What is the Harbor Maintenance Fee and how does it affect me?
If you are a U.S. exporter by ocean, you were at one time obligated to pay a fee to U.S. Customs equal to .125% (1/8 of one percent) of your invoice value. This has been declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. Shoe versus United States. The fee was not contested in court as an import fee and is still collected by Customs on imports by ocean. It is collected with the duty as part of your entry. The issue before the court was that this was not a fee, but, in essence a duty. Article I of the U.S. Constitution states that the federal government cannot levy an export duty. Import duties are constitutional.
