be used to check an animal’s reproductive system such as the 

uterus, ovary, and the number of the fetus, as well as the fetus growth situation. Some diseases may 

affect the pregnancy, such as pyometra, ovarian cysts, hysteritis, and sactosalpinx. A fertility test can tell 

in advance about pregnancy, pregnancy quality, number of pregnancies, and survival rates. This can help 

save farmers’ costs, targeted feeding, and raising their animal's reproduction quality.

Taking beef farms and ranches, for example, real-time ultrasound technology has been used to diagnose 

early pregnancy, determine fetal sex and has advanced to a state whereby accurate measurements of 

several body composition traits can be made on live beef animals, a tremendous benefit to U.S. farmers.

A. Early pregnancy diagnosis – ultrasound can help improve 50% pregnancy rate of beef cattle 

and dairy cattle: Ultrasound pregnancy diagnosis has been reported to be one hundred percent accurate 

twenty days after breeding. Pregnancy detection with the use of an ultrasound offers several advantages 

over rectal palpation, including a safety advantage, and a less painful detection method, when used 

twenty to one hundred days after breeding. 

In addition to allowing earlier detection of pregnancy, fetal aging during that period can also predict the 

calving date more precisely if the fetal body parts are measured on the ultrasound screen rather than 

estimated by hand (rectal palpation). Reducing the handling of the pregnant tract by using ultrasound

rather than palpation should also reduce the risk of inducing embryonic death when searching for early 

(< 45-day) pregnancies.

Accurate early pregnancy diagnosis is also valuable in Artificial Insemination (AI) breeding programs

because it can be used to verify early breeding and enable movement of pregnant cows out of 

confinement, thereby decreasing feed costs. For example, in one large purebred herd on a ranch on the 

Oklahoma/Kansas border, eighteen hundred cows were gathered off wheat pastures and confined in 

pens to begin the breeding season. In the breeding pens, the cows were fed harvested feed and 

supplement. Between twenty-five and thirty-five days after the AI breeding, each cow is checked with an 

ultrasound, to determine pregnancy. The pregnant cows are quickly moved out of the pens and moved 

back onto wheat pastures to reduce feed costs. Because of the reduced feed costs, the ranch was able to 
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purchase a new ultrasound machine. Rural U.S. farmers and veterinarians depend on Black & White Vet 

Ultrasound Devices like the subject equipment. Cost is a factor which will increase without a tariff 

exclusion for the Black & White Vet Ultrasound Devices.

If a cow is examined with an ultrasound and observed to have a dead embryo in her uterus (no heartbeat) 

at twenty-five to sixty-five days after breeding, it has been found that treatment with a drug (e.g., 

Lutalyse, Prostamate or Estrumate) to regress the corpus luteum and expel the dead embryo, followed 

by a heat two to seven days later. Surprisingly, breeding at that heat has been more successful (50 

percent pregnancy rate) than expected. Detection of a dead embryo with an ultrasound might be missed 

by rectal palpation can be followed quickly by a return to pregnancy if the animal is treated and rebred.

Please see reference from ULTRASOUND USED TO IMPROVE REPRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT BY W.E. Beal 

Ph.D. on Beef Online, from the World Wide Web: 

http://cattletoday.com/archive/2006/March/CT445.shtml. 

B. Fetal sex determination—Most often this information is used to merchandise cows or heifers 

more effectively. One of the most talked about uses of ultrasound technology is determining the sex of 

a fetus at sixty to eighty days of pregnancy. A cow sold with a heifer calf at side and known to be 

pregnant carrying another heifer would be a great deal for a buyer looking to build a cowherd. 

Conversely, pregnant commercial heifers carrying bulls would be a way to maximize return on the 

investment when every heifer has a steer calf at weaning the next year. The buyer who knows more 

about the product he or she is purchasing usually feels more secure about his or her decision to 

purchase. Male and female fetuses can be identified beginning fifty-five days after breeding by looking 

for the penis and scrotum on the males and the absence of those structures along with a vulva on the 

females. The accuracy of fetal sexing is high (> 99 percent) when the procedure is optimized by proper 

timing. 

Sex determination prior to sixty days is more difficult because the size of the genital structures is small.

Therefore, determining the sex becomes easier as the fetus gets older. However, the longer the cow is 

pregnant, the greater the chance that the pregnant uterus will descend into the abdominal cavity which 

makes sex difficult or impossible. These factors make the best “window” for fetal sexing occur between 

sixty and ninety days after breeding.

Please see reference from ULTRASOUND USED TO IMPROVE REPRODUCTIVE MANAGEMENT BY W.E. Beal 

Ph.D. on Beef Online, from the World Wide Web: 

http://cattletoday.com/archive/2006/March/CT445.shtml. 

C. Ultrasound scanning beef cattle for body composition. Real-time ultrasound technology has

advanced to the state whereby animal science accurate measurements of several body composition 

traits can be made on live beef animals. These traits include 12th-13th rib fat thickness, rump fat 

thickness, ribeye area and intramuscular fat percentage (marbling). Each of these traits is significant in 

the determination of quality and red meat yield for individual animals, and each is at least moderately 

heritable. Black & White Vet Ultrasound Devices like the one at hand allows people in U.S. rural, and

economically disadvantaged or depressed areas access to this technology. 
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• Whether the particular product is strategically important or related to “Made in China 2025” 

or other Chinese industrial programs.

