(The Many) Invoice Declarations Required for Imported Footwear

Whereas most articles imported into the U.S. are not required to have declared on a commercial invoice (or attached to an invoice) many details beyond the quantity, price, and a limited number of other factors, certain categories of imports, such as bed linens and wearing apparel, require significantly more.

Footwear is a category that requires many more details as well, so much so, that often times there is an additional “boilerplate” form filled out with the information that is commonly known as an “Interim Footwear Invoice.”

---As an aside, an experienced importer of footwear will know about this rule. For new importers, be sure to do your “homework” on import requirements as the lack of this information can raise a red flag to US Customs as to both an importer’s reasonable care compliance obligations as well as to the truthfulness of the imports as declared on the entry and commercial invoice.

To give you an idea of what is required, as described in 19 CFR §141.89 and reprinted below, additional declarations for Footwear, classifiable in headings 6401 through 6405 of the HTSUS, include identifying the:

1. Manufacturer's style number.
2. Importer's style and/or stock number.
3. Percent by area of external surface area of upper (excluding reinforcements and accessories) which is:
Leather, composition leather, rubber and/or plastics, textile materials, or “other,” and requires specifying the percentage of each type of material.
4. Percent by area of the external surface area of the outersole (excluding reinforcements and accessories) that is:
Leather, composition leather, rubber and/or plastics, textile materials, or “other,” and requires specifying the percentage of each type of material.

Other footwear requirements under this same provision (19 CFR §141.89) may include answering questions “A” to “Z” (yes, all of them!) as follows:

A. The percent of external surface area of upper (including leather reinforcements and accessories)
Which is leather _____%
B. The percent by area of external surface area of upper ( including all reinforcements and accessories)
Which is rubber and/or plastics _____%
C. Percent by weight of rubber and/or plastics is _____%
D. Percent by weight of textile materials plus rubber and/or plastics is _____%
E. Is it waterproof?
F. Does it have a protective metal toe cap?
G. Will it cover the wearer's ankle bone?
H. Will it cover the wearer's knee cap?
I. [Reserved.] (i.e., unknown to the public...)
J. Is it designed to protect against water, oil, grease, or chemicals, or cold or inclement weather?
K. Is it a slip-on?
L. Is it a downhill or cross-country skiboot?
M. Is it serious sports footwear other than skiboots? (Chapter 64 subheading note defines sports footwear.)
N. Is it a tennis, basketball, gym, or training shoe or the like?
O. Is it made on a base or platform of wood?
P. Does it have open toes or open heels?
Q. Is it made by the (lipped insole) welt construction?
R. Is it made by the turned construction?
S. Is it worn exclusively by men, boys or youths?
T. Is it made by an exclusively adhesive construction?
U. Are the fibers of the upper, by weight, predominately vegetable fibers?
V. Is it disposable, i.e. , intended for one-time use?
W. Is it a “Zori”?
X. Is the leather in the upper pigskin?
Y. Are the sole and upper made of woolfelt?
Z. Is there a line of demarcation between the outer sole and upper?

The information requested above may be furnished on a US Customs form, CF 5523, or other appropriate format by the exporter, manufacturer or shipper.

Where footwear falls into a particular tariff classification, namely one in HTSUS subheading 6401.99.80, 6402.19.10, 6402.30.30, 6402.91.40, 6402.99.15, 6402.99.30, 6406.11.40, 6404.11.60, 6404.19.35, 6404.19.40, or 6404.19.60, the following information must also be provided:

1) Does the shoe have a foxing or foxing-like band? If so, state its materials(s).

2) Does the sole overlap the upper other than just at the front of the toe and/or at the back of the heel?

In order to help clarify the meaning of some of the terms in "A" to "Z" above, the regulations provide definitions as follows:

a. In an exclusively adhesive construction, all of the piece(s) of the bottom would separate from the upper or from each other if all adhesives, cements, and glues were dissolved. It includes shoes in which the pieces of the upper are stitched to each other, but not to any part of the bottom. Examples include:

1. Vulcanized construction footwear;
2. Simultaneous molded construction footwear;
3. Molded footwear in which the upper and the bottom are one piece of molded rubber or plastic, and
4. Footwear in which staples, rivets, stitching, or any of the methods above are either primary or just extra or auxiliary, even though adhesive is a major part of the reason the bottom will not separate from the upper.

b. Composition leather is made by binding together leather fibers or small pieces of natural leather. It does not include imitation leathers not based on natural leather.

c. Leather is the tanned skin of any animal from which the fur or hair has been removed. Tanned skins coated or laminated with rubber and/or plastics are “leather” only if the leather gives the material its essential character.

d. A line of demarcation exists if one can indicate where the sole ends and the upper begins. For example, knit booties do not normally have a line of demarcation.

e. Men's, boys' and youths' sizes cover footwear of American youths sizes 111/2and larger for males, and do not include footwear commonly worn by both sexes. If more than 4% of the shoes sold in a given size will be worn by females, that size is “commonly worn by both sexes.”

f. Footwear is designed to protect against water, oil or cold or inclement weather only if it is substantially more of a protection against those items than the usual shoes of that type. For example, leather oxfords will clearly keep one's feet warmer and drier than going barefoot, but they are not a protection in this sense. On the other hand the snow-jobber is the protective version of the nonprotective jogging shoe.

g. Rubber and/or plastics includes any textile material visibly coated (or covered) externally with one or both of those materials.

h. Slip-on includes:

1. A boot which must be pulled on.
2. Footwear with elastic cores which must be stretched to get it on, but not bootwear having a separate piece of elasticized fabric which forms a full circle around the foot or ankle.

i. Sports footwear includes only:
(1) Footwear which is designed for a sporting activity and has, or has provision for, the attachment of spikes, sprigs, cleats, stops, clips, bars or the like;
(2) Skating boots (without skates attached), ski boots and cross-country ski footwear, wrestling boots, boxing boots and cycling shoes.

j. Tennis shoes, basketball shoes, gym shoes, training shoes and the like covers athletic footwear other than sports footwear, whether or not principally used for such athletic games or purposes.

k. Textile materials are made from cotton, other vegetable fibers, wool, hair, silk or man-made fibers. Note: Cork, wood cardboard and leather are not textile materials.

l. In turned construction, the upper is stitched to the leather sole wrong side out and the shoe is then turned right side out.

m. Vegetable fibers include cotton, flax and ramie, but do not include either rayon or plaiting materials such as rattan or wood strips.

n. Waterproof footwear includes footwear designed to protect against penetration by water or other liquids, whether or not such footwear is primarily designed for such purposes.

o. Welt footwear means footwear constructed with a welt, which extends around the edge of the outer sole, and in which the welt and shoe upper are sewed to a lip on the surface of the insole, and the outer sole is sewed or cemented to the welt.

p. A zori has an upper consisting only of straps or thongs of molded rubber or plastic. This upper is assembled to a foamed rubber or plastic sole by means of plugs.

For more information about importing Footwear, US Customs has an “Informed Compliance Publication” which may be accessed here.

To see a sample of an “Interim Footwear Invoice,” click here.


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