US exempts BD, 19 others from specialty drug tariffs

The US will not impose an ad valorem tariff on certain specialty drugs and associated ingredients imported from Bangladesh and 19 other jurisdictions.

The US Department of Commerce has listed Bangladesh among the jurisdictions eligible for the tariff adjustment, which takes effect on Tuesday.

On Apr 2, US President Donald Trump issued a proclamation imposing tariffs on imports of patented pharmaceuticals, biologics and associated ingredients as part of efforts to encourage domestic production.

The zero-tariff treatment applies to specified categories of specialty pharmaceuticals, rather than all medicines exported from Bangladesh.

Eligible products include drugs and ingredients for which all approved indications are designated as orphan, nuclear medicines, plasma-derived therapies, fertility drugs, cell and gene therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, medical countermeasures related to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, and animal health products.

The other eligible jurisdictions are Argentina, Cambodia, Ecuador, El Salvador, the European Union, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Malaysia, North Macedonia, South Korea, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

Under the commerce department notice, the tariff adjustment is available where the products come from a jurisdiction with a current or forthcoming trade and security framework agreement with Washington, or where the products meet an urgent US health need. 

Companies can seek approval from the department for products that qualify under the urgent-health-need provision, it said.

An ad valorem tariff is a duty calculated as a percentage of the value of the imported goods, according to the World Customs Organisation.

Generic pharmaceutical products and their associated ingredients are not subject to the Section 232 pharmaceutical tariffs, the notice said.

It makes several technical corrections to the original proclamation, including amending the definition of "generic pharmaceutical articles" to specifically include unpatented animal health products.

It also clarifies that "pharmaceutical articles" covers finished pharmaceutical products, their active pharmaceutical ingredients and the key starting materials of those ingredients.     �"bdnews24