U.S. ATLAS HL-LHC Upgrade LAr Level 2 and Level 3 Managers Mailing List

[John Parsons <parsons AT nevis.columbia.edu>]

FYI, information about international shipping.

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: Re: shipments
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2025 16:46:08 -0400
From: John Parsons <parsons AT nevis.columbia.edu>
To: Gustaaf Brooijmans <gustaaf.brooijmans AT cern.ch>, menke AT mppmu.mpg.de 
<menke AT mppmu.mpg.de>


Hi Sven/Gustaaf,

	I don't think the situation is as clear as Gustaaf thinks.  For 
example, I learned from Ryszard today that a shipment of VTRx+ from CERN 
is stuck in customs and they are asking for a 10% tariff (~$36k).
	On the other hand, our recent LDO shipment from CERN to Columbia came 
without tariffs, so there are still variations from shipment to 
shipment, despite essentially identical paperwork.

	However, the good news is that I just finished a very productive 
meeting with a customs broker recommended by Columbia, that we are 
planning to use for future shipments from CERN to Columbia. I reached 
out to him since Hucheng is planning to send us now ALL the v2 lpGBT 
chips, with a commercial value of 1 MCHF, so I wanted to be more 
confident that we would not be charged tariffs.
	The tariff category depends on the so-called HTS (or harmonized) code. 
For the lpGBT, the HTS code listed by CERN on the Pro Forma Invoice is 
8542.39.  The broker confirmed that items of this case are listed as 
tariff-free in Annex II of the IEEPA 9903.01.32, which was issued by 
Executive Order (see 
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https:**Awww.whitehouse.gov*wp-content*uploads*2025*04*Annex-II.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwicjL7ZqtaOAxXKkYkEHTteKJ8QFnoECB0QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2LJ0G1F95PBVNx9sk7bhuD__;Ly8vLy8vLw!!P4SdNyxKAPE!CBM_D0QJXdLfkYmx9n2LYlGMV07zqyM_KpOKpmSRNhCE_g2lChqqufluj8IarDVBSGVqNkZHINePz7F-gAyCdtbBEc82QUKtp_LLLKdAe_zR-w$ ). 
Therefore, the broker is confident we should pay no tariff on this 1 
MCHF shipment, at least as things stand now.  We are trying to get this 
shipped before Aug. 1, which is the next time that tariffs might change 
(though he said they do not usually change the exemptions listed in 
Annex II but just change the tariff rate charged to other items).
	The HTS code listed by CERN for the VTRx+ is 8542.31 and for the LDOs 
is 8542.90.  These are also listed as tariff-free in Annex-II (see the 
last page of the document).  So we should (hopefully) be OK.

	I have just communicated this info to Ryszard so that he can hopefully 
avoid paying the $36k that customs is so far demanding before releasing 
the VTRx+ shipment.  Unfortunately, since that shipment is not coming to 
Columbia, we have no official standing and therefore our broker cannot 
intervene (apart from providing this advice).
        I will keep you posted of further developments.

        Regards,
                John    

On 7/24/25 3:06 PM, Gustaaf Brooijmans wrote:
> Hi Sven,
>
> Details on how to do this correctly have been sent to everybody on the US 
> side of the project.  So everybody who has an interest has the relevant 
> information already.
>
> Best,
>
> Gustaaf
>
> > On Jul 24, 2025, at 16:07, Sven Menke <menke AT mppmu.mpg.de> wrote:
> >
> > Hi John,
> >
> > in today's USC Stephane Willocq expressed interest in the exact procedure how 
> > to ship parts between US-institutions and CERN, after I mentioned that you 
> > found a procedure to do so without having to fear tariffs.
> >
> > Is there something in the procedure that could be shared with others? Or 
> > would it anyway be too specific to your situation?
> >
> > Thanks & Cheers,
> > --Sven
> >
> > --
> > -Dr.Sven Menke - Group Leader ATLAS/Calorimetry -tel: +49 89 32354 410 -
> > Max-Planck-Institut für Physik            CERN -tel:   +41 2276 66615
> > (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut)            https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mpp.mpg.de/*menke__;fg!!P4SdNyxKAPE!CBM_D0QJXdLfkYmx9n2LYlGMV07zqyM_KpOKpmSRNhCE_g2lChqqufluj8IarDVBSGVqNkZHINePz7F-gAyCdtbBEc82QUKtp_LLLKcVAp-olQ$ 
> > Boltzmannstr. 8, 85748 Garching               mailto:menke AT mpp.mpg.de
> > -PGP public key:       
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mpp.mpg.de/*menke/publickey.gpg.asc__;fg!!P4SdNyxKAPE!CBM_D0QJXdLfkYmx9n2LYlGMV07zqyM_KpOKpmSRNhCE_g2lChqqufluj8IarDVBSGVqNkZHINePz7F-gAyCdtbBEc82QUKtp_LLLKcCEVXWWA$
> >   -

--
______________________________________________________________________

John Parsons
Nevis Labs,             Email: parsons AT nevis.columbia.edu
 Columbia University    Phone: (914) 591-2820
P.O. Box 137            Fax: (914) 591-8120
Irvington, NY 10533     WWW: 
https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.nevis.columbia.edu/*parsons/__;fg!!P4SdNyxKAPE!CBM_D0QJXdLfkYmx9n2LYlGMV07zqyM_KpOKpmSRNhCE_g2lChqqufluj8IarDVBSGVqNkZHINePz7F-gAyCdtbBEc82QUKtp_LLLKckZ6VgDA$
      

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