On January 24, 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced a proposal to make a major change to its interpretation of statutory language underlying the “First Sale for Export Rule” (FSFE) in determining the transaction value of goods imported into the U.S.

If adopted, this proposed new interpretation would eliminate the ability for U.S. importers to employ the FSFE duty reduction strategy, thereby significantly increasing duties owed on most goods imported into the U.S. that currently benefit from an FSFE structure, or that would have benefited from such savings in the future.