Schagrin Associates

900 Seventh Street, N.W. - Suite 500 - Washington, D.C. 20001

P: (202) 223-1700 E: rschagrin@schagrinassociates.com F: (202) 429-2522

October 3, 2018 

Docket No. USTR-2018-0025

Total Pages: 42

Section 301 Investigation 

PUBLIC VERSION

Business Confidential Information of Protect Plus, 

LLC Deleted from page 3. 

VIA ELECTRONIC FILING

Ambassador Robert Lighthizer 

The United States Trade Representative

600 17th St NW 

Washington, DC 20006 

Re: Section 301 Determination Regarding China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices 

Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation: 

Request for Exclusion of Consumer Water Filtration System Accessories

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer: 

On behalf of Protect Plus, LLC (“Protect Plus”), and pursuant to the notice issued by the 

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (“USTR”) on July 11, 2018 in the above-referenced 

investigation, we hereby submit a request for exclusion of a particular product from the 

Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related 

to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation.

1

 

1 Office of the United States Trade Representative, Procedures To Consider Requests for Exclusion 

of Particular Products From the Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, 

Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation, 83 

Fed. Reg. 32181 (Jul. 11, 2018). 
 PUBLIC VERSION

Consistent with USTR’s request, we request confidential treatment for information 

designated as business confidential in this submission. Such information consists of information 

that would not customarily be released to the public, including information regarding the 

quantity and value of Protect Plus’s imports of specific merchandise over the last three years. 

Business confidential information is indicated in the comments below via single brackets (“[ ]”).

Please contact the undersigned with any questions regarding this submission. 

Respectfully submitted,

_____________________________

Roger B. Schagrin

Luke A. Meisner 

SCHAGRIN ASSOCIATES

900 SEVENTH STREET NW

SUITE 500 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20001 

(202) 516-5257

Counsel to Protect Plus , LLC
PUBLIC VERSION

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REQUEST FOR EXCLUSION

Summary

Protect Plus, LLC (“Protect Plus”) requests that certain consumer water filtration system 

accessories (“Water Filtration System Accessories”) be excluded from the tariffs that have been 

imposed pursuant to Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974.1 As discussed in greater detail

below, because these products are not related to the “Made in China 2025” program or any other 

Chinese industrial programs, imposing tariffs on these products will not serve the fundamental 

purpose of the Section 301 determination – i.e., to address China’s policies related to technology 

transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. Furthermore, the Water Filtration System 

Accessories are not readily available from suppliers in the United States or third countries. As a 

result, the imposition of Section 301 tariffs on these products has already caused severe 

economic harm to Protect Plus, the importer of record that has been paying the tariffs for these 

products. If an exclusion is not granted and the cost of the tariffs is passed on to U.S. consumers, 

the Section 301 tariffs could begin to jeopardize their access to affordable drinking water. And 

because more and more U.S. municipalities are relying on consumer water filtration systems as 

they work to address problems with their water supply infrastructure, the tariffs on Water 

Filtration System Accessories will also impact these U.S. residential consumers’ access to a costeffective method of supplying safe providing safe drinking water to their families. 

 1 In conjunction with the instant request, Protect Plus is filing an additional 11 requests for 

exclusion that are all related to specific consumer water filtration systems. Consistent with the 

U.S. Trade Representative’s instructions, Protect Plus is submitting “a separate request for each 

product, i.e., one product per request.” Office of the United States Trade Representative, 

Procedures To Consider Requests for Exclusion of Particular Products From the Determination 

of Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology 

Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation, 83 Fed. Reg. 32181 (Jul. 11, 2018).
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1. Indicate whether the comment contains business confidential information (BCI), is a 

public document, or is a public version of a BCI document.

This document is a public version of a BCI document.

2. Please provide a complete and detailed description of the product of concern.

The products of concern are consumer Water Filtration System Accessories, including 

steel brackets for hanging water filtration systems, plastic housing wrenches for replacing filters 

within universal drop-in filtration systems, and rubber rings for sealing universal drop-in 

filtration systems. These items are often included in the water filtration system as sold at retail

and may also be purchased separately when needed. Exhibit 1 hereto provides further 

descriptions and diagrams for each model number of the consumer water filtration accessories

for which an exclusion is being granted. Exhibit 2 hereto provides installation instructions for a 

drop-in filtration system that depicts how the accessories are typically used.

3. 10-digit HTSUS item number for product you wish to address in this product 

exclusion request:

8421.210000.

4. Requestor Information

Requestor Name: Jackie McCaleb

Organization Name: Protect Plus, LLC

Requestor Representative: Roger B. Schagrin

Protect Plus headquartered in Hickory, North Carolina, distributes water filtration 

products all over the United States. Protect Plus offers products under license from BRITA®, 

DuPont®, Great ValueTM as well as other in-house and licensed brands.

5. Requestor’s Relationship to the Product

Protect Plus is the importer of record for the products of concern.
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6. Does this submission in regulations.gov include additional attachments?

No. All exhibits to this submission have been incorporated into a single file for 

submission purposes. 

