Fresh Chilled Rainbow Smelt from Germany
Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) is a small, silvery fish commonly harvested from cold North Atlantic and Great Lakes waters, sold fresh or chilled whole for human consumption. It falls under HTS 0302.89.50.37 as fresh or chilled smelts, excluding fillets or other fish meat of heading 0304, and not prepared for human consumption under other headings. These are typically gutted but left intact with heads and tails.
Duty Rate — Germany → United States
Rate breakdown
Import Tips
• Verify fish species identification via scientific name on commercial invoice to confirm smelt classification and avoid misclassification as other fish
• Maintain cold chain documentation proving temperature below 4°C during transit to qualify as 'chilled' and prevent duty reclassification to frozen (0303)
• Include health certificates from exporting country confirming free of contaminants, as FDA prior notice is required for all fish imports