An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

  1. Home
  2. Trade
  3. Rulings and Legal Decisions
  4. What are Ruling Letters?

What are Ruling Letters?

It is in the interest of the sound administration of CBP and related laws that persons engaging in any transaction affected by those laws fully understand the consequences of that transaction prior to its consummation. For this reason, Customs and Border Protection will give full and careful consideration to written requests from importers and other interested parties for rulings or information setting forth, with respect to a specifically described transaction, a definitive interpretation of applicable law, or other appropriate information.

A ruling may be requested under Part 177 of the CBP Regulations (19 C.F.R. Part 177) by any person who, as an importer or exporter of merchandise, or otherwise, has a direct and demonstrable interest in the question or questions presented in the ruling request, or by the authorized agent of such person. A "person" in this context includes an individual, corporation, partnership, association, or other entity or group.

A request for a valuation or carrier ruling should be in the form of a letter.  A request for a ruling regarding tariff classification, certain marking, origin, NAFTA and applicability of Trade Program should be submitted in the form a letter or electronically via the eRulings Template.

Requests for Valuation rulings should be addressed to:

Chief, Valuation and Special Programs Branch
Regulations and Rulings
Office of Trade
90 K Street, NE, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20229

Requests for Carrier rulings should be addressed to:

Chief, Cargo Security, Carriers and Restricted Merchandise Branch
Regulations and Rulings
Office of Trade
90 K Street, NE, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20229

Requests for tariff classification rulings, certain marking, origin, NAFTA and applicability of Trade Program should be addressed to:

Director, National Commodity Specialist Division
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Attn: CIE Ruling Request
Regulations and Rulings
Office of Trade
201 Varick Street, Suite 501
New York, New York 10014

Or to any CBP service port office.

(The Division and Branch in Regulations and Rulings to which the request should be directed may also be indicated, if known.)

Last Modified: Mar 04, 2024