7. Please indicate whether any additional attachment contains business confidential

information (BCI), is a public document, or is a public version of a BCI document.

N/A. 

8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United 

States?

No. Neither the products of concern nor any comparable consumer products are readily 

available from sources in the United States.

9. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in third 

countries?

No. Neither the products of concern nor any comparable products are available from 

sources in third countries in commercially viable quantities. 

10. Please provide the value and quantity (with units) of the Chinese-origin product of 

concern that you purchased for each calendar year specified. Limit this figure to 

the products purchased by your firm (or by members of your trade association) 

alone. Please provide estimates if precise figures are unavailable.

2017 Value: [ ] 2017 Quantity: [ ]

2016 Value: [ ] 2016 Quantity: [ ]

2015 Value: [ ] 2015 Quantity: [ ]

11. Please provide information in support your request, taking account of the 

instructions provided in Section B of the Federal Register notice.

a) Whether the particular product is strategically important or related to “Made 

in China 2025” or other Chinese industrial programs. 

 The particular products are not strategically important, related to the “Made in China 

2025” program, or related to any other Chinese industrial programs. The “Made in China 2025” 

program targets ten priority sectors for government support and development: 
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1. Next-generation information technology; 

2. High-end numerical control machinery and robotics; 

3. Aerospace and aviation equipment; 

4. Maritime engineering equipment and high-tech maritime vessel manufacturing;

5. Advanced rail equipment; 

6. Energy-saving and new energy vehicles;

7. Electrical equipment;

8. New materials;

9. Biomedicine and high-performance medical devices; and

10. Agricultural machinery and equipment.2

The consumer Water Filtration System Accessories for which an exclusion is being requested do 

not fall into any of these ten priority sectors. 

 Nor do the products relate to any other Chinese industrial programs. In this regard, it 

should be noted that on April 16, 2015, China’s State Council issued the ‘Water Pollution 

Prevention and Control Action Plan” to address water pollution over the next five years.3 The 

plan aims to improve the quality of the water environment in seven key river basins through 

measures such as reducing the discharge of pollutants and improving water efficiency.4 While 

the plan does include the treatment of industrial water and underground water pollution in major 

river basins, there is no indication whatsoever that the plan involves consumer water filtration 

systems such as the BRITA®, DuPont® and Great ValueTM related products imported by Protect 

Plus.5

 

 

2

 See U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Made in China 2025: Global Ambitions Built on Local 

Protections (Jan. 6, 2017) at 10, available at https://www.uschamber.com. 

3

 See China State Council: China announces action plan to tackle water pollution (Apr. 16, 2015), 

available at

http://english.gov.cn/policies/latest releases/2015/04/16/content 281475090170164.htm, 

4

 Id. 

5

 See id. 
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Thus, to the extent that any water filtration products imported under HTS subheading 

8421.210000 are related to Chinese industrial programs – and Protect Plus emphasizes that it is 

not aware of any such products – the Water Filtration System Accessories of concern in this 

exclusion request are clearly not related to any such Chinese industrial programs.

b) 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 United States and/or 

in third countries.

The particular product for which exclusions are being requested is only available from 

China. While Protect Plus is aware of a small number of suppliers of comparable products in the 

US, these suppliers could not supply the products in sufficient volume to satisfy the current U.S. 

demand for the products.

c) Whether the imposition of additional duties on the particular product would 

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

As discussed below, imposing additional duties on consumer water filtration systems is 

already causing severe economic harm to Protect Plus, could jeopardize the access to affordable 

drinking water and thus the health and safety of millions of U.S. consumers, and will impact U.S. 

municipality rate payers that rely on consumer water filtration systems problems with their own 

municipal water supply systems are addressed.

Economic Harm to Protect Plus

Protect Plus, has already suffered severe economic harm as a result of the imposition of

the Section 301 duties. As the importer of record for the products of concern, Protect Plus has 

been paying the duties for imports of consumer water filtration products, including Water 

Filtration System Accessories, but has not to date passed on the costs of those duties to other 
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parties. These costs are therefore having a significant impact on Protect Plus’s financial 

performance and the long-term viability of its operations.

 Protect Plus has explored the possibility of switching to U.S. or third-party sources for 

the products of concern. However, switching suppliers is not feasible for the following reasons: 

• Intellectual Property Concerns. Some of Protect Plus’s products have patented or 

proprietary processes for the removal of contaminants that have been developed in 

concert with Chinese manufacturing partners. As a result, Protect Plus could not 

easily transfer production of these products to the United States without violating 

agreements in place with its current manufacturing partners. 

• Certification Requirements. Residential water filtration products are highly regulated 

consumer products meeting National Science Foundation (“NSF”) and Water Quality 

Association (“WQA”) standards. Factories must therefore be audited and certified by 

independent third parties due to public health and safety concerns, retailer and 

licensor contractual requirements, and product stewardship guidelines.6 The factory 

certification process can take up to two months to schedule and conclude. 

Furthermore, the product certification process at offsite labs requires testing which 

often takes up to six months. 

• Development of Required Equipment. New injection mold tooling would be required 

before the product could be manufactured and subsequently certified by alternative 

sources. This process could take up to nine months. 