The Black & White Vet Ultrasound Device is not considered an advanced product or technology; in fact,

the technology is not related to any Chinese industrial programs including the “Made in China 2025”, an 

initiative to comprehensively upgrade the Chinese industry. Please note that the Black & White 

veterinarian product line of CHISON Ultrasound has not received any subsidies from the Chinese 

government. “Made in China 2025” or other Chinese industrial programs have been designed to, among 

other things, foster technology and support industries such as: (1) advanced information technology; (2) 

robotics and automated machine tools; (3) aircraft and aircraft components; (4) maritime vessels and 

marine engineering equipment; (5) advanced rail equipment; (6) new energy vehicles; (7) electrical 

generation and transmission equipment; (8) agricultural machinery and equipment; (9) new materials; 

and (10) pharmaceuticals and advanced medical devices.

• Whether the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would cause severe 

economic harm to the requestor or other U.S. interests.

If Keebomed Incorporated, is forced to pay the 25% tariff, Keebomed Incorporated, will either have to 

stop buying the Black & White VET Ultrasound Devices, close their business, or Keebomed Incorporated

will be forced to increase their selling price. If Keebomed Incorporated, is forced to increase their selling 

price, this will affect hundreds of veterinarians (at least 10,000 veterinarians; data from Keebomed’s 

customer base), as they will not be able to afford an ultrasound system. 

Taking the beef industry as an example, half of the veterinarians and most farm/ranch owners’ budget 

for owning an ultrasound is $3,000.00 to $6,000.00 U.S. dollars. Increasing the selling price of the 

ultrasound will greatly affect their desire to purchase an ultrasound machine for their own use. 

Regarding the price of this equipment, in order to ensure no increase in the price of milk and beef in the 

U.S., this ultrasound must be available to farmers at its present price without an increase due to a tariff. 

The 2016 forecasted economic impact of beef on the US economy was $67.56 billion in farm cash

receipts for cattle and calves. The impact on the US economy will be about $680 million, that is, 1% for

not using ultrasound in cattle farms. Please see the reference immediately below:

http://www.beefusa.org/beefindustrystatistics.aspx 

Because of the large number of small and middle-sized animal farms and ranches in the U.S. and our 

dependence on their production and profitability, purchasing high-cost equipment has a strong residual 

effect on secondary markets like animal feed products, agriculture, fertilizer, animal health costs, etc. 

Again, a price increase in the subject equipment will most affect U.S. rural farmers.

Healthy animals mean healthy products. Veterinarians provide the needed expertise and services to help 

ensure the health and welfare of our animals in the U.S. Veterinarians are a frontline defense in the 

surveillance, prevention, and treatment of animal diseases. Veterinarians protect America's food supply 

from the farm to the dinner table. However, if a veterinarian cannot afford to purchase an affordable 

ultrasound machine, disease outbreaks could potentially affect the U.S. food supply (i.e., eggs, milk, 

cheese, and meat) the result would have a chilling effect on the U.S. food chain and on human health. 
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Keebomed Incorporated, is selling the Black & White Vet Ultrasound Devices at the current price because

Keebomed Incorporated, wants to make sure every veterinarian can afford an ultrasound scanner and 

wants to fill this market for business purposes.

In conclusion, among other things, it is important to note that the Black & White Vet Ultrasound Device:

1. Is a more humane option for animal examination than by hand (less painful);

2. Is a more accurate examination tool than examination by hand;

3. Is much more affordable than other ultrasound equipment;

4. Is used to detect and help prevent animal disease for commercially sold animals and family pets; 

5. Helps small and middle-sized farmers because this equipment is affordable; 

6. Helps keep beef and other meat prices down; 

7. Has a secondary benefit to the US. economy by helping rural farmers be more efficient handling 

animal pregnancy and animal disease; 

8. Has a secondary benefit to the U.S. economy to help keep milk and other animal-related costs 

down; 

9. Is not part of any plan to advance China, including the 2025 plan as noted herein;

10. Is not made with any monetary support from China as noted herein; 

11. Has a strong market in rural, depressed, and disadvantaged areas in the U.S. for small users

because it is affordable.

The Black and White Vet Ultrasound Device is a real-time, non-radiative, non-invasive, high-efficiency 

medical diagnostic tool that cannot be replaced by other medical devices like the CT, MRI, etc. Only 

China is making this cost effective Black & White Vet Ultrasound Device. None of the other countries 

mentioned herein are making this level of product.

Keebomed Incorporated, respectfully requests a tariff exemption/exclusion based on the information 

provided herein. 

 

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our office at 408-226-4049 or by 

email at dan@minutillolaw.com.

 Very truly yours,

Dan Minutillo (elec sign valid 2018)

DANIEL C. MINUTILLO
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Addresses:

Daniel C. Minutillo

Minutillo Law

841 Blossom Hill Road, Second Floor

P.O. Box 20698

San Jose, CA 95160-0698

Telephone: (408) 226-4049

E-Mail: dan@minutillolaw.com

Organization Name: KeeboMed Incorporated.

Requestor: Stole Bozinovski

Address: 832 E. Rand Road Unit 22 

Mount Prospect, IL 60056

CHISON Medical Technologies Co., Ltd.

No.9, Xinhuihuan Road, Xinwu District, Wuxi, 

Jiangsu, China 214028