• Ability to Produce Entire Product Lines. Protect Plus has supply agreements in place 

with Chinese factories that are designed to produce complete lines of consumer water 

filtration products. Most U.S. manufacturers, on the other hand, are oriented towards 

making only specific elements of water filtration products. They do not have the 

capability to manufacture a complete water filtration product, let alone an entire 

product line for sale to the residential end user. 

Based on the factors discussed above, the overall timeline required to switch to U.S. suppliers 

could be up to two years and cost millions of dollars. 

 

6

 See, e.g., Amazon Now Requires All Refrigerator Filters to Be Certified (Apr. 2017), available at 

http://www.enpress.com/site/amazon-requires-refrigerator-water-filter-certification. 
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Harm to U.S. Consumers and Families

 Studies have shown that consumer water filtration systems are a cost-effective means of 

reducing the risks associated with contaminants in tap water.7 As mentioned, Protect Plus has not 

to date passed on the cost of the Section 301 tariffs to other parties. However, if this request for 

an exclusion is not granted, Protect Plus will ultimately have little choice but to pass part or all of 

the costs of the tariffs on to U.S. consumers. Given the impact that this will have on the price for 

consumer water filtration systems, this could have a severe negative impact on the ability of 

consumer water filtration systems to provide a cost-effective means of removing contaminants 

from U.S. consumers’ drinking water and, as a result, have a negative impact on U.S. consumers’ 

overall health and safety.

As recent events in Flint, Michigan serve to remind us, water quality is an important 

health and safety issue. Problems such as lead contamination are not confined to Flint, however, 

but are widespread across the United States.

8

 Indeed, one investigation of 680,000 water quality 

and monitoring violations from the Environmental Protection Agency found that “{a}s many as 

63 million people - nearly a fifth of the United States - from rural central California to the 

boroughs of New York City were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once during the 

past decade.”9 Even more troubling is that “drinking water quality is often dependent on the 

 

7

 Marc Verhougstraete et. al, Cost Benefis of Point-of-Use Devices in Reduction of Health Risks 

from Drinking Water (Aug. 23, 2017), available at 

http://www.wqrf.org/uploads/8/3/5/5/83551838/2017 costbenefit execsummary.pdf 

8

 See, e.g., At least 33 US cities used water testing ‘cheats’ over lead concerns, The Guardian (June 

2, 2016), available at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/02/lead-water-testingcheats-chicago-boston-philadelphia 

9

 Agnel Philip, Elizabeth Sims, Jordan Houston and Rachel Konieczny, 63 million Americans 

exposed to unsafe drinking water, New21 (Aug. 17, 2017), available at
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wealth and racial makeup of communities {with} {s}mall, poor communities and neglected 

urban areas are sometimes left to fend for themselves with little help from state and federal 

governments.”10 Thus, consumer water filtration products sold by a local retailer are often these 

U.S. families’ only option. The continued imposition of the 301 tariffs on these products will 

adversely impact American families, including the lowest income families that must rely on 

these products to address water quality issues and reduce unhealthy contaminants. 

 Failing to grant an exclusion for the products of concern will also impact numerous U.S. 

residents in areas where municipalities have aging infrastructure in need of upgrading. The 

Environmental Protection Agency estimates that as many as 2,000 towns are facing lead 

contamination and other problems similar to those faced by Flint, Michigan.11 Protect Plus’s 

products are often used by such consumers as a measure to protect themselves as these 

municipalities work to upgrade their infrastructures and address problems such as lead 

contamination.

12

d) Ability of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Administer the Exclusion 

 As shown in Exhibits 1 and 2 hereto, Water Filtration System Accessories are easily 

recognizable consumer products that are commonly found in millions of U.S. households. Thus, 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection will be able to administer an exclusion for these products 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/08/14/63-million-americans-exposed-unsafedrinking-water/564278001/ 

10 Id. 

11 Protect Plus Creates Municipal Water Division To Meet Lead Crisis Head On (Apr. 4, 2017), 

available at https://www.prnewswire.com 

12 Id. 
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without compromising the enforcement of the Section 301 tariffs on imports of other items 

entering under HTS 8421.210000.
EXHIBIT 1
PUBLIC VERSION

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Exhibit 1

Model 

Number

Description Depiction

WFAO100 HD 4” System O-ring

WFAO150 VIH System O-ring

WFAO200 Standard System O-ring

WFAB100 Brackets - Heavy Duty
 PUBLIC VERSION

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WFAB150 Bracket - VIH Sump

WFAB200 Brackets - Standard 

Sump

WFAW100 HD System wrench

WFAW150 VIH System wrench

WFAW200 Standard System wrench

WFBAO100 System O-Ring
 PUBLIC VERSION

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WFBAO150 System O-Ring

WFBAO200 Standard System O-ring

WFBAW100 System Housing Wrench

WFBAW150 Housing Wrench

WFBAW200 System Housing Wrench
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WFBAB100 Brackets - Heavy Duty

WFBAB150 Mounting Bracket

WFBAB200 Mounting Bracket
EXHIBIT